Wow Pop Ups are expensive!

In 1989 we bought a Jayco 1206 tent trailer, it cost us $6500.00 About 5 years ago we walked into a Rockwood and it was $18,000.00. You are right they are pricing themselves out of business.

I agree, the prices are ridiculous. The main reason to buy a pop up is not price.

I see people using them because 1) they don't want to or can't buy a tow vehicle for a heavier trailer 2) the popup can be stored in a garage easily, which is mandatory in some areas managed by HOAs (not that any RV won't do better under a roof when not in use.)

Last summer a young family at a campground said they got a pop up mainly for the above reasons, but also because they found they had much more floor space and a better spot for a young child than their previous small trailer. They also had a cassette toilet.

It is not only the new prices that are insane, but also the used market. Where I live in Louisiana it is hard to find a used pop up for under $4,000 and by used I mean a small one that is 20+ years old and barely road worthy.

In my experience PUPS have become just as accessorize as TTs. Water pumps, stove/ovens, microwaves, heaters, air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators, brakes and slide outs.

All these conveniences cost.

My late 90's PUP had a small frig, two burner stove and hand pump with no battery for the 12 volt lights.

I suspect PUPs are like tents. They still appeal to a certain market.

I am curious why you re-caulk your TT every year. I have never had to do more than check ours in the spring and add a dab once in a while.

Take care

Mike Up wrote:
Can't believe that these makers are pricing these pop ups out of existence.

Popups are labour intensive to build and since manufacturers aren't in business simply to gratify consumers the final price at which you and I can buy these products will naturally reflect this. The market has changed in recent years - no longer are many of us as willing to tolerate the inconveniences of setting up a trailer with tenting, manufacturers have recognized this shift by introducing considerably more smaller, light weight variations of the conventional travel trailer that many find are a much more attractive alternative, for so many reasons. :B

When our boys were young we could camp anywhere with our popup, for as long as we wanted, and each summer for years we did. Eventually we moved on briefly to a hybrid then to a triple bunk bed K-Z Spree. We continued to camp quite a bit until they hit high school and no longer had the time or in fact the interest. :( Eventually it was only my wife & I camping so we sold the Spree and thinking it would be several years before we'd buy another travel trailer I bought a 10 yr old Coleman Yuma popup for myself, thinking I could at least get out there a couple times each season. I didn't really expect my wife would even bother with it but surprisingly she did and we quickly realized the same things that used to annoy us about a popup years earlier still annoyed us so I sold the popup within a few short months and accelerated our plans by buying our current 19' couple's travel trailer. We had proven to ourselves that going back to a popup was just not a viable solution at all. :R

My own dealer had been a Coleman / Fleetwood dealer since the beginning of time so when the company went out of business in 2011 he decided to sell Somerset Camping Trailer lookalikes. For a host of reasons, small production numbers being one, those campers were priced so high it took forever to sell them so eventually he dropped them entirely, selling just basic Viking popups. However his labour costs in selling a popup with so little profit eventually convinced him to stop selling them entirely in favour of travel trailers which are now his sole product and at this point in time are literally "flying off the shelves" in record numbers. For this dealer, with the economy as it is, there is virtually no reason at all to ever sell popups again. ;)

rbpru wrote:
In my experience PUPS have become just as accessorize as TTs. Water pumps, stove/ovens, microwaves, heaters, air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators, brakes and slide outs.

I'd add in a bathroom and subtract the slide out and I would want that in any RV I bought.
but I agree if you are paying to caulk it every year, someone is taking advantage of you.
bumpy

Bumpyroad wrote:
... but I agree if you are paying to caulk it every year, someone is taking advantage of you.

Nonsense. None of us are getting any younger, the OP himself already mentioned "bad knees" so getting up on any roof isn't as easy as it used to be. I can't say for anyone else but I'm also not anywhere near as good at applying lap sealant as is a dealer tech who does this every day for a living. Thanks, but no thanks - I'll gladly pay to have an experienced tech attend to sealing my trailer.

I just sold my 13 year old basic Flagstaff 176 with electric brakes (towed with a Subaru) and air-conditioner for $3,000 bucks on Craigslist. I could have likely gotten another 500 but wanted it to move and it did immediately cash deal. The build quality was excellent and it was essentially as good as new when sold with the air conditioning and furnace firing up with no problem after 13 years.

I paid like 4,800 in 2005 (2006 model year). It gave us wonderful memories. So, for essentially 1800 bucks, we got 13 years of amazing experiences. I believe that figure out to .38 cents a day.

That would rank up there with one of the best investments I ever made in my life. We got a basic hard side bunkhouse single axle to replace the pop up for like 12K. I noticed the new pop up exactly the same model virtually identical without the brakes or air conditioning going for 8K. Amazing.

When we started looking back in 03 we were looking at PuP’s. These were self contained with showers and toilets. I believe the Coleman’s we were looking at were $14k!!!!! I couldn’t see paying that much for soft walls. So we picked up our Award 727 for $8k and used that for the next 2 years. I know they are supposed to be marketed differently, but when they cost as much as a new TT that is a problem.

I too am in the market for either a 5th wheel or larger TC. A nice big Host is $85,000 um ...I’m sure it cost that much to build .......but .they want ...$85,000 for a new Diesel also ....I am getting old ..this new math is hard to figure..