RV sales rise amid pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on most businesses, especially small local enterprises that depend on tourism. But one upside for a few local business owners has been a recent surge in RV sales as vehicles for outdoor adventures, family road trips and affordable socially-distanced living are growing more popular.

For the past two weeks, Auston Bergeson said he’s noticed a “huge” uptick in RV sales at Bergeson RV in Kalispell. Normally, he said the dealership sells about one camper every day, but recently he said he’s been selling about 10 campers every few days.

“There’s a wave of people wanting to get outside,” Bergeson said.

Spring is normally the busy season for RV dealerships as families gear up for summer road trips, but Bergeson said business has significantly increased since Governor Steve Bullock announced Phase One of his plan to reopen the state.

RV dealerships are considered an essential service under Bullock’s directive, so Bergeson RV stayed open while most area businesses were temporarily closed. Bergeson said the dealership had a lot of interest in servicing vehicles during the shutdown, but sales have really taken off since the state started its reopening process.

There seems to be a renewed interest in outdoor family vacations as many other attractions have been closed. Bergeson said a lot of customers who have been stuck at home decided, “you might as well be stuck in a camper out at Tally Lake.”

It helps that RV prices and bank financing are especially low right now. “With everything going on, it’s probably the cheapest and most affordable it’s ever going to be,” Bergeson said. “You couldn’t beat the deals that are out there right now.”

The low prices and attractive financing aren’t just drawing in customers for family road trips, Bergeson said they’ve also recently made sales to customers looking for affordable housing options and people using the vehicles to self-quarantine. He said multiple doctors have recently purchased RVs as a way to separate themselves from their families when they come home from working at hospitals. Some locals have also made RV purchases to accommodate family members who have come to the valley temporarily to escape more crowded urban areas.

With so much sudden interest, Bergeson said it’s become hard to keep up with the demand. They’re having trouble keeping new campers on their lot, and most of the new additions only last two or three days there before being snatched up. He added people are already putting in security deposits for models that won’t arrive for another two or three weeks.

Bergeson is grateful for the interest because the pandemic cut into the dealer’s normal RV rentals and sales to farther-flung customers. He said the closure of Glacier National Park cost the dealership a considerable number of RV rentals and purchases for summer worker housing.

But he said, “the amount of sales that we picked up because people need to find things to do in our state as opposed to what I would’ve sold to those customers is ten-fold.”

He pointed out Bergeson RV is the last family-owned RV dealership in the valley, but it isn’t the only place experiencing the recent sales trend.

“We’ve definitely noticed it too,” reported Tony Baker at Gardner’s RV.

He said the Kalispell dealership has sold 150 campers this month, “a significant increase” from their normal business.

In fact, Baker is worried “availability is going to become an issue soon,” since RV production was shut down for six weeks at the Indiana facilities where most campers are made. “We’re worried supply won’t catch up to demand until mid-summer,” he said.

“Luckily, we were pretty well-stocked coming into the spring,” Baker said. The longtime RV seller also decided to discontinue RV rentals this year because so many of their out-of-state rental customers were unable to make the trip to Montana.

Overall, though, Baker said the recent renewed interest in RVs has been the closest thing to a “silver lining” that they could hope for in light of the virus outbreak.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.