RV Industry SHOCK: Dealers Dumping New RVs in Peak Season

RV Podcast News Edition, Monday Juy 6, 2026

Hey everybody, welcome to the RV Lifestyle Podcast, Monday News Edition for July 6th. I'm Mike Wendland, Winding up the fourth of Juy weekend by getting you caught up on everything moving in the RV world.

Every story we cover on this show gets sourced and linked for you, no guesswork, no vague "reports say." Head over to RVPodcast.com after you listen and you'll find full show notes with every link, every source, organized by story, so you can dig deeper on anything that catches your attention.

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Alright, let's get into it.

Story 1: RV Industry Dysfunction on Full Display: Inventory Liquidation Crisis Hits at Peak Season

As if escalating quality issues and a steady drumbeat of recalls weren't enough to make you think twice about this industry, now we've got this. Dealers liquidating brand new RVs in the middle of peak season. Not clearance leftovers from three years ago. Brand new units, built this year, getting dumped at fire sale prices while the industry keeps insisting everything is fine.

That phrase, "liquidating new RVs in peak season," isn't me talking. That's Ben Hirsch, Chief Operating Officer of Campers Inn RV, one of the largest dealer groups in the country. He wrote it himself, in black and white, in a guest column for RVBusiness this week. And I want to unpack it for you, because it explains something a lot of you have been asking me about. Why does this industry keep doing this to itself.

Right now, in the middle of what's supposed to be the best selling season of the year, dealers are sitting on new RVs that never should have been built in the first place. The numbers back him up. April wholesale shipments were down 17.4 percent. Retail registrations were off about 17 percent that same month. And if you go back to the first quarter, when this inventory was actually getting built, you see the real problem. Shipments slid around 12 percent while retail demand fell closer to 20 percent. That gap between what factories built and what actually sold. That's the pile of unsold RVs sitting on lots right now. The industry's own forecast just got cut again, from 349,000 units down to 314,000, the first real cut after quarters of everybody pretending things were fine.

Hirsch has a name for what's happening. He calls it the bullwhip effect. It's a supply chain term. A small wobble in real customer demand turns into a violent swing the further back up the chain you go, from the customer, to the dealer, to the factory. And here's the part that really got me. He says this keeps repeating for the same boring, predictable reasons every single time. Factories build to dealer purchase orders that were guessed at months in advance. Shipments count as revenue the day they roll off the line, so there's always pressure to keep building. And dealers guard their own sales numbers like state secrets, so the one thing that could actually fix this, real, current demand data, never gets shared with the people doing the building.

Nobody in that chain is doing anything crazy on their own. Every decision makes sense in isolation. Stack them all together and you get exactly what we're watching right now. A dealer lot full of brand new units getting fire sold in July.

Now here's what makes Hirsch's piece worth your five minutes. He's not just complaining. He's put his own company on the record. Campers Inn already sends real retail sales numbers straight to their manufacturer partners. He's asking other dealers to do the same, and he's asking manufacturers to actually act on that data instead of just holding to a purchase order that was written for a market that doesn't exist anymore. Walmart figured this out decades ago with suppliers. Dell figured it out with build to order. Hirsch is basically saying, hey RV industry, catch up.

I wrote about this same slowdown on the blog this week, from the buyer's side of the counter. And here's my take, for what it's worth after 15 plus years of watching this industry cycle up and down. This mess on the manufacturing and dealer side is exactly why patient buyers are sitting in the driver's seat right now. Dealers facing slower traffic and lots that are too full are a lot more willing to negotiate than they were two or three years ago. Factory incentives are creeping back in. If you've been holding off on a purchase, this is not a bad time to start shopping, and it's a terrible time to feel rushed.

But don't mistake a slowdown in sales for a slowdown in RVing. Jennifer and I are out there right now, and the campgrounds are full. National parks are packed. People are still traveling, they're just not signing loan paperwork as fast as they were during the pandemic gold rush. That's not the industry dying. That's the industry finally getting a dose of reality it's needed for a while.

The fix Hirsch is proposing isn't complicated. It's just never been convenient, because sharing real numbers means giving up a little bit of leverage, and giving up leverage is not exactly this industry's strong suit. Whether dealers and manufacturers actually do it, or whether we're back here again in eighteen months talking about another liquidation cycle, that's the real story I'll be watching.

