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SERVING CANADA’S RV INDUSTRY SINCE 1971 268 - 44 Crawford Cres., Campbellville, ON L0P 1B0 Publications Mail Agreement #43638025 CANADA’S FOREMOST RV INDUSTRY MAGAZINE TM TM TM TM TM TM TM TM VOL 55 NO 2 Canadian RV Association Updates And much more… RV INDUSTRY ADVOCACY DAY ON PARLIAMENT HILL CRVA important information on Cross Border RV Deliveries Canada’s Pre-Owned RV Market Dealership Mergers and Acquisitions Celebrates 55 Years• Creditor Life, Disability & Critical Illness Insurance • Mechanical Breakdown Plans • Appearance Protection Products WE PROVIDE PROTECTION TO CANADIAN FAMILIES FOR WHEN “WHAT IF?” BECOMES “WHAT NOW?”. 320 Sioux Rd, Sherwood Park, AB T8A 3X6 F inancial G r oup Phone: 780.467.9575 • Fax: 780.467.4016 • Toll Free: 1-800.561.3242 RV Lifestyles publication - 2024.indd 1RV Lifestyles publication - 2024.indd 12024-09-27 10:55 AM2024-09-27 10:55 AM Trevor Smolski Director - Business Development 780-819-3271 tsmolski@firstcanadian.ca Darrell Boughton Director - Business Development 204-612-1550 dboughton@firstcanadian.ca first canadian.indd 1first canadian.indd 12025-10-14 11:33 AM2025-10-14 11:33 AM3 Volume 55 Number 2 | RV Lifestyle Dealer News contents 20 14 10 44 COVER STORY: 20 RV Industry Advocacy Day on Parliament Hill IN THIS ISSUE: 6 A Snapshot of Canada’s Pre-Owned RV Market - Special Report by Nick Farnell 10 RVDA of Canada Celebrates 40th Anniversary 12 l’ACVRC 40e anniversaire 14 Selling Your RV Dealership – A Practical Guide to the M&A Process - By Josh Rosen INDUSTRY UPDATES: 24 RVDA of Canada Update 28 CRVA Update - Working Together for Canada’s RV Industry 30 ORVDA Update - Building the Future for RV Adventures in Ontario 31 RVDA of Manitoba Update 32 RVDA of BC Celebrates 50 Years! 34 Go RVing Canada Update 36 RVTAA and NRVIA Expand Member Benefits 41 Roadtrek Inc Acquired by Conestogo Partners 42 Winnebago Industries Announces Strategic Manufacturing Alignment 44 RVDA of Canada’s Eleonore Hamm to Retire 45 Roadmaster Nighthawk Tow Bar Recall Looking for late-breaking news of interest to the Canadian RV industry? Check out the RV Dealer News website – www.rvldealernews.com4 RV Lifestyle Dealer News | Volume 55 Number 2 TM TM TM TM RV Dealer NEWS CANADA’S FOREMOST RV INDUSTRY MAGAZINE PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE Since 1971, one of our proudest roles as publishers of Canada’s RV Dealer News Magazine and RV Lifestyle Magazine is our opportunity to chronicle the development of the RV industry and the RV lifestyle throughout North America. In this issue, we share a feature story on the 40th Anniversary of the incorporation of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) of Canada - as well as insights into the decade of efforts to create RVDA chapters across Canada - which led to the national charter. These efforts saw individual RV dealers devote time and funding to establish provincial and regional associations, along with generous support from the Canadian Recreational Vehicle Association, whose contributions and encouragement played a significant role in the formation of the national RVDA movement in Canada. Did you know that the RVDA of Canada was conceived in our office in Montreal in 1974, when John Torrington and Steve McGuire returned from an RVDA convention in Las Vegas, determined to create a distinctively Canadian association? Fast forward more than 50 years, and the impact of the RVDA of Canada and the CRVA has grown to drive recognition of the importance of the RV and camping industry to the Canadian economy. It is always refreshing when our elected politicians acknowledge the importance of travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation. Please take a few minutes to read the feature story in this issue, focussing on the efforts of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) of Canada along with representatives from each of the provincial and regional RVDA chapters, and the Canadian Camping and RV Association, who visited Ottawa for the annual RV Industry Advocacy Day on Parliament Hill. Our delegation members met with Members of Parliament from each party - including the Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, who