Best video to date I have ever seen. Would love to see you do a video on quality older models to purchase used.

Bought a new '21 RPOD-178 HRE in August 2020, $22K. Three times 480 miles to the purchase dealer in Escanaba for warranty repairs (NEVER fixed), out 3 times totaling 5 nights, the $2K extended warranty worthless for leaks & subsequent damage. Stuck with over $9K in repairs - when I sell it the new owner won't be screwed over like I've been. Sincerely hope THEY get some happiness from it. To me it's a Stephen King novel. They ran out of sealant, used Play Doh. Uggh.... Shame on Forest River. And yes, I did reach out to them on the web portal. Got crickets. Thanks, Warren Buffett. Thanks so much.

Thanks John for another great update! Sounds like the industry will keep on doing business as usual! Building junk ! I will be keeping my fiberglass Casita for a long time! Thanks for sharing !👍😁

Excellent content. Decontenting - new buzzword. Thanks for sharing.

I always look forward to your quality information and you never let me down.

This makes me glad we kept our 2014, 19 ft Forest River. Had a few issues we solved ourselves after the warranty expired and like you, have upgraded as needed. Could have been a lot worse with a newer model. Thanks for the update!

Thanks John. Very informative. As for us, we’re holding on to our ‘23 Rockwood Signature 8337RL. We would like to upgrade to a 5th wheel, but not in this market. So we’ll enjoy what we have for now.

I'm so glad we bought a 2017 earlier this year (with less than 10k miles). Yeah, we've had to fix a few things, but we're handy and figured that would happen. It's our first RV. We originally thought we'd fix it up and sell it after a year for a newer model. But, not now; we're going to keep upgrading what we have and may not buy again for years, if ever. There are just too many issues, concerns, and financial (interest, fuel, etc.) considerations at present.

Thanks for the latest update's

It will be very interesting to see what percentage of new/old stock the dealers will be able to unload and how it is related to specific trailer types.

So basically cheaper made RVs with cheap materials but much higher cost, got it.

I bumped up from a 2011 Coleman Sedona PUP to a 2021 RPod 171 two years ago...glad I bought when I did. The '22s went to a dark cabinet color (blech) and the '24s eliminated the front window, which is the one I look out of 90% of the time while sitting at the dinette. Granted, Forest River most likely did this because of two service bulletins on the window for leaking (not on mine), and 'shade droop' - meaning the shade assembly pulls off the wall and falls down during travel, which mine did - repaired myself. You mentioned upgrades as opposed to trading in/up, and I've done: Goodyear Endurance tires, dual propane tanks, memory foam mattress & 'eggcrate' topper, EasyTouch thermostat, a couple of better quality ceiling lamps (after one failed), seat cushion foam from the seller in one of your other vids, PahaQue visor, Oxygenics shower head, and a few other trinkets. I plan on keeping this one for a LONG time. Thanks.

Good job John. Always thorough. Found it interesting about the warrantee repairs costs going through the roof and eating away at profit. I knew there were quality issues from pandemic built rvs.

I am anxious to see the European rv’s quality up here in North America. I’ll never buy another N.A made unit that’s for sure.

Have thought the same thing regarding improving that which is already in possession. Instead of buying new, which was the original plan, have decided to completely gut my classic Airstream and slowly upgrade it with modern appliances and interior.

Oh boy! Different day same #^$!@!.....thanks again for the update! ..

I have a 2018 RPod 172 that has had some challenges. The water heater and fridge have both broken loose and I had to re-fasten them. The trailer is pretty light, but things don't stand up to much use. Quality wasn't all that hot pre Covid in my opinion. And they sure didn't move on the price despite it being last year's model when I bought it.

Boom followed by a bust. The big manufacturers always make the same mistakes when you get to the bust cycle. They are still concerned with volume. My old boss used to say Profit is sanity, Volume is vanity.

Great info👍 Wife decided she wanted to buy a new Travel Trailer instead of me converting the Cargo trailer -- but not the way things are looking for the new stalk out there, We will go to the upcoming RV show just to see whats being offered but I doubt we will purchase. cheeers

I will keep old faithful. I just up graded some stuff. It has good bones and I have pulled that hole trailer apart I know it forwards and backwards. New running gear is next I guess. It'd cheaper than a new one and plus my 13 model is better built.