STORY TWO: The Patrick-Lippert Merger and What It Really Means

As if the industry didn't have enough dysfunction to cover this week, story two is the one that's really got people talking. The Patrick Industries and LCI Industries merger, that's Lippert to most of you, just went from rumor to official.

Here's the timeline, because the timeline tells you everything. Back in April, both companies confirmed they were in talks on a so called merger of equals. By May 4, those talks blew up. Terminated. No agreement on terms, both sides said. Case closed, or so everybody thought.

Then in early June, on this very podcast, I told you something didn't add up. Jason Lippert, the longtime CEO who had run that company for years, abruptly retired at age 54. Same day, the chairman of the board resigned too. Two departures like that on the same day is not a coincidence, it's a signal. I said at the time that smelled like boardroom friction over a stalled deal, and that with Jason out of the way, the merger would be back on.

Twenty six days later, I was right. June 30, Patrick and LCI announced a definitive agreement. All stock merger, enterprise value north of seven billion dollars. Patrick CEO Andy Nemeth will run the combined company. We may never know exactly what happened behind those closed doors, but you don't lose a CEO and a chairman on the same day, in the middle of merger talks, unless somebody lost a power struggle. That's my theory, and I'm sticking with it until somebody proves me wrong.

Now let's talk about why this matters to every single one of you, whether you're towing a teardrop or driving a diesel pusher. Lippert and Patrick are not brands you see on the front of your RV. They're the companies behind the brand. Chassis, axles, slide outs, leveling systems, cabinetry, countertops, water heaters, electronics. Between them they already account for more than eleven thousand dollars of content on the average towable. Put those two under one roof and you get a supplier with a reach across this industry that nobody has ever had before.

And I'm not the only one saying that's a problem. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, sent a formal letter to both companies raising serious concerns, and he copied the Department of Justice Antitrust Division on it. His argument is straightforward. When you combine two suppliers of this scale, across this many critical categories, you create a company with the power to set pricing, limit availability, and squeeze the manufacturers who have nowhere else to go.

Think about the smaller suppliers still standing on the outside of this. Companies like MORryde and Dometic compete hard in specific categories, suspension, climate systems, awnings. But now they're competing against a combined giant that touches nearly every part of the build, not just one corner of it. That's not a level playing field anymore. That's a company you can choose to compete with in one category while depending on for a dozen others.

I'll be straight with you. Our industry sources are not looking at this favorably. And I'll go one further. This week I was personally contacted by a regulatory and antitrust specialist from a major financial services and investment advisory firm who is actively looking into the ramifications of this deal. That's not a blogger with an opinion. That's serious money asking serious questions about how big is too big.

This deal still has to clear shareholder votes on both sides and get through regulatory review under the Hart Scott Rodino Act before anything closes, and that's not expected until sometime in the first half of 2027. That's a long runway for scrutiny to build. Don't be surprised if this becomes a genuine antitrust fight before it's over.

Here's the part that really gets me fired up, and it's bigger than just two supplier logos merging into one. This is not an isolated event. This is a pattern, and if you've been paying attention the last several years, you already know it because it is happening to every single layer of this industry at once.

Start with manufacturing. Thor Industries and Forest River, that's Berkshire Hathaway's baby, and Winnebago have already swallowed up dozens of smaller brands over the past two decades. Most of the "different" RV brands sitting side by side on a dealer lot roll off assembly lines owned by the same handful of parent companies. You think you're choosing between brands. You're really choosing between paint schemes.

Now stack the supplier side on top of that with Patrick and Lippert combining into one house that touches nearly every component that goes into the box. And then look at what's happening to the ground you actually park on. Sun Communities, through Sun Outdoors, and Equity LifeStyle Properties have been on an acquisition tear for years, buying up private campgrounds and RV resorts at a pace that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Institutional capital, real estate investment trusts, private equity money, all of it is pouring into this space because somebody in a boardroom crunched the numbers and realized campgrounds are just real estate with really good margins. KOA keeps expanding its franchise network too, which has its upsides, but it is one more piece of this business getting standardized and centralized under fewer flags.