met with Gerry Haracsi, Executive Director of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of Alberta. All of our elected representatives were very interested in the efforts of the RV industry to bring the many benefits of the outdoor lifestyle to Canadian families, and to assure that the concerns of the RV industry were addressed. This very special content forms the core of this issue of RV Dealer News – Canada’s voice of the RV industry since 1971. VOLUME 55 NUMBER 2 Publisher William E. Taylor Associate Publisher Melanie Taylor-Wallis V.P. Special Projects/Editorial Director Norm Rosen Production Coordinator Giselle Bansal ADVERTISING SALES Norm Rosen Melanie Taylor-Wallis Todd Taylor ADMINISTRATION William E. Taylor President Melanie Taylor-Wallis Group Publisher Norman Rosen VP/Special Projects Nancy Mueller Accounting EXECUTIVE OFFICES Toronto: 268 - 44 Crawford Crescent., Campbellville, ON L0P 1B0 Tel: 905-844-8218 Montreal: Tel: 514-856-0788 Vancouver: 1745 Rufus Drive North Vancouver, BC V7J 3L8 RV Lifestyle Dealer News is published by RV Lifestyle Magazine, formerly Camping Canada. Reproduction of any material appearing in this magazine in any form is forbidden without prior consent of the publisher. Advertising rates available on request. RV Lifestyle Magazine reserves the right to refuse any and all advertising and disclaims all responsibilities for claims or statements of facts made by its advertisers or independent columnists. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #43638025 Undeliverables to: 268 - 44 Crawford Crescent., Campbellville, ON L0P 1B0 MONTREAL, QUEBEC © 2026 CAMPING CANADA MAGAZINE PRINTED IN CANADA CELEBRATING YOUR CANADIAN RV INDUSTRY ACCOMPLISHMENTS… William E. Taylor, Publisher6 For decades, the RV industry has relied heavily on seasonal intuition, historical norms, and local lot trends to manage inventory. The unprecedented retail surge of 2021 and 2022, followed by a broader economic cooldown, has fundamentally reshaped the secondary market. Today, dealerships are facing a highly concentrated model-year over supply, distinct geographic inventory pockets, and widening price variances that “gut-feel” appraisals simply cannot account for. MARKET COMPOSITION: WHAT’S ACTUALLY ON THE LOT? To understand current pricing dynamics, we must first look at the MARKETING A SNAPSHOT OF CANADA’S PRE-OWNED RV MARKET RV Lifestyle Dealer News | Volume 55 Number 2 Report by Nick Farnell Pre-Owned RV Market composition by RV type physical makeup of Canada’s pre- owned inventory. The data reveals a market heavily concentrated by both unit type and geography. Towable vs. Motorized Divide A macro-level view of active listings in Canada shows that towable units absolutely dominate the secondary market, representing approximately 80% of all available pre-owned inventory. • Travel Trailers are the undisputed majority, making up more than 55% of all listings. • Fifth Wheels represent the second-largest category at 18%.Pleasure way.indd 1Pleasure way.indd 12026-04-08 2:07 PM2026-04-08 2:07 PM8 RV Lifestyle Dealer News | Volume 55 Number 2 MARKETING • Tent Trailers (3%) and Truck Campers (2%) make up a negligible fraction of the towable market. Motorized units represent the remaining listings. Within this segment, Class C motorhomes are the most readily available (10%), followed by Class A (8%) and the much scarcer Class B camper vans (3%). Provincial Concentration Inventory is not distributed evenly across the country. The secondary market is heavily anchored by four specific provinces, which together hold the vast majority of Canada’s pre-owned RVs: • Ontario leads the nation with 1,948 active units. • Alberta follows closely with 1,710 units. • Quebec (1,365) and British Columbia (1,149) round out the “Big Four.” Floorplan Trends When drilling down into specific floorplans, clear patterns emerge. In the towable categories, standard high-volume bunkhouses and popular couples’ coaches (such as the Jayco Jay Flight 174BH) represent the highest density of listings. THE AGE OF THE FLEET: NAVIGATING THE 2022 OVERSUPPLY Turning to the chronological age Pre-owned RV inventory distribution by province. of active inventory, the