New to campers and surprised by the high prices. How come a camper is half the cost of a car?

calicamper

Expedition Leader
Your point is taken, and perhaps I should clarify. There is a distinction between “I have worked really hard and now I desire to slow down”, or “I work really hard and like to spend my limited leisure time in the outdoors” and the one I perceive more often “I DESERVE every nice thing everyone else has…”

In fairness, I should probably go edit or delete that particular post, but once quoted, it lives on!

Nater in the age of “false fronts” policy changes can trigger a big crash of the facades. Way way way too many people make assumptions they believe to be true. Especially today with the Youtubers and social media muts.

The 18yr olds with “Top Youtube” channels with 200k in toys to create youtube content don’t own that stuff. Most are kids with parents who might have wealth and/or a big line of credit. Like my 9yr old could have a youtube channel about sailing and format it to give his viewers the impression he owns my boat ??.
Just as the social media mutts rent Air bnb’s for a day to give viewers the impression they are wealthy etc.

He’ll even people I know who qualify as wealthy in our country live week to week selling stock to cover their living expenses because they aren’t living on their actual job income. So you drop the market, or change interest rates, or some other policy change impacts the free money or credit trend and that fake image comes crashing down.

Its the same cycle we see in past economic bumps- same BS just a different name or process ?.

The savy who can be truly wealthy or even very average know when to play and when to hold em?.
Do you get in bidding wars over a property? Or do you get smarter and wait, change your approach etc? Do you pay a car dealer huge markups? Or do you skip it and find an alternative? That’s typically the difference between those who are truly wealthy and those who are just spending credit?.

When will our economy shift? Hard to say but I bet China is the biggest player in our next major historical economic crash.
 

rruff

Explorer
That period was a fluke in American history that this country took for granted. The US was able to have 50% of the manufacturing in the world at the right time. That period was a fluke in American history that this country took for granted. The US was able to have 50% of the manufacturing in the world at the right time. That was never going to last. I would argue that must people in the middle class have higher standard of living today than the middle class in the 60s even though their overall wealth is decreasing.

What "the rest of the world" was doing had little effect on the US. Imports and exports were tiny. The fact that much of the rest of the world had their infrastructure destroyed in WW2 really sucked for them, but did not benefit us.

The median household does have a higher living standard than in the 60s, but it's a very small improvement compared to what we experienced in prior history. From the 30s to 70s for instance living standards nearly tripled in real terms. This was by design, not accident. Policies at the time created this result, just like current policies are creating a different result.
 

NatersXJ6

Explorer
Nater in the age of “false fronts” policy changes can trigger a big crash of the facades. Way way way too many people make assumptions they believe to be true. Especially today with the Youtubers and social media muts.

The 18yr olds with “Top Youtube” channels with 200k in toys to create youtube content don’t own that stuff. Most are kids with parents who might have wealth and/or a big line of credit. Like my 9yr old could have a youtube channel about sailing and format it to give his viewers the impression he owns my boat ??.
Just as the social media mutts rent Air bnb’s for a day to give viewers the impression they are wealthy etc.

He’ll even people I know who qualify as wealthy in our country live week to week selling stock to cover their living expenses because they aren’t living on their actual job income. So you drop the market, or change interest rates, or some other policy change impacts the free money or credit trend and that fake image comes crashing down.

Its the same cycle we see in past economic bumps- same BS just a different name or process ?.

The savy who can be truly wealthy or even very average know when to play and when to hold em?.
Do you get in bidding wars over a property? Or do you get smarter and wait, change your approach etc? Do you pay a car dealer huge markups? Or do you skip it and find an alternative? That’s typically the difference between those who are truly wealthy and those who are just spending credit?.

When will our economy shift? Hard to say but I bet China is the biggest player in our next major historical economic crash.

Wait… are you saying that isn’t actually his boat?

