Is Big Necessarily Better? RV Dealership Consolidation is on Roll
RV Podcast - Stories From The Road
Mike Wendland
4.5 • 704 Ratings
🗓️ 9 March 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is really happening in the RV dealership world right now, and what does it mean for RV buyers and owners?
We call it The Great RV Dealership Land Grab... Why Bigger isn't Necessarily Better.
In Episode 589 of the RV Podcast News Edition, we breakdown the dealership consolidation wave reshaping the RV industry, from Camping World's financial struggles and leadership shakeup to the rapid expansion of Blue Compass, General RV, and Campers Inn. We explain who is winning, who is hurting, and why bigger is not always better when it comes to service, pricing, inventory, and your overall RV buying experience.
Also in this episode: fuel prices are spiking just as spring travel season begins, national parks are heading into peak season with fewer staff, and a California county may become the first in the state to officially allow full-time RV living on private property.
Join us live for the Spring Prep Workshop on Thursday, March 12 at 7 PM Eastern.
Non-members: $10
RV Community members: Free
Sign up at https://RVPodcast.com/workshop
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody and welcome to the weekly news edition of the RV Lifestyle podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Mike Wendland and this is where we dig into the stories that actually matter to you as an RVer. |
| 0:12.0 | You know, one of the things I carried with me for more than 40 years in journalism is this. |
| 0:17.0 | If you're going to tell people something, make sure it's true and make sure you can back it up, |
| 0:20.9 | and that is still how we do it here. |
| 0:23.7 | Every story in the show is sourced and verified, and you can find the full show notes with |
| 0:29.0 | all of our links at RVpodcast.com. |
| 0:32.3 | I'm proud of that. |
| 0:33.5 | And we have a really good podcast episode for you today. |
| 0:36.4 | We're going to talk about what's really going on with Camping World, |
| 0:39.9 | and there is a celebrity angle to that story that didn't get nearly enough attention. |
| 0:44.3 | We're heading into national park season also with the staffing situation |
| 0:48.9 | that every RVer needs to know about before they pull out of the driveway. |
| 0:53.3 | And there's a vote happening in California |
| 0:55.4 | tomorrow that could be a first for the entire state when it comes to full-time RV living. Good stuff |
| 1:01.6 | today. But hey, before we get rolling, I want to mention something that's happening this Thursday night, |
| 1:06.9 | and you are going to want to be there. March 12th, 7 p.m. Eastern Time. I'm going to do a spring |
| 1:12.7 | prep workshop. Just you, me, and everything you need to know to get your rig ready for the season. |
| 1:20.0 | This is live, it's interactive, you can ask questions. We're going to talk about systems checks, |
| 1:25.0 | what to look for after winter storage, the maintenance |
| 1:28.0 | stuff that people skip and then regret on their first trip out. |
| 1:31.7 | We're going to cover it all. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mike Wendland, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Mike Wendland and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.