data reveals a market distinctly skewed toward newer units. Rather than an even spread across decades, the national fleet is heavily concentrated in the late-model and mid- life brackets. The 3-to-6-Year Spike The pre- owned market is dominated by RVs under a decade old. The absolute highest volume of available inventory sits squarely within the 3-to-6-year bracket, peaking at over 2,000 active listings nationwide. Once a unit passes the 12-year mark, overall market availability drops off quickly. The Pandemic-Era Anomaly When transitioning from grouped age brackets to specific model years, the most critical data point of the year emerges. Currently, the 2022 model year makes up nearly 16% of all available pre-owned listings nationwide, flanked by disproportionately high volumes of 2023 and 2021 models. Objectively, this suggests the entry of pandemic-era purchases into the secondary market. The historic wave of consumers who bought new RVs during the peak of the boom have now reached a common three-to- five-year ownership milestone. This cohort is actively cycling back into the market via trade-ins and private sales, creating a highly concentrated glut of inventory centered directly on the 2022 model year. PRICING CHARACTER- ISTICS: THE COST OF GUESSING As we transition from chronological age to dollar values, the national inventory displays a high degree of pricing sensitivity. While luxury diesel pushers often capture the headlines, the actual volume of the pre-owned market is concentrated in a much tighter financial bracket. The $25,000 to $45,000 Sweet Spot The market is heavily weighted toward the entry and mid-level segments. The largest cluster of pre-owned inventory is priced between $25,000 and $45,000 CAD, with the absolute peak frequency occurring just before the $35,000 mark. Units priced above $100,000 see a drastic drop-off in volume. Age distribution of pre-owned RV units.9 Volume 55 Number 2 | RV Lifestyle Dealer News Nick Farnell, MBA Nick Farnell is a profes- sor of busi- ness analyt- ics and runs the consult- ing firm wtrfll, focusing primarily on competitive intelligence and data driven insights. When not in front of a computer, he is spending as much time as possible in one of Ontario’s provincial parks with his young family. Please vist https://wtrfll.ca/ to see how Nick and his team have helped orga- nizations use data and analytics to better understand their customers and competitors. When breaking this down by class: • Travel Trailers display the tightest grouping, with a massive spike in availability under $40,000. • Class A Motorhomes display a wide “Bell Curve” shifted to the right, maintaining a strong presence even in the $300,000+ brackets. • T e n t T r a i l e r s & T r u c k Campers live almost entirely under the $25,000 and $50,000 marks, respectively. The Cost of Guessing: Variance in the Field Likely the most critical takeaway for a dealership’s appraisal desk is the sheer variance found within seemingly identical categories. A “Class C Motorhome” is not a monolith; age, brand, and condition create massive spreads that intuitive pricing cannot safely navigate. For example, when looking Pre-owned RV units – price distribution by RV type. Price distribution of pre-owned RV units. at 5-year-old units (2021 Class C Motorhomes), the data shows the “cost of guessing” in real-time. Across Canada, the asking price for this specific year and type can easily range by tens of thousands of dollars. THE DATA-DRIVEN DEALERSHIP The pre-owned RV market is no longer a landscape where dealerships can afford to appraise inventory by checking the wind. With a massive influx of 2022 model-year trade-ins currently flooding the market and massive pricing variances confusing consumers and dealers alike, a systematic approach is required. This data proves that without a solid baseline, dealers risk pricing themselves out of a competitive local market, or worse, leaving tens of thousands of dollars in margin on the table. By treating the lot as a portfolio of data points rather than just a collection of used units, modern dealerships can navigate the post- pandemic correction and identify the hidden margins that keep the business thriving.Next >