5 Big and Little RV Stories You Need To Know This Week

This week in Episode 392 of the RV Podcast, we share 5 RV stories you need to know, and news stories of interest that will shape the RV Lifestyle for much of the next year in big and little ways. Plus your comments and questions and an update on our travels and adventures.

To see a video version of the podcast, click the box below.

You can hear the audio version of the podcast on all the major podcast apps or by clicking the box below to play it through the device you are now on.

What we've been up to

We've covered a lot of ground through states since we last connected.

* In Alabama this past week, we visited another own-your-own RV land development, this one comes with an RV lot directly on a whitewater river, complete with water and electric hookups.* In Tennessee, we camped out on our property to check up on what's been done the last few weeks and plan the next phase of development of what will be our own private RV retreat for ourselves and invited guests.* And this week, after lots of disappointments and frustrating shopping, we will buy a truck, get a hitch installed, and head towards Goshen, IN where we'll get our first glimpse of our new 5th Wheel RV.

We'll have videos and stores about all these in the days ahead. 

One Disappointment: My Starlink Satellite system

One of the reasons why we stopped by our Tennessee property was to see how my Starlink satellite Internet service worked there.

It didn’t.

Too many trees. Maybe when I get it on a pole 20 feet up in the air I'll have better luck.. but trees are a bummer. You need clear skies.

We’re trying to name our property there in Tennessee. Right now we’re thinking something like Camp Wildlands. But we need a descriptive name. Send your ideas in. If we pick the name you suggest, we'll send you a prize and give you an invite to join us in a campout there this year.

Feedback to one of our RV Stories last week about high truck prices

We had lots of comments to last week’s podcast where we talked about the exorbitant pricing on both new and used trucks, almost all agreeing with us that a great many automotive dealers around the country are really sticking it to their customers by taking advantage of the tight market caused by the chip shortage and charging huge price markups way, way over MSRP… in some cases, over $20,000 more!

Sample of the feedback:

From Kate: Unfortunately, this is just like everything else. All the big companies are taking full advantage of the profiteering opportunities. We know this because many companies are making record profits.

From Bill: Sold my 2003 F150 - great truck but had 250k interstate miles. Folks offered twice the book value for a vehicle with half the miles. AC died a couple of days before I sold. No problem - the buyer said he’d figure it out. Craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

From Justin: Good on you for calling out these cowboys, it's an absolute disgrace that their getting away with this!

And from Greg: I saw a 2021 Ford F250 with 3,000 miles on the used lot of a dealer last September. The website had a link to the window sticker for the truck. The dealer was asking $11,000 over the window sticker for a used, truck. Made me feel fortunate to only pay full sticker for my 2021 F250.

So the good news is, we are scheduled to pick up our new truck – new to us – a gently used Ford  F250 Laramie diesel 4x4 this week. We’ll post some photos on

Mike Wendland

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38:15

The high cost of finding a pickup truck to tow an RV

https://rvlifestyle.com/pickup-truck-to-tow-an-rv/

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 10:15:00 +0000

https://rvlifestyle.com/?p=78499

If you’ve tried to find a heavy-duty pickup truck to tow an RV you no doubt have experienced severe sticker shock. But the situation has become so alarming that I’d call it scandalous. Too many truck dealerships are adding on bogus charges way above MSRP.

In fact, the situation has become so outrageous that auto manufacturers have been warning their dealers to stop the practice because they are damaging their brands!

That’s one of the topics we talk about in great detail in this week’s episode 391 of the RV Podcast.

If you’ve tried to find a heavy-duty pickup truck to tow an RV you no doubt have experienced severe sticker shock. But the situation has become so alarming that I’d call it scandalous. Too many truck dealerships are adding on bogus charges way above MS...

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If you've tried to find a heavy-duty pickup truck to tow an RV you no doubt have experienced severe sticker shock. But the situation has become so alarming that I'd call it scandalous. Too many truck dealerships are adding on bogus charges way above MSRP.

In fact, the situation has become so outrageous that auto manufacturers have been warning their dealers to stop the practice because they are damaging their brands!

That's one of the topics we talk about in great detail in this week's episode 391 of the RV Podcast.

To see the video version, click the player below.

For an audio version, listen on your favorite podcast app like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Sticher, or any of the others. Or, to listen right now on the device you are reading this, just click the audio player below.

Our experience in trying to buy a pickup truck to tow an RV

In short, it's been very disappointing.

I've spent the better part of two months calling auto dealerships all across the country looking to buy a 3/4 ton pickup truck to tow the new Fifth Wheel we will be getting at the end of the month. (What? News to you? Check out last week's podcast where we tell you all about it!)

I've searched for new trucks made by Ford, Dodge Ram, GMC, and Chevrolet.

It's been eye-opening, to say the least.

It's no secret that trucks are in short supply. Blame it on the supply chain and the chip shortage but the production of new trucks has ground to a stop. GM and Ford have glumly told their investors that they expect that the chip shortage alone will have cost them one billion dollars in profits this year.

We started looking for a used truck to haul an RV

It's always better to buy used, right? That way the original owner takes the huge depreciation hit as soon as the vehicle rolls off the dealer's lot.

But my initial search found lots of used trucks listed but those used prices we found were often as high as what we see listed as MSRP for new trucks! The first used truck I looked at, a loaded 2017 F-250 Limited, was priced at $70,000!

And that for a five-year-old truck!

If used trucks were that much, I figured, I might as well buy new. I expected that I'd have to pay full MSRP.

But, man, was I wrong.

New trucks are selling for way above MSRP at most dealers

I began my search at the local Ford dealer in Fort Walton Beach, FL, where we have been based most of the winter and spring. Right on their lot, I found what I was looking for. A beautiful new 2022 Lariat 4x4 diesel.

Its sticker MSRP was $80,000.

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, I realized that if I wanted a pickup truck to tow an RV, I was going to have to pay MSRP.

Again, I was wrong.

The salesman told me that I would have to pay what he called a "diesel surcharge" of $22,000 OVER MSRP.

In other words, to buy that $80,000 truck I would have to pay $102,000!

This couldn't be, I thought. I tried another salesman. Same thing. Then another salesman. Again, the same thing. It was, they tried to explain, a supply and demand thing, a temporary price adjustment because of the chip shortage and the lack of new truck inventory.

I told all three salesmen that I thought a $22,