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RT019: Don’t Buy at an RV Show Without Listening to This!

| Updated Jan 21, 2015

Joe Murray has seen a lot in his 40 years of being in the RV business, but the current market is among the best he can remember.

It only took one look around the floor at the Grand Rapids Camper, Travel & RV Show this past weekend to see why – the packed aisles were full of potential buyers, from millennials to baby boomers.

And to Murray, regional sales manager for Roadtrek, packed shows like this – and RV horns sounding a sale just about every five minutes – signify a great start to the year after a stellar 2014.

grshow1“There’s an awful lot of money in this economy and there’s a lot of interest in mobility, camping and travel,” Murray told Roadtreking in Grand Rapids. “I think we’re going to have another banner year.”

Murray talked to us for episode 19 of the Roadtreking RV Podcast, addressing all-things-RV, from how use of RVs has evolved in the last 15 years (less camping, more touring) and who the typical customer is to what you should hope to take away from your RV show experiences – just in time for the busy RV show season.

Murray, with the help of other show attendees, help you understand:

  • What are some questions you need to answer about buying an RV that might not be so obvious
  • Should you even touch anything when checking out RVs at the show
  • Whether you should buy from inventory or special order to get the best price
  • Whether the prices at RV shows really are rock bottom
  • How to “try on an RV” for size at the show, making sure it works for you and your RVing style
  • What is the most important question that you should ask an RV dealer before you buy
  • What kind of RVs have the hands down highest resale value, year in and year out
  • How are today's RV buyers different from those of year's past
  • [spp-tweet “Secrets of buying at an RV show”]

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Shownotes for Episode 19 of Roadtreking The RV Podcast

First Things First: Florida RV SuperShow Sets the Tone

grshow2The Florida RV SuperShow from Tampa, Fla. sets the tone for the entire year when it comes to all-things-RV. Roadtreking's Campskunk was there for day one and two of the show last week that set attendance records, further distancing us from the dark days of the late aughts. Need further proof? A surprising number of units were actually sold during the show.  But is an RV show the best place to buy an RV? It's the focus of this week's show.

Interviews: How to Shop for an RV at an RV Show

We were at the Grand Rapids Camper, Travel & RV Show this past weekend and talked to several experts to gain super-insider info on how to shop for and buy an RV and how to use and RV show to find the best deal on the best unit.

Questions of the Week: Grilling and Organizing

A listener shared feedback on the George Foreman Grill and how much she loves us after reading a post where we shared our use of it. We responded to her feedback with an update about the new grill we use after our old one fell off a table last year.

gridlerWe now use the Cuisinart GR-150 Griddler Deluxe  $159

We then took a question from a reader named Don who wondered about cabinet and drawer dividers to keep things in place in the RV. We  suggested a visit to Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart for starters, or any Camping world store. TV shows all have lots of vendors who sell such items, too.

Travel Tech of the Week: Password Management and Hacker Protection

The massive theft of over a BILLION email accounts by a Russian hacker gang has Internet security experts scrambling and ordinary online users wondering what they can do to protect themselves. But there are ways to protection yourselves.

The very first thing Internet users need to do is change their passwords. Use a program called LastPass to manage all your passwords. It keeps track of your user names and passwords for you and logins in automatically with them. This is how passwords should be — very complex. The program will generate secure passwords like fshsgRHF#1kaj# …. just try and remember that one on your own!It will then automatically log you in and enter that secure password for you.

Password Genie is another secure password manager. It stores and secures passwords on PC and Mac computers and Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.

I also like Dashlane. It has a form filler, generates secure passwords and has a very easy to use interface. Like the others, there are free and premium versions.

Regardless the program you use, be sure to change your social media passwords, too, and don’t use the same password on all the sites you visit.

Off the Beaten Path: A Very Memorable First Roadtrek

Roadtreking Reporter Yan Seiner shared his family's misadventures surrounding their first trip with their first Roadtrek some years back — problems after problems, an attempted break-in as they headed out on a fossil-hunting trip to Eastern Oregon and a hiking trip to the Columbia Gorge. All with even more mishaps. Despite it all, Yan says, it was a blast.

And finally…

For only the MOST loyal listeners, I have free giveaways for five lucky listeners who took the time to listen to Roadtreking’s 19th episode – a free copy of Quicken for Dummies, an awesome book that teaches you how to use to popular Quicken financial software. If you’re looking to get your finances organized, but don’t know where to start, look no further than this book. With this easy-to-understand guide, you’ll discover how to set up accounts, track income and expenses, monitor your investments, pay the bills on time, and take the sting out of tax time with perfect organization!

Please subscribe and give us a rating and review

And, of course, many listeners are asking how they can subscribe, review and rate the Roadtreking Podcast on iTunes. With a new podcast like this, those reviews and ratings are really important to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your review.

Here’s how:

How to subscribe, rate and review a podcast

First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts up on the top
> From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in Mike Wendland or Roadtreking RV Podcast.
> Click on the logo image of the Roadtreking RV Podcast on the search return page
> From there (see photo above), you can…

1) Subscribe

2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much.

3) Leave a written review.

Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. That got us noticed by Apple/iTunes as “New and Noteworthy.” I appreciate every review!

And remember, you can appear in future episodes. Ask a question or voice your comments about RV topics by clicking the Leave Voicemail tab on the right side of this page here at Roadtreking.com. You can then use the microphone on your computer to record your words.

 

Mike Wendland

Published on 2015-01-21

Mike Wendland is a multiple Emmy-award-winning Journalist, Podcaster, YouTuber, and Blogger, who has traveled with his wife, Jennifer, all over North America in an RV, sharing adventures and reviewing RV, Camping, Outdoor, Travel and Tech Gear for the past 12 years. They are leading industry experts in RV living and have written 18 travel books.

One Response to “RT019: Don’t Buy at an RV Show Without Listening to This!”

January 26, 2015at2:32 pm, Robo99 said:

The point was made about RVing going more and more in recent years toward touring rather than camping. What does this mean? They buy a $100k RV, travel to many places they want to see, then check into motels/hotels for the night? If not, they’re still camping, and if so they don’t need to buy an RV, just a touring car or truck. Bob.

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