I agree completely, unfortunately that exact cultural influence is spawning legions of the “I DESERVE” crowd. It even creeps into the work market. I spent part of the day interviewing candidates at a career fair… they get more interesting every year.
 

hemifoot

Observer
The technologies the testing and all the associated costs that a car manufacturer pays to deliver a car to the market are much higher than the similar costs for a manufacturer to deliver a camper to the market. Why are the prices so high ? How is it possible that a car could be around 40K and a camper is ...20K ??
supply/demand? i just sold my Northstar 850 sc for $22,500.it was a 2015 model year.you can't find any decent pop up camper in Canada right now.besides a Palomino.
 

john61ct

Adventurer
Here you go, not 100% DIY but a great platform to start with.

If successful, profitability shluld be enough to ensure sustainability for the company.


also relevant
 
Here you go, not 100% DIY but a great platform to start with.
20K an empty shell :)))))
Yeah that is profitable for sure, let's see what the market has to say

So many people have asked.... we listened.
As promised, we are now introducing you to our pre designed FlatBed camper shells.

Key features:
As with all of our campers these come fully insulated with 2" panel thickness all around with smooth 1.5mm FRP skin on both sides and a PU foam core. The campers are assembled at our or our partners facilities with our well proven thermal transfer free FRP extrusions.
These units will only be available assembled in an empty shell configuration.

Standard will be 1 entry door (Arctic Tern Euro door)

NOT INCLUDED:
Camper jacks, windows, skylights, storage hatches can be added by the end user as needed through www.expeditionupfitter.com or through any of our partners. Like our other campers, this will give our customers maximum flexibility in outfitting them.

Pre orders will be accepted soon through our online store! We are expecting the first units ready for delivery (FOB Victoria BC) around mid November 2021!

Total Composites Pricing:
6.5' length US$20,182.00
8' length US$20,998.00


* Pricing may change if purchase is made through one of our partners!
*FOB Victoria BC, Canada
*Taxes not included
 

john61ct

Adventurer
20K an empty shell :)))))
Yeah that is profitable for sure, let's see what the market has to say
Actually I would not be surprised if they were pricing at break-even for the initial rollout.

You just have no concept of what things cost, due to your idea that non-wealthy people "should" be able to afford them.

Now, if our governments decided to actually solve our homeless problems, and funded the design and manufacture of millions of standardized mobile tiny-home living pods

then maybe their price might come down to say $30-40K finished. And materials-only + DIY labour maybe $10-20K

If wishes were fishes...
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
supply/demand? i just sold my Northstar 850 sc for $22,500.it was a 2015 model year.you can't find any decent pop up camper in Canada right now.besides a Palomino.
Demand is a funny thing.
Buyers get sloppy when money is cheap. They forget how to negotiate, they forget they need to pay it back (or treat it like a rental fee then hope to sell it high— very much the RV COVID trend today. If you can spend a yr traveling RV style in a new RV costing you $700 a month of which COVID gov money covers.. Then sell it for virtually no loss thats way cheaper than renting a junker ??
 

NatersXJ6

Explorer
Demand is a funny thing.
Buyers get sloppy when money is cheap. They forget how to negotiate, they forget they need to pay it back (or treat it like a rental fee then hope to sell it high— very much the RV COVID trend today. If you can spend a yr traveling RV style in a new RV costing you $700 a month of which COVID gov money covers.. Then sell it for virtually no loss thats way cheaper than renting a junker ??

Thats way cheaper than renting an apartment! And as an added bonus, the collection agencies can’t find you as quickly!:unsure:
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
Thats way cheaper than renting an apartment! And as an added bonus, the collection agencies can’t find you as quickly!:unsure:
When GOV COVID checks stop the RV market will get flooded with 1 yr old units?. Mid September things will get interesting assuming the checks stop going out.
 
You just have no concept of what things cost, due to your idea that non-wealthy people "should" be able to afford them.

Now, if our governments decided to actually solve our homeless problems, and funded the design and manufacture of millions of standardized mobile tiny-home living pods

then maybe their price might come down to say $30-40K finished. And materials-only + DIY labour maybe $10-20K

If wishes were fishes...

And you do? :)))))

Very realistic for homeless to afford $30k-$40K camper + 30K truck or whatever
and you have solved the problem of homeless ppl. with this 'great' idea of yours
 

john61ct

Adventurer
I did state that it should be government paying for it, maybe also private contributions.

Ends up being the cheapest solution to homelessness, dignity in housing should be a right of citizenship.



 

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