Why Most Franchise Dealerships Should Stop Trying to Sell Used RVs

Why Most Franchise Dealerships Should Stop Trying to Sell Used RVs

The RV market exploded around 2008. Not because people suddenly loved camping, but because the economy tanked and families couldn't afford vacations anymore. So they bought cheap used RVs instead. That boom lasted about a decade, and now it's 2024, and dealerships are still trying to replicate that success with specialty inventory like used RVs, powersports, and exotic cars as if the market conditions haven't shifted completely.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most franchise dealerships are terrible at selling used RVs. And they should probably stop.

The Mismatch Between Your Dealership and the RV Customer

Your typical RV buyer isn't shopping the same way your car customers shop. They're not scrolling your Honda or Ford website looking for a used Class C motorhome. They're not pulling into your lot on a Saturday afternoon. They're researching on RV-specific forums, checking RVTrader, talking to other RV owners, and comparing specs they actually understand because they've been saving for this purchase for three years.

Meanwhile, your sales team is trained to move metal fast. Your whole operation is built around turn times, front-end gross, and CSI scores tied to quick transactions. Your finance manager knows how to structure a four-year auto loan, not a ten-year RV purchase. Your service department doesn't have a bay big enough for a 35-foot diesel pusher, and honestly, (have you seen what a full RV winterization costs?) your techs probably aren't certified to touch the systems inside.

The dealers who get this right have abandoned the pretense that RVs fit their business model. Full stop.

Why Specialty Inventory Breaks Your Metrics

RV inventory sits. Not for 45 days. For 120, 150, sometimes 200 days.

Consider a typical scenario: you acquire a 2015 Winnebago Adventurer with 85,000 miles for $22,000 wholesale. You reconditioning it properly—that means roof repair, seal replacement, full plumbing service, genset service, appliance repairs, and detail work. That's another $4,500 easy. You've got $26,500 into it. Your carrying costs alone are bleeding you dry after day 60. Now you're 120 days on the lot, and your inventory turns look terrible. Your used vehicle velocity metric gets dragged down. Your lot utilization suffers. Your cash flow is uglier than the salt damage on a Northeast winter beater.

And you still haven't sold it because your price is competing against ConsignmentRV.com and regional RV dealers who actually know how to market to that customer.

That's not a specialty inventory strategy. That's a cash drain with a lot attendant.

Consignment Is a Band-Aid on a Broken Model

Some dealerships think they've solved this problem with consignment. Owner brings in a used RV, you hold it, you sell it, you take 10 or 15 percent when it moves. No acquisition risk, right?

Wrong.

Consignment still requires you to physically store, display, and maintain a vehicle type your operation isn't built to handle. Your lot management software probably can't track consignment status separately from owned inventory (unless you're using something robust enough to handle complex workflow tracking). Your team still doesn't know how to market to RV buyers. The owner still expects professional reconditioning, which you're now providing at a loss because your service team can't work efficiently on RV systems.

You're investing operational focus and floor space into a revenue stream that generates 10 percent commission on a slow-moving vehicle. Compare that to selling a $28,000 used truck at your normal front-end gross and turn time, and the math is brutal.

The dealers who tried consignment on motorcycles, powersports equipment, and exotic cars usually end up consolidating it somewhere else or dropping it entirely within two years.

What You Should Do Instead

Know Your Core Competency

You're a Honda dealership. Or a Ford store. You understand your brand's market, your customer base, your service capabilities. You're efficient at moving vehicles your technicians can service without calling a specialist. You know the days-to-front-line metric for your exact inventory mix.

RVs don't fit that profile.

Stop treating specialty inventory as a growth opportunity and start treating it as a distraction.

Partner With Specialists Instead

If an RV comes in on a trade, sell it to an RV dealer. Yes, you'll take a smaller payoff than if you tried to retail it yourself. You're not paying carrying costs, reconditioning labor, or floor plan interest on a vehicle that's going to sit for five months.

The regional RV dealer or auction house that specializes in these units will move it faster because they have the right customer base, the right marketing channels, and the right service capabilities. You get your cash out immediately. You protect your lot turns. You don't waste your team's bandwidth.

Same goes for classic cars, motorcycles, powersports, and any other specialty segment your franchise isn't equipped to dominate.

If You Must Carry Specialty Inventory, Separate It Completely

The dealers who successfully run RV or powersports operations treat them as separate P&Ls with separate teams, separate facility space, separate marketing budgets, and separate performance expectations.

This is exactly the kind of workflow complexity that requires real operational infrastructure—a tool like Dealer1 Solutions gives you separate views for each vehicle type, isolated tracking for reconditioning status, and reporting that doesn't confuse your core automotive metrics with your specialty operation's performance.

But be honest: do you have the bandwidth to genuinely separate and manage this? Most dealerships don't.

The Honest Conversation

Your general manager probably got pitched on specialty inventory by a group executive or a consultant at a conference. The pitch was probably something like, "RV market is booming, low competition, high margins if you can move volume."

The market IS still there. The margins CAN be higher on individual units.

But that's not how your dealership operates. You operate on turn times, service attach rates, CSI scores, and front-end gross on vehicles your team knows how to service. Bolting on a specialty inventory operation that doesn't align with those metrics is adding complexity without adding profit.

The franchise dealerships winning in the RV space right now are the ones that actually committed to it,they built separate facilities, hired specialized teams, and decided to become RV dealers first and Ford dealers second.

Most dealerships can't do that. And they shouldn't pretend they can.

So here's the contrarian take your P&L actually supports: stick to what you're good at. Sell your core vehicles fast. Maximize your service attach on those units. Don't tie up capital and lot space on specialty inventory that doesn't fit your operation. Your inventory turns will thank you, your cash flow will improve, and your team will focus on what they actually understand.

That's not conservative thinking. That's just math.