Denver RV Business

March 16, 9:26 PMRV Travel ExaminerKeith Bennett

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An interview with Jim Humble, General Manager of Windish RV Center.

We recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Jim Humble, General Manager of Windish and discuss the RV world today. Windish was started in the 60’s by Dale Windish as an Oldsmobile dealership. Dale believed in running his business on small town values. In the 70’s the dealership ventured into RV’s with the Winnebago line. The business was sold to Emich and then bought back in the 90’s. When Dale Windish died in 1995, the operation of the business was assumed by his daughter, Carlyon, who continues to runs it today.

Examiner: Given economy what adjustments have you made?
Jim: I’ve been in the business 17 years and there are a lot of changes. 80% of our business are families, people who are in their late 30’s early 40’s, that have kids at home that are wanting to experience not only Colorado, but the country in general. Now a days, trucks are family vehicles; there are crew cabs, four doors, plenty of room to seat the whole family. You’re able to pull something; you’re able to pull a travel trailer. The manufacturing side of it, they are making trailers lighter weight today, so those vehicles can pull them. The expense of having a trailer or 5th wheel, you can own a brand new trailer or 5th wheel for as little as $150/month, so that makes it affordable. People who don’t know about RVs think they are all a half million dollars and that is far from the case. We sell used trailers from $5,000 and on up. So, it is very affordable. In these economic times, families will still take vacations. The vacation cost includes airfare, hotel, food etc and you can own an RV for a couple of hundred dollars a month, so for about $3,000 per year you can sure beat a week in Orlando which can cost twice that amount.

Examiner: How has financing affected your business?
Jim: It has. It used to be no money down was not a problem. You had a guy who had a 690 credit score; I could put him in no money down, $25,000 unit that day. The banks have tightened up; the money down is required no matter what the credit score is or how solid the buyer is.

Examiner: 20%?
Jim: No, 10%; a lot of it depends on the unit. The bank wants to be in a good equity position.

Examiner: Terms?
Jim: Terms haven’t changed 15 or 20 depending on the amount. Anything over $10,000 you can go 12 years on. Anything above $25,000 you can go 15 years.

Examiner: Has your F&I (finance and insurance) department had to work harder?
Jim: No question, yes. We definitely work harder. Some banks have gotten out of the retail side of it, so we are forced to use more local credit unions.

Financing - In discussion, Jim went on to say that 70% of current buyers are financing their purchase, which has not changed a lot. On the topic of dealer floor planning, the financing of units in stock at the dealer, some dealers have had to go out of business as a result of not being able to obtain this critical type of financing.

Warranty - The only line of RVs that Windish carried that has gone out of business is Holiday Rambler by Monaco. Windish only carried the motorized line and had begun to phase them out quite a while ago, with only 4 left. When asked, Jim confirmed those with a RV under warranty are on their own if the manufacture goes out of business. He did point out that all of the component parts like the engine, refrigerator, air conditioner; heater, etc are warranted by their manufacture. It is these component parts that see the majority of warranty claims.

Future - We asked Jim to look into his crystal ball and predict what this year would look like for the RV industry. “On a scale of 1-10, how do you see this year?” Jim responded that on the motorized side it would be very poor, but on the towable side it would be O.K. The reason being, that people are shifting their focus from motorized to towable. He is seeing this across all segments of the RVers. Families are not buying $250,000 diesel pushers, retired people are the market for these units and retired folks are sitting tight because of the hit to their retirement funds.

Good time to buy - We asked Jim if this was a good time to buy and why? Jim shared that he feels it is as dealers are more competitive than in the past and that dealers want to take advantage of every opportunity. Dealers want to reduce excess inventory and work “some really good deals” .  Jim sited an example of what kind of deals may be available. Laredo 5th wheel is his number 1 selling 5th wheel and he sells about 90 of them a year. The typical unit has a MSRP of $38,000 and sells today for $25,000. In two years he can sell this unit for $20,000.

Manufacture support - We asked Jim if the manufactures had increased their service and customer service levels to the dealers in order to gain loyalty in these difficult economic times. Jim responded that the good ones have always taken care of their dealers and the bad ones are out of business and/or struggling. He cited two examples, Thor on the positive side and Fleetwood on the negative side. We looked into both firms and found that Thor is probably the best RV manufacture when judged on financial stability with zero debt and we reported on Fleetwood’s closing of their towable line and subsequent bankruptcy last week.

Final thoughts - Windish operates under the belief that people have a choice, there are lots of dealers and that service after the sale makes a big difference. “We are there for our customers, with a great service department and great service writers”. “We have every segment of RV, except tent trailers, with a lot of choice.” It struck this writer that they love their customers as told by this welcome sign and the pictures of many happy RVers.

Happy Camping