Fuel Prices Dampen Demand for RV's

[jcl]

Originally Posted by rucos

I think west coast of Canada is some the worst gas prices anywhere in NA !...... prices are up the last few weeks and we pay about $4.25us$ per us gal today. I think most people just grumble ...fill up ...hook up and go.

I was in a conference yesterday that talked about when people make significant changes in their fuel usage, not just for towing but for all driving. The numbers being discussed were closer to $8 US per gallon, so double the prices we see here in BC today.

I don't know if towing will be hit harder than other driving as fuel prices go up; there is more of an impact in l/100 km, but generally lower overall distances travelled than driving for other purposes.

[Saluda372]

No & no.

[Mikebrady62]

I think with the vaccine becoming more available, people will start flying more now. It will certainly cut down on our AS travel compared to last year but we will still take a 4-6 week AS trip and many shorter trips as well. Fuel price will not curtail our travel but it could effect some. Hopefully leading to more available camp sites.
Speaking for the Energy Industry- Fuel prices and demand are not nearly high enough.

[Julie-Bob]

Think about this in 1967 we purchased our first RV. Gas prices was $.35, hourly pay was $3.50 so gas cost 1% of my pay. Today hourly pay $65.00 so gas should cost $6.50 a gal. So gas is cheaper today than then. Never thought about gas prices, think about this Ford 2500 diesel top of the line around $96,000.00, AS around $150,000.00 and your thinking about very cheap gas????

[Halford1]

Originally Posted by Julie-Bob

Think about this in 1967 we purchased our first RV. Gas prices was $.35, hourly pay was $3.50 so gas cost 1% of my pay. Today hourly pay $65.00 so gas should cost $6.50 a gal. So gas is cheaper today than then. Never thought about gas prices, think about this Ford 2500 diesel top of the line around $96,000.00, AS around $150,000.00 and your thinking about very cheap gas????

Not everyone earn $65/hr. So many Airstream owners are retired. My wife and I make decent pay but sometimes going on a Loooooonnnnngggg trip, the major expense could be gas money. my cheapest price that I could remember was 57 cents in early 70's maybe middle 70's when my parents had the station wagon. The SW engine was HUGE! gas guzzle and it didnt bother my parents. nowadays when people are retired or their pay are low, it concerns them. I live in California, wishing I am back to Georgia or Alabama.

[Daquenzer]

Gas prices will most likely stabilize after the Texas fiasco is taken care of. Russia and Saudi are increasing production; despite the fact we are trying to decrease production by shutting down pipelines, which really doesn’t do anything other than raise the price of gas since it costs more to transfer by rail.

So I don’t think we are going to see any real change any time soon. Gas will probably go up some, but not dramatically. But remember we were paying over $3 per gallon for years. Cheap gas is really only a recent phenomena due to COVID which caused a radical decrease in consumption and increased production in the U.S.

I don’t think we are going to see consumption go back to pre-COVID levels anytime soon. As to production it’s hard to know what is going to happen. So if the goal is to get everyone in EV’s then I could see consumption going down more. But there is a LOOONG way to go before people are going to buy EVs in mass. But that’s another discussion.

My guess is that we’ll see gas in that $3 per gallon range after the pandemic ends; which we all hope is sooner than later!!

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by rucos

I love my Tundra until I get to the gas station.....lol

Here's how I mitigate some of the fuel costs.
1. I like Shell, so that's the station I fuel up at if possible.
2, I asked for a free "fuel rewards" card from Shell. That saves me $0.05/gal. off the top.
3. My grocery, Publix, from time to time offers Shell $50 gift cards for $40 if you're buying groceries. So that saves me 20% on fuel also. In addition I like that my bank card never touches the gas pumps. No personal information is on the gift card. So between trips, I stockpile gift cards. At one time I had 20 of them, $1000 of gas prepaid!
It helps.

If you buy diesel, look into the fuel savers cards for truck stops. It's free and can save $0.45/gal. The catch is you must use the truck pumps, not the "auto diesel" in the auto area.
https://rvlove.com/2019/09/19/discou...discount-card/

[JohnandDonna]

I agree with most of the folks who have posted here. The difficulties in campground space, especially on the weekends, is the biggest hindrance. We are doing Yellowstone and the Black Hills this year. Had to make our reservations almost a year in advance. As far as fuel cost go, while we don't like the rising prices it won't keep us home. We tow our 30' Intl with a Ram 2500 MegaCab with the 6.4 Hemi. She can be a bit thirsty. Whats great is when doing a trip like Yellowstone, we like going with family (my wifes sister and her husband). Splitting costs makes it a lot more palatable.

[ronderful]

I happened to look at Brent futures this morning and Goldman is projecting $80 a barrel by midsummer. I'm guessing thats another buck a gallon. However I agree that for folks like us it's not going to impact how much we camp like hard to find RV park space. I have to wonder why the RV park side of the current camping boom hasn't followed RV sales.

[Bcc75]

We all know how slow the Government is in making things happen so I don't see any new campgrounds popping up in the near future on state or federal property. I would think however that a private developer with a chunk of property in the right location could see a real return on his investment buy building an RV Park. Water and Electric installations being the biggest expense, as there is not much actual construction to be done. Some of these nicer parks are well past the $100 per night rate now. In milder climates you could see these places booked year round.

