Boat and RV sales boomed between 2020 and 2021. And during that time, boat and RV storage also saw a big lift.
But is it still worthwhile to get into boat and RV storage today?
Vehicle storage facilities have many advantages, but there are also some challenges.
If you’re considering opening a vehicle storage facility, you can’t just do it on a whim. And unlike traditional self storage units, there’s a lot more to consider about your market before you commit yourself.
If you’ve checked out our guide to owning boat and RV storage, you’ve learned a lot about the how and why. But there’s more to know before you make your decision.
Let’s take a look at some historical data and trends to explore whether it’s the right time to get into boat and RV storage.
The short answer is yes, but that’s not the whole picture.
RVs are the primary driver of vehicle storage. And if you look strictly at the volume of RV shipments in 2024 versus other years, we’re at the lowest point since 2012.
That’s right. The shipments now aren’t just lower than pre-2020; they’re lower than they have been in over a decade.
Let’s take a look at the numbers, and then we can dive into the long answer.
To start, here are some statistics on RV shipments from the RVIA.
Text
This graph goes up to 2023 (as 2024's numbers haven't been released in full as of writing this post). In 2023, shipments of new RVs fell to nearly 50% of the volume 2021 saw. And even compared to 2022 it’s about a 40% drop.
And if you were to look at monthly YoY reports comparing 2024 and 2023, most months are seeing drops compared to 2023, so 2024 is set to be as low or lower.
Powerboat sales are similarly down. While we don’t have reliable annual data going back as far as RV shipments, the following data from Statista goes back to 2019.
Those numbers aren’t super encouraging.
It shows that sales of these boats actually have been down since 2021, though there was around a 2% increase between 2022 and 2023.
It seems like everyone was hopping on the RV train back during the pandemic, enjoying those secluded family getaways. Now, though, money is tight, and people have dramatically reduced their tendency to spend on big, for-fun purchases like recreational vehicles.
Meanwhile, it seems like boat sales plummeted during those days and have yet to recover at all.
I just presented you with a bit of data that probably has you feeling like you should avoid vehicle storage at all costs.
There’s a bit more to the story, though.
When it comes to vehicle storage, there’s an important factor to consider: boats and RVs don’t just disappear once they’ve been purchased. They aren’t one-time-use products.
No one spends $50,000 dollars on an RV, takes one camping trip, and then tosses it into the compactor before heading back to work the next week.
Even if someone decides RVing isn’t for them or chooses to get rid of the boat, they’re usually selling it to another individual. In fact, the average lifespan of an RV can be between ten and thirty years (with the average being around 20 years at the moment).
This means that even with declining shipments, the demand for storage doesn’t necessarily decline.
Instead, it’s more like the demand for storage stops growing—or at least it stops growing as quickly.
The Bottom Line on Demand: The numbers don’t lie: fewer people are buying boats and RVs. But that doesn’t mean demand for storage evaporates. You just need to find where the demand actually is.
Should you avoid opening a vehicle storage facility on a whim without proper vetting of the market?
Yes.
Should you avoid boat and RV storage entirely?
I don’t think so.
See, the important part is that vehicles are sticky. They last for years, and so the storage side can weather some years of declining sales. This may get tricky if sales never recover, but even that’s a long-term problem that would be faced a decade or two from now.
However, you can’t just choose to open a vehicle storage facility anywhere you like.
You need to see how feasible it is in a given market.
Vehicle storage isn’t like traditional self storage. In self storage, basically everywhere needs a storage facility (or multiple storage facilities), and it’s just about making sure you don’t push the available inventory over the market’s saturation point.
In vehicle storage, you can find many markets that just don’t need it almost at all. Or if they do need it, they need so little that the saturation point has long been hit.
If you want to open a vehicle storage facility, make sure there’s actual demand for your product first. Hire experts to perform feasibility studies, for example. You need to determine whether you’ll actually have customers available before you put time and money into opening a facility.
Verdict: It depends.
Sales of new RVs and boats are down, and demand has slowed because of this. In many markets, new facilities have caused oversaturation in the last few years.
You shouldn’t toss out the idea entirely, though. There are still markets that could use vehicle storage. Just make sure you actually investigate the market conditions and determine the area’s need before you get too invested.
Here are some of my other favorite posts to check out!
At StoragePug, we build self storage websites that make it easy for new customers to find you and easy for them to rent from you.
