Veurink’s RV Center in Mich. is Looking at a ’24 Comeback – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
After a couple of down years for sales and deliveries of RV units, much of the industry has its vision nervously set on 2024 in hopes that things will turn around.
And it’s not as though there aren’t plenty of things stacked against it. Interest rates, gas prices, an election year…
But Matt Veurink, GM of the pair of Veurink’s RV’s Michigan-based dealerships in Grand Rapids and Newaygo, told RVBusiness on Monday that over the past couple of weeks, business has taken off.
February started off with some sales taking place, he said, but somewhere in the middle of the month it was like a switch was turned on.
“The last week and a half to two weeks it turned right up and for us and we had the second-best February we’ve ever had in company history and we’ve been around for 70 years,” Veurink said. “You take away a COVID year in there and it would have been our best year. March has already started off really hot and really strong.”
He said buyers aren’t just focused in on one type of vehicle, but that pretty much every class with the exception of entry-level trailers has been selling well during the hot streak.
Some customers who bought those entry-level models during COVID have come back to trade in for something a little nicer, he said.
And he said those customers he has talked to have been extremely optimistic. They have accepted the current level of interest rates and understand that is the price to pay to do business.
“People are out spending money, at least in our market,” Veurink said.
In addition to sales, general traffic has been up at the dealerships.
Some of that could be follow-ups from Veurink’s show in late January, but in general it seems customers are ready to move into something new for this year’s camping season.
“A few previous customers who traded in vehicles they bought from us,” Veurink said. “But we also took in a lot of stuff that we don’t sell new, so they had bought from another dealer and now they came to us. Phone traffic spiked up and walk-in traffic was way up from last year.”
With sales starting the year strong, the dealerships are fortunate they were aggressive during Open House last fall.
Veurink said new models are arriving, but inventory levels are where they need to be for now and he is pleased to see the number of units waiting to be delivered thinning out on manufacturers’ yards.
A member of the Priority RV Network, Veurink’s carries brands such as Braxton Creek, Dutchmen, East to West, Holiday Rambler, Keystone RV, KZ RV, nuCamp, OPUS, Renegade, Venture RV and Winnebago.
Anecdotal evidence seems to be pointing to a strong spring at least. A dealer in Missouri who recently spoke to RVBusiness said he had sold 35 units during a Kansas City area RV show earlier this year.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty good year,” Veurink said. “I think it will be better than last year. We’re seeing the positive direction.”