So look at what we've got. The people building the RVs, the companies supplying the parts that go inside them, and now the ground you park them on, all consolidating into fewer and fewer hands, at the same time. That is not three unrelated headlines. That is one story. Wall Street has figured out that this lifestyle we love is profitable, predictable, and ripe for roll ups, and they are moving in on every single link of the chain.

I didn't get into this business to cheerlead for private equity spreadsheets. I got into it because Jennifer and I fell in love with this way of life, tent camping our way up through every kind of rig there is. So forgive me if I'm not doing a victory lap over "efficiencies of scale" and "run rate synergies." Every time one of these deals closes, it's one fewer independent voice, one fewer competitor keeping somebody honest on price and quality, and one more reason it makes sense that we've got quality problems and recalls piling up at the same time dealers are drowning in unsold inventory. When an entire industry, top to bottom, gets this consolidated this fast, don't act surprised when it starts cutting corners. That's not a coincidence. That's what happens when nobody's left to answer to.

[RV BUYING SECRETS]

Quick break from the news. Given everything we just covered, dealers sitting on liquidated inventory and manufacturers and suppliers consolidating into fewer hands, there has never been a better time to walk into a dealership knowing exactly what you're doing.

That's why I put together our RV Buying Secrets ebook. This is not a blog post. It's a full digital guide, built from 15 plus years of buying, selling, and watching this industry cycle up and down, and it walks you through exactly how to negotiate in a market like the one we're in right now. What to say to a dealer when they tell you their price is firm. How to spot the difference between a real discount and a repainted markup. When financing offers are actually a good deal versus a trap. And how to read a lot full of inventory the way a dealer reads it, so you know when you have the leverage and when you don't.

Right now, with lots overflowing and dealers more willing to deal than they've been in years, this guide pays for itself the first time you use it.

Grab the RV Buying Secrets ebook at RVLifestyle.com/rv-buying-secrets. Read it before your next dealership visit, not after.

Okay, back to the news.

Story 3: National Parks Descend Into Chaos as Staffing Cuts Collide with Record Fourth of July Crowds

As if two stories of industry dysfunction weren't enough for one Monday, story three takes us straight to the front lines. Yosemite National Park, and it wasn't just Yosemite. By the time you're hearing this, most of you are either home or on your way home from the Fourth of July weekend, so let's talk about what actually happened out there, because it was every bit as bad as we feared.

Here's the setup. Earlier this year, the National Park Service killed the timed entry reservation system at Yosemite that had been in place since 2020. That system was not perfect, but it did one thing well. It kept the number of cars entering the park inside what the roads and parking lots could actually handle. Park leadership decided that wasn't necessary anymore. Memorial Day weekend was the first real test, and by every account, the park failed it. Visitors described hour and a half waits just to get in the gate. Parking lots full by 8:30 in the morning. Cars parked illegally in meadows and off the pavement because there was nowhere left to put them. One visitor called it shoulder to shoulder chaos with a lot of angry people. Park advocates were blunter than that. They called it pure chaos, and they've been asking senators to step in and force the reservation system back ever since.

Yosemite had already logged nearly 100,000 more visitors this year than at the same point last year, with March visitation up 45 percent. That was before the Fourth of July weekend even got here, and this holiday was always going to be the real stress test.

Now layer on what's been happening system wide. Since January of last year, the National Park Service has lost close to a quarter of its permanent workforce. Not a typo. A quarter. Rangers gone, maintenance crews gone, the people who used to staff entrance stations and answer questions and respond when somebody gets hurt on a trail, gone. Zion has had to close fee stations and visitor centers because there's nobody left to staff them. Acadia is short on entrance staff. Search and rescue capacity is stretched thin at parks like Joshua Tree and Yosemite. Emergency response is slower everywhere, and that's not me being dramatic, that's coming straight from park advocacy groups and the rangers themselves.

Put all of that together with this particular weekend. This was America's two hundred fiftieth birthday, and the National Park Service made every park fee free from July third through the fifth to mark it. Free entry, record travel volumes, on a milestone weekend, at the exact moment staffing is gutted and the crowd control systems that used to manage this kind of surge have been switched off at some of the biggest parks in the country, including Yosemite, Glacier, and Arches. AAA projected more than 72 million Americans traveling this holiday period, one of the highest numbers on record. You didn't need an economics degree to see where that was headed, and by all early accounts, it landed about like you'd expect.

