The Barbell Lot: Nearly 3 in 10 RV Units Are Moving Very Slowly. Here's Where Buyers Are Landing.

Key takeaways

• Very slow is the biggest bucket. 28.2% of September 2026 inventory (58,996 of 209,545 units, 49 states) sat in the very slow velocity bucket. Rapid held 21.5%.
• The middle is thin. 40.8% of units were rapid or fast and 39.8% were slow or very slow. Only 19.4% sat on average.
• Buyers are shifting to used. Used units rose from 41.3% of RV sales in June 2026 to 50.6% in September (24,679 of 48,783 units sold). Travel trailers took 52.1% of sales, in line with their 53.2% share of inventory. In 38 of 44 states, sold units also had a lower median price than inventory. The median gap across 44 states was $3,098 per unit.
• A state's price level doesn't predict its very slow share. States with low, mid and high inventory median prices all carried a very slow share between 28.3% and 29.0%.
• More very slow stock goes with weaker sales. The 10 states with the lowest very slow share sold 25.6% of their inventory volume in September. The 10 with the highest sold 22.7%.

How the lot usually gets read

Most dealers judge their lot by two numbers: unit count and days on lot. OEMs use the same measures across their networks for allocation.

But both are averages. In September 2026, the national average days on lot was 172 days across 209,545 units. That average could reflect steady movement—or a lot where half the units sell quickly while the rest sit for a season. Those lots need opposite actions, and the average cannot distinguish them.

The complication: the lot is a barbell

When September 2026 inventory is split by how fast units are moving, the average disappears. The single largest group is the very slow bucket, and it is bigger than the rapid one by 14,031 units.

Rapid and fast units make up 40.8% of inventory; slow and very slow units make up 39.8%. Only 19.4% sit in the average bucket.

The pattern is national: very slow is the largest bucket in all four regions, ranging from 26.1% in the Northeast to 30.1% in the South.

With the two ends nearly equal, a strategy built around the average fits only the 19.4% of units that actually behave like it.

Where buyers are landing

Towables made up 77.5% of September sales and motorhomes 22.5%, broadly matching inventory mix. The bigger shift is toward used units.

Travel trailers led with 52.1% of September sales, close to their 53.2% inventory share; fifth wheels followed at 15.3%.

Class A was the standout motorhome class, taking 10.2% of sales from just 6.5% of inventory and posting the highest sell-through among the eight largest classes at 36.7%.

Used units made up 37.7% of September inventory but 50.6% of sales, selling through at 31.4% versus 18.5% for new. From June to September, new sales fell 33.0% while used sales were nearly flat. The shift was sharpest in Class A, where 86.3% of sales were used; the South had the highest used-sales share at 53.3%.

By price, buyers land under $30K

Demand also skewed lower-priced: units under $30K made up 35.6% of priced inventory but 42.1% of priced sales, with a 27.7% sell-through. Most of those sales—61.2%—were used.

Price bands cover only units with a listed price. 29,873 units in inventory and 6,974 units sold (14.3% of each) had no price and are left out. Priced and unpriced counts together come to 181 fewer units in inventory and 61 fewer units sold than the RV class totals.

Sold units cluster below the lot's median price

In 38 of 44 states, the median price of units sold in September 2026 was lower than the median price of units in inventory. The median gap across 44 states was $3,098 per unit.

The further apart the two dots, the wider the gap between what sits on the lot and what buyers took home. Florida's gap is the widest; Washington is the only large market where sold units carried a higher median price.

In seven of the eight largest RV markets, sold units had a median price lower than the inventory median price, by between $2,998 (Pennsylvania) and $9,989 (Florida)

Washington is the one large market where sold units carried a higher median price than inventory. Vermont, South Dakota, Maryland and Connecticut were the other exceptions, and New Mexico's two medians