# There's a reason RV shoppers turn to YouTube instead of dealer websites > Why RV shopping is broken (and what we're doing about it) – part 2 **Author:** Cory Watilo · **Published:** 2026-10-28 · **Collection:** Posts **Canonical:** https://rvenvy.com/rv-dealer-websites-suck ![There's a reason RV shoppers turn to YouTube instead of dealer websites](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/7d63f88f-54f7-4b90-9e35-86e0940be700/desktop1080) --- ## Wake up, babe, the internet is here The internet has changed how people shop for RVs. Yet somehow, much of the industry hasn’t adapted. As a kid, I remember visiting dealerships with my parents as a first step in the shopping journey. But now this is a foreign concept to most people under 40. Today, we shop for most things from the couch – and RV shopping is no different. YouTube influencers and Facebook groups have largely replaced the role of the traditional salesperson. And when customers have questions, they’re not turning to a local dealer – they’re asking ChatGPT. ![](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/7dbfc5fb-ed4d-445d-cc6e-dc727b3fff00/retina1920) The forward-thinking sales reps have been proactive in meeting shoppers where they’re at – engaging in online forums and sharing video walk-throughs on social media to drum up new leads. But what about the dealers? RV shows have grown in popularity in the last few decades. It’s the best place to see all the options in one place. But how about *outside* the shows? If you look at the state of most RV dealer websites, you’ve got to wonder why they appear to have been designed during an ~~Obama~~ *Bush* administration… Still in 2026: pop-ups, chatbots, “BEST OFFER” banners, calls and texts from people who never read the customer’s question. Can I just see the price? ## ~~Little~~ known fact: the RV industry is historically 1-2 decades behind The RV industry – especially dealers – have always thrived on controlling access to information. But the internet – and now AI – has lit that playbook on fire. I’ve spent most of my career in the Silicon Valley startup world where I’ve seen first-hand (and been involved in) changing entire industries – with a concept called product-led growth. Here are some examples of how a better product experience changed well-established businesses: - Uber replaced taxis by simplifying finding and paying for a ride - Craigslist replaced classifieds – until even Craigslist was itself replaced by Facebook Marketplace - Carvana built a more streamlined used car buying experience - TrueCar removed stress from buying a new car by eliminating the need for haggling Technology has pressured so many industries to adapt, yet somehow the RV industry has successfully dodged it… until now. ![](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/946b7d50-6353-4cce-cf00-7347c970b500/retina1920) ## Dealers no longer control the access to information AI commoditized the RV shopping experience. It doesn’t matter what dealer you are – as long as you have the product that ChatGPT told someone they should buy, they’ll send them your way. The dealership experience in the shopping process is being reduced to haggling over price, signing papers, and taking delivery. Smart dealers and industry leaders see the writing is on the wall – and are doing something about it. Thanks to recent legislation on price transparency in the automotive world, some dealers have taken advantage of this transparency. Meyer's displayed a sign at the 2026 Hershey show warning shoppers not to be fooled with add-on fees. ![](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/217848eb-31d7-4b37-3c3f-f2ab3ba9c800/retina1920) Camping World went a step further and leaned into it as a marketing opportunity. ![](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/13134b0f-5746-43fb-f587-1571eb97d300/retina1920) Then there's the dealers who say their published price has "no hidden fees" and "no surprises", then hide the actual price behind a collapsible panel. ![](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/02c9ded1-d603-41dc-2e07-ac31349ecc00/retina1920) But some have gone further. I was impressed when the President of Bish’s RV [posted a YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVPPr654B8) explaining all the ways RV dealers make money. Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVPPr654B8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVPPr654B8) By exposing the old school sales tactics, what Bish’s is really doing is developing brand value through trust. One of the biggest challenges in RV shopping has always been knowing how to get a fair deal. And by being forthright about the different levers, Bish’s is creating a customer who trusts them – and one who will come back for service, and for future RV purchases. Some dealers have invested in their own tools. A lot of the big dealer groups have tried building their own websites, or even internal tools like CRMs and scrapers that help them monitor availability of listings and their pricing across North America. Not every dealership has access to this level of resources though. For them, there are tech companies who promise to help dealers sell more units by getting them more leads. And while optimizing for lead conversion isn’t evil in its own