To add to what boaratio mentioned: My experience is living in one while traveling for work for a few years (and I rebuilt mine to improve it over the stock configuration and knew how to fix it myself.)
They’re more expensive to stay in than motels in many areas. Every time you drive somewhere it’s an earthquake and something is breaking. They’re either too hot or too cold due to no insulation, maintenance is terrible (and they require a ton), driving them around is terrible, staying in them is also terrible. They shake in the wind, are loud in the rain (I like that part tbh), are incredibly delicate for a road vehicle so anything touching them that wouldn’t bother a car will damage them somehow.
Why all this? Labor is the largest cost for an RV, and they already have that as cheap as possible (I heard one is built every 24 hours on most lines), so the only way to save money is by going as cheap as possible on materials as well.
Every time you drive somewhere it’s an earthquake and something is breaking.
I watched a vlog from someone who RVed full-time and this was my largest takeaway. They have a lot of things breaking.
the only way to save money is by going as cheap as possible on materials as well.
I think that a big factor is going to be that the volume sold just isn’t that large. Fixing engineering problems is gonna be a fixed cost, independent of the number of units you sell, so a vehicle manufacturer that sells tons of units can do a lot more of that.
To add to what boaratio mentioned: My experience is living in one while traveling for work for a few years (and I rebuilt mine to improve it over the stock configuration and knew how to fix it myself.)
They’re more expensive to stay in than motels in many areas. Every time you drive somewhere it’s an earthquake and something is breaking. They’re either too hot or too cold due to no insulation, maintenance is terrible (and they require a ton), driving them around is terrible, staying in them is also terrible. They shake in the wind, are loud in the rain (I like that part tbh), are incredibly delicate for a road vehicle so anything touching them that wouldn’t bother a car will damage them somehow.
Why all this? Labor is the largest cost for an RV, and they already have that as cheap as possible (I heard one is built every 24 hours on most lines), so the only way to save money is by going as cheap as possible on materials as well.
I watched a vlog from someone who RVed full-time and this was my largest takeaway. They have a lot of things breaking.
I think that a big factor is going to be that the volume sold just isn’t that large. Fixing engineering problems is gonna be a fixed cost, independent of the number of units you sell, so a vehicle manufacturer that sells tons of units can do a lot more of that.