Thanks John! I’m keeping an eye on your market trend analysis as we hope to upgrade our camper next year. On a separate topic, do you have any suggestions for replacing the tires on your tow vehicle (not camper)? Replace with the OEM version rubber it came with or is this an area that can be upgraded?

Interesting/ not into trailers but super c. The quality is way down and the prices are obscene. We need in all rvs so mandates like less chemicals the entire unit is a fire trap seeing all materials are extremely flammable and over a certain length 2 doors should be mandatory in any rv. Just my opinion. Liked your video

The new smaller and lighter units also help new campers avoid purchasing a very expensive HD tow vehicle.

Yeah, Long story but ,we traded for a 2023..and I have rebuilt this thing from stem to stern...it became clear to me years ago that I can't buy an RV that , to me, is put together NEAR as good as it could be! Also, if you wait for a dealership to fix anything, you will be laid up for weeks/months. This time though, the Quality in the build was Terrible! And what about the included back up camara's that even the dealer tells you up front ''they dont' work''...and other pretty worthless piece's that are ..well..junk! I feel bad for the folks that paid hard earned money for these things that can not fix them themselves.

I have a 171 and I get zero help from the dealer who sold me the camper. My 3 way water diverter for the bathrooms sink/shower does not work and needs to be replaced but I can not find the part number nor a replacement for it. The ones I see on Amazon are too short. How do I get this part, without it I can not shower. thanks

A huge problem occurred in 2012, when manufacturers lightened trailers structurally, which ended up with an epidemic of bent frames. The RV industry has always been skanky. That skankiness is increasing rapidly.

What a crazy market and crazy bs they are doing

Why is it that poor build quality of many RVs seems to be just the way it is as if this has become a normalized part of the industry? Does the Dept. of Consumer Affairs know about this sad state of affairs? It seems that this has become an accepted part of business as usual. It is unacceptable. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir here. I purchased a new 2019 Forest River R-pod 180 and had nothing but problems with it right from the get go. I took many pictures and did a write up and sent it to Forest River. They contacted me and basically said that since all these deficiencies were repaired at the dealership, why do I have an issue. I told them that the warranty really shouldn't be relied upon because the manufacturer build quality and quality control is so poor. Warranty is to cover things that show up during a certain period as the unit is pulled and used. I do really think that Forest River is taking advantage of the dealerships to cover their butts in this regard. Anyway, after a lengthy conversation with FR in which I told them I feel I should be compensated for all the hassle of towing it back and forth to the dealership, the frustration, the waiting for FR to OK the warranty repairs and the extended time to receive parts. And the fact that my unit wasn't useable for the first 2-3 months of it's life. They finally asked me what type of compensation did I have in mind. I told them that some type of money reimbursement would be nice. They actually cut me a check for $500 which was nice, but really didn't address the issues they were having. Did they take it seriously enough to try and go back and rectify these build quality deficiencies or just call it the cost of doing business? I will never purchase another RV again unless I'm convinced I won't get ripped off. I've done many upgrades in addition to all the repairs to get it to the point where I'm satisfied and feeling good about taking it out on the road. Sorry for my lengthy two cents...or maybe three or four 🙂 but really, it's so ridiculous that we have to put up this type of stuff.

Thor's quality is so bad they should not be allowed on the road period! If they build them any cheaper they wouldn't even roll down their own production line. At some point these corporations need to be vigorously regulated for the the safety of the general public. Some manufacturers just have zero ethics. You know they know how bad they are when they disable their own social media comments.

So the general quality of RVs is not already low enough? Now they are going to build them cheaper, and of course to an even lower quality standard? No thanks. Sending this from the Valley of the Gods in Utah via Starlink, boondocking in my home built cargo trailer to RV conversion. RV manufacturers have lost me forever.

Those companies building sub-standard products suck as Keystone, Forest River, Thor, Ember, ect., should be 86'd from the industry. But until consumers wake up, like they did with the auto industry in the 90's by buying Japanese vehicles in place of shitty American-made vehicles and stop buying from these RV companies that have ZERO ethics and a "couldn't care less" attitude about their customers, this kind of bullshit will continue. PLEASE, PLEASE everyone, do you research before buying and disregard the sales pitch and add-on "features & benefits" that these shady companies use to lure you into their showrooms. BUY QUAILITY, NOT FLUFFY CRAP. You don't NEED all these bells and whistles.... all they are doing is raising the price of the RV's, taking money away from other things like using better raw materials and higher skilled workers and causing warranty issues and product failures to skyrocket.