[trikdacy]

During the summer of 2020 we paid $1.82 a gallon for diesel during our trip through the southeast. on March 6th, 2021 we paid $3.30 for a gallon of gasoline on Fort Hamilton Army Base.The price on January 19th, 2021 was $2.50 for a gallon of gasoline on the same base. I do not see this lightning rapid upward price trend changing anytime soon. According to what I have been reading it will continue to go up. This will not change our traveling or driving habits. We just reserved 4900 miles of traveling spots to various states for our spring/summer jouney. We also have a summer/fall journey scheduled too.

[wampler]

The only issue I have is this increase which is now up $1.20 per gallon and has all happened since Biden took office. Under President Trump fuel had lowered and sort of stabilized.
But we travel and do what we want and just realize that is just the cost of traveling and camping

[panamerican]

...just realized I never really answered question 1, impact RV sales/demand.

THOR is the largest conglomerate of RV builders on the planet. Almost every division is backlogged and THOR overall had in Dec 2020 a nearly 9 BILLION dollar backlog of unfulfilled orders.

https://cleanlivingrvpark.com/thor-a...-of-rv-orders/


THOR's stock price has climbed over $10-12 within the last few weeks.

Having just contacted a 3 dealers across the country to test the water, 8-10 months on a newly ordered Airstream was what I was hearing. With gas by me in a major metro at about $3 for the 87 octane stuff, and guessing most of the country isn't in a low gas cost bubble, seems that getting places to visit and set up camp is going to get a whole lot more interesting until these newbies who want to social distance with an RV realize it not really as simple as tow and go flood the Airstream Classifieds and such. I think that is going to have a bigger impact on RV sales unless fuel hits $5-6/gallon

[mikextr]

Originally Posted by wampler

The only issue I have is this increase which is now up $1.20 per gallon and has all happened since Biden took office. Under President Trump fuel had lowered and sort of stabilized.
But we travel and do what we want and just realize that is just the cost of traveling and camping

Oil prices are not going up or down because of who is the president. Here is rundown of events that have caused Oil market fluctuations over the last year:

1. In 2020, worldwide demand for oil fell rapidly as governments closed businesses and restricted travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. An oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia erupted in March when the two nations failed to reach a consensus on oil production levels.

3. In April, an oversupply of oil led to an unprecedented collapse in oil prices, forcing the contract futures price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to plummet from $18 a barrel to around -$37 a barrel.

4. By the summer of 2020, oil prices began to rebound as nations emerged from lockdown and OPEC agreed to significant cuts in crude oil production.

5. By year's end, optimism over the possible rollout of multiple COVID-19 vaccines buoyed the market; in November, Brent crude oil spot prices increased to an average of $43 a barrel.

6. Add to that the shortages caused by refinery and pipeline damage caused by the Texas Ice Storm

7. Personally, I think prices will continue to rise through the summer but it will neither affect my travels nor overall RV sales.

Link to source:
https://www.investopedia.com/article...es-go-2017.asp

[moosetags]

The price of Diesel has gone from $1.99 to $2.75 in the last several weeks here in the Florida Panhandle. I don't like seeing that, but there is nothing I can do about it. Our plans with Lucy for this year will go on regardless.

Brian

[Peter C]

Current diesel prices where I am is approx $3.35/us gallon. I never mind paying more for fuel as our local economy is greatly impacted by the Oil and Gas industry. Every $1 increase in WTI means more jobs, more royalties for the government, more spending at local businesses, etc.



Fuel prices never impacts our camping plans.

[Capt who]

I spoke to a friend who works at a local high end marina and she said they are booked up and there is a long waiting list to get slip. These are big sportfishing boats that burn 2-4 gal of fuel per mile. Some of these boats are 80 feet. The last boat that I captained was a 56' Viking with twin 1550 hp diesels, I burned 3.3 gallons per mile and fuel price isn't something the owners worry about so no I don't think it will slow down.

[mythbuster88]

Originally Posted by Hans627

Fuel prices have been rising rather quickly. Diesel is about $3.40/gal here in FL.

Do you think the higher prices will slow the demand for RV's?

Will these prices for fuel change your travel plans for the coming year?

Wizard prediction hat is on:


Yes. Fuel prices will slow the demand. How much is hard to say. The price that will really kill demand is also unknown but if diesel was $10/gallon demand would drop to near zero. In Europe diesel is around $6.30/gallon which is where the USA is headed. Half of the country is opposed to burning fossil fuels and this will change everything for everybody.

But for the coming year there will be little change.

Hat is off.

[RobdaSlob]

Every time oil hits a low (like this time last year) I buy stock in an oil company (Phillips last year when it was under 50/share). Every time oil hits a high I start selling the same stock and use the proceeds to fill the beast.

Nothing like hedging ones fuel costs.

[mefly2]

Better than when diesel was $4.05 / gal ~ 7 years ago ...BUUUUUT, we shall see just where it ends ...