right, it’s resulted in some of the worst online shopping experience I’ve ever seen. (Full disclosure: as having designed for Carvana in the early days, I might be a bit biased.) Before even interacting with this dealer's website, I was presented with five different pop-ups – *and *a background video to boot. (Yes, there are only four pop-ups in this screenshot. That's because you have to close one of them to see the fifth.) ![](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/a7c258a9-ccf5-4611-7fc7-76981b24f700/retina1920) Now compare the experience of your local dealers with that of buying a Tesla. (Which, you can do entirely online, by the way.) So why are RV dealers stuck in the era where the Blackberry was king? **Many dealers are still trying to sell to a customer that no longer exists – and they’re still using tools designed to support that type of customer.** This is why RV shows have become so popular – you can see everything, all in one place, without a sales person gatekeeping. Even the online tactics sold by the legacy website providers are stuck in the past. There's a popular tool that touts the following as a feature: *“An hour after a customer views a unit on your website, you can automatically send an email to the shopper to remind them about it.”* This form of “retargeting” was novel 20 years ago, yet the RV industry still uses in this thinking in 2026. And that’s why I built tools for RV dealers to offer a better “digital storefront” for interacting with customers who expect an experience like Uber. ## Why we’re here I’ll be honest, I’m actually just selfish. I built the tool I wanted as an RV shopper. It’s the experience customers have already come to expect in other industries, but adapted to the world of RVing. **RV Envy is designed to solve two key problems:** 1. Finding the right RV is a painful process 2. Figuring out what to pay is way harder than it should be Thankfully the smart dealers are tackling the latter with increased price transparency. But *finding* the right RV is still an unsolved problem. Sure, being able to filter floor plans by [*bunk beds*](https://rvenvy.com/fifth-wheel-trailers/with/bunkhouse) or [*bath and a half*](https://rvenvy.com/fifth-wheel-trailers/with/bath-and-a-half) is great, but what if you want… more detail than that? And then when you’ve figured out what’s important to you, how do you find it? ![](https://imagedelivery.net/Jf9DRitYJ6pR6Mj8hCRBSg/7c7fb93d-7b3b-4647-3e6c-dc1f888a8700/retina1920) *Yes, there's one that fits the bill.* ## Introducing our all-in-one dealer platform, ROOFTOP Sure, you can do this on RV Envy – but today we're excited to launch our dealer platform, [**ROOFTOP**](https://rooftoprv.com/?utm_source=rvenvy&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog&utm_content=promo_block) – a radically different way to run a dealership. Dealer websites on the RV Envy platform let shoppers search with natural language, filter by over 150 features or layout options, and fill out a profile of what they actually want so they can get alerts when it’s available. **It's everything you can do on RV Envy, but now available for dealerships.** And it's so much more than a website – it's also a CRM, an inventory management system, lead nurturing, and some marketing tools you wouldn't even know existed. It’s not just better for the shopper – it’s better for sales staff too. With low-pressure tactics designed to encourage the customer to self-qualify (as a lead), it reduces the need for the traditional spray-and-pray sales approach. ROOFTOP turns shopper questions like, *“Is this still available?”* into *“I’ve got tier 1 credit, have trade-in, and am ready to put $X down this week.”* An end-to-end suite of modern dealer tools was long overdue. And now, there’s a single platform for a world-class website experience, a CRM, inventory tools, pricing intelligence, analytics, and marketing automation – all with the goal of creating a more delightful experience for the customer. The dealers who will win long-term are those who acknowledge that the RV industry is no longer safe from change. The customer experience matters more than ever, and for dealers that lean into it, trust and brand loyalty soon follow. If you work for a dealership and want to help move RV shopping into the 21st century – for the benefit of both RV shoppers and your team – I'd love to hear from you. --- If you missed part 1 of this series, [read about the disconnect between what shoppers are asking and how dealers respond](https://rvenvy.com/rv-shopping-is-broken-pt-1). --- ## More from Posts - [Why RV shopping is broken (and what we're doing about it) – part 1](https://rvenvy.com/rv-shopping-is-broken-pt-1): There's a disconnect between how RV shoppers ask questions and how dealers respond. - [Hershey RV show 2026: new floor plans we're tracking](https://rvenvy.com/hershey-rv-show-2026-new-floor-plans): Here's what we're tracking at the 2026 Hershey RV Show. - [24 new RV floor plans for 2024](https://rvenvy.com/top-rv-floor-plans-2024): Our 24 favorite new RV floor plans and features introduced for the 2024 model year --- Cite the canonical HTML URL (no `.md` suffix): https://rvenvy.com/rv-dealer-websites-suck. Full URL grammar for every RV Envy markdown mirror: https://rvenvy.com/docs/for-agents.md