And it collided with an active wildfire emergency out west. Utah and Colorado both declared states of emergency this week, and tragically three firefighters were killed battling fast moving blazes on the Colorado Utah border. Stage two fire restrictions went into effect at Zion, Arches, and Canyonlands. No campfires, no charcoal, fireworks banned across every national park, national forest, and BLM land in Utah. On top of that, a heat dome pushed dangerous heat and high humidity across a huge swath of the country right through the holiday weekend.

So here's my bottom line as everybody makes their way home this week. If you were one of the ones stuck at a gate for an hour and a half, or circling for parking that didn't exist, you weren't imagining it and you weren't doing anything wrong. That's what happens when you hand a bare bones staff a record breaking, fee free, milestone weekend crowd and call it a birthday present. And if you're already thinking about your next trip to one of these marquee parks, learn from this weekend. Get there before dawn or don't bother. Have a backup parking plan. Watch air quality, not just the weather, anywhere near those western fires. And strongly consider the shoulder days. Now that the fee free window has closed, the back half of this week is shaping up to be a far better time to actually enjoy these places than fighting the holiday crush was.

Somebody in Washington thought a record crowd on a bare bones staff sounded like a great idea. The rangers who had to deal with it, and the families stuck in gridlock at the gate, would probably tell you it played out exactly the way anyone paying attention could have predicted.

Story 4: The Weekly RV Recall Roundup: Another Embarrassing Reality Check for Elkhart

Finally today, I hate to keep beating up on the RV manufacturing industry week after week. I really do. But folks... come on now. Seriously. Can they honestly not do better than this? Are we setting the quality control bar so low that basic, elementary engineering is now considered a luxury add-on?

The latest round of safety recalls just finalized through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and if you want proof that manufacturing quality has completely left the building, look no further than this week’s lineup.

Let's start with Forest River. They are actively recalling over eighteen hundred of their brand-new 2025 and 2026 NOBO, Ibex, and 2025-to-2027 R-Pod travel trailers. The safety defect? The 110-volt circuits on the main electrical distribution panel were completely mislabeled at the factory. Mislabeled.

Think about that for a second. You have an electrical issue on the road, you flip the breaker that says "Microwave" or "General Outlets," you assume the line is dead, you stick your fingers in there to check it, and BANG—you get a free, unexpected cardiac jumpstart because the factory workers couldn't be bothered to check a label. NHTSA explicitly warns this presents a direct risk of severe electrical shock. Owner letters roll out August 1st, but if you own one of these rigs, do not trust the sticker on your panel. Check it with a meter first.

And if you think paying top dollar for an iconic, legacy brand protects you from basic component failures, think again. Airstream just hit the recall list for their ultra-luxury 2026 Classic trailers and 2025-to-2027 Interstate Class B motorhomes.

The issue here is the premium MaxxAir rooftop ventilation fans. It turns out the printed circuit boards are defective. Under normal, standard operation, these circuit boards can fail, short out, overheat, and catch fire. So, the one tool you rely on to keep cool on a scorching July afternoon might actually set your hundred-thousand-dollar luxury rig ablaze. Airstream is replacing them for free, but VIN searches won't even be fully live on the government website until late August.

But the biggest headline this week is a massive, quiet epidemic rolling through the high-end fifth wheel market regarding the Curt Touring Coil Suspension System. The defect reports just kept growing, confirming a total breakdown in assembly protocols. The factory shock-retaining bolts were improperly tightened. If they were over-torqued, the bolt heads can completely fracture and snap off. If they were under-torqued, they simply vibrate loose and drop onto the highway. Either way, your independent suspension undergoes a catastrophic failure while you’re towing at highway speeds, creating a severe crash risk and sending heavy metal flying into trailing traffic.

This week’s finalized list includes over eleven hundred Grand Design Reflection fifth wheels, Keystone's premium Alpine and Montana lines, Alliance RV's Paradigm models, and rigs from Brinkley, Ember, and KZ. If you bought a luxury fifth wheel built within the last year, do yourself a huge favor: crawl under your rig with a flashlight and check your suspension hardware before your next trip.

Seriously, folks. Mislabeled live electricity, ventilation fans that cause fires, and suspension bolts that snap off at 65 miles an hour. We are paying historic premium prices for these units, and this is what’s rolling out of the factories. They must do better.

Story 6: The Good News Round-Up (Time to Wash Down the Bad Taste)

Alright, I know I just spent the last few minutes beating up on the manufacturers, and frankly, they deserved it. But look—I don’t want to leave a bad taste in your mouth today. There is still plenty of good news out there on the highway, and we have two fantastic stories that remind us why we fell in love with the RV lifestyle in the first place.

First up, if you’re tired of fighting the reservation algorithms and finding every single park booked solid months in advance, we have some fantastic news coming out of our public park systems. We are officially entering a major public campground expansion boom.

State park systems across the country are finally using infrastructure grants to build entirely new loops specifically designed for modern, larger RVs. A prime example that just fully opened is at Cattail Cove State Park along the Colorado River in Arizona. They just unveiled a massive new upper campground loop adding 78 brand-new, spacious campsites equipped with full water, sewer, and 50-amp hookups, alongside a brand-new white sand beach.

And it’s not just happening out West. From state parks in Connecticut to county and municipal parks across the Midwest, public lands are aggressively expanding their site footprints. They are adding the big-rig friendly spaces and heavy-duty hookups we actually need, which means more inventory, less stress on reservation sites, and more opportunities to find a last-minute weekend slice of paradise.

Now, our final story today is a camper spotlight that we absolutely need to celebrate. If you think your summer road trip logistics are complicated, I want you to meet a guy named Mikah Meyer.

Mikah set out to do something that many experts said was logistically impossible. He wanted to visit every single National Park Service site in the United States—and he wanted to do it in one single, continuous, uninterrupted road trip. We aren’t just talking about the 63 headline National Parks like Yellowstone or Zion. We are talking about all the national monuments, historic sites, battlefields, and recreation areas. A mind-boggling total of over 400 separate properties spanning all 50 states and multiple U.S. territories.

How did he do it? He bought a used cargo van on Craigslist, spent weeks converting it himself into a custom camper van he affectionately named “Vanny McVanFace,” and hit the asphalt.

After three years of continuous travel, logging over 70,000 miles on the road—and flying or boating out to the remote island territories—Mikah officially crossed his final park line and set the world record as the youngest person to visit every single National Park Service unit, and the only person in history to do it in one single, continuous push. He spent over 700 nights sleeping right inside that DIY camper van, surviving everything from extreme sub-zero blizzards to the scorching desert heat.

Mikah took on this epic trek as a moving tribute to his late father, who passed away before he could fulfill his own retirement road trip dreams. It is an extraordinary, heartwarming milestone that captures the true essence of why we travel. It reminds us that our rigs aren't just vehicles; they are tools of absolute freedom that allow us to honor the people we love, explore the history of this country, and prove that no horizon is truly out of reach.

Hats off to Mikah, and a big salute to "Vanny McVanFace" for making history.

with your insurance and roadside assistance one tap away. It even works offline once it's loaded, so a dead zone at the campground doesn't leave you stranded without your plan.

Grab it at RVLifestyle.com/TripDashboard. Lifetime access, every feature you just heard, plus everything we add down the road.

Okay, back to the news.

CLOSE

That's it for today's News Edition. Head to RVPodcast.com for full show notes and sources on everything we covered.

Before you go, two quick things. First, if you're not on our newsletter yet, get on it. RVLifestyle.com/newsletter, it's free, and it's the best way to stay ahead of what's happening in this industry between episodes.

Second, if this show has ever helped you, saved you money, or just kept you company on a long drive, would you take thirty seconds and leave us a review? It genuinely means the world to Jennifer and me. This podcast has been running for over twelve years now, and every single review helps new RVers find us.

Thanks for listening, thanks for being part of this community, and we’ll be back next Monday with another episode.

Sources:

Story 1: RV Industry Dysfunction

●      Ben Hirsch, "We're Liquidating New RVs in Peak Season Again," RVBusiness, July 2, 2026: https://rvbusiness.com/ben-hirsch-were-liquidating-new-rvs-in-peak-season-again/

●      Mike Wendland, "America's RV Industry Is Slamming on the Brakes," RVLifestyle.com, July 2, 2026: https://rvlifestyle.com/rv-industry-slowdown/

●      RV Industry Association (RVIA) monthly shipment survey

●      Statistical Surveys, Inc. (SSI) retail registration data (preliminary, subject to upward revision)

●      RV RoadSigns forecast, prepared for RVIA by ITR Economics

Story 2: The Big Get Bigger

●      Sen. Mike Lee, letter to LCI Industries and Patrick Industries CEOs, April 21, 2026

●      LCI Industries and Patrick Industries, joint merger announcement and SEC filings, June 30, 2026

●      RV PRO, coverage of Lippert and Patrick Industries merger talks and termination

●      Mike Wendland, "The Big Get Bigger: Why the Massive Patrick-Lippert Merger Matters to Every RV Owner," RVLifestyle.com

●      RVBusiness, coverage of Equity LifeStyle Properties and Sun Communities campground acquisitions

●      Sun Communities/Sun Outdoors and Equity LifeStyle Properties, company acquisition disclosures

Mike’s RV Buying Secrets Guide - https://rvlifestyle.com/rv-buying-secrets

Story 3: National Parks Chaos

●      Fresno Bee, Yosemite crowding and reservation system coverage: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article316366630.html

●      The Spokesman-Review, "Pure chaos at crowded Yosemite. Senators call for return of reservation system": https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/jul/02/pure-chaos-at-crowded-yosemite-senators-call-for-r/

●      ABC7 San Francisco, "Yosemite National Park's reservation system ends, leading to chaos in park over Memorial Day weekend": https://abc7news.com/post/yosemite-national-parks-reservation-system-ends-leading-chaos-park-memorial-day-weekend/19165661/

●      ABC7 San Francisco, "What to know before going to Yosemite: Long waits, packed trails as crowds surge": https://abc7news.com/post/what-know-before-going-yosemite-long-waits-packed-trails-crowds-surge-reservation-system-ends/19177255/

●      GearJunkie, "Yosemite Dropped Timed Entry. Memorial Day Delivered Chaos": https://gearjunkie.com/parks-and-public-lands/yosemite-national-park-memorial-day-crowds

●      National Parks Conservation Association, "Behind the Facade, Yosemite is in Chaos": https://www.npca.org/articles/11404-behind-the-facade-yosemite-is-in-chaos

●      National Parks Conservation Association, "Shuttered Visitor Centers, Closed Campgrounds, Slower Emergency Response": https://www.npca.org/articles/10343-shuttered-visitor-centers-closed-campgrounds-slower-emergency-response

●      TrailVerse, "July 4, 2026 National Parks Guide: Fee-Free Days, Crowds and Wildfire Alerts": https://www.nationalparksexplorerusa.com/blog/july-4-2026-national-parks-guide-fee-free-days-crowds-wildfire-alerts

●      AAA Newsroom, "72.2 Million Americans Expected to Travel over July 4th Week": https://newsroom.aaa.com/2026/06/72-2-million-americans-expected-to-travel-over-july-4th-week/

●      CBS News, "This July 4th could be hottest ever in parts of U.S.": https://www.cbsnews.com/news/heat-wave-hottest-july-4th-record-temperatures/

Story 5:  Recall Roundup

●      Forest River & Airstream Recalls: https://rvbusiness.com/nhtsa-releases-its-most-recent-installment-of-rv-recalls-133/

●      NHTSA Forest River Safety Acknowledgment: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2026/RCAK-26V398-4564.pdf

●      Keystone Curt Suspension Recall Document: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2026/RCLRPT-26V313-3908.pdf

●      Grand Design, Alliance, & Brinkley Suspension Recalls: https://magazine.frva.com/2026/06/15/recall-06-15-2026/

Story 6: Good news story links

●      Mikah Meyer Standing Proudly with Vanny McVanFace: http://googleusercontent.com/image_generation_content/1

●      Mikah Outdoors During His Continuous 70,000-Mile Journey: http://googleusercontent.com/image_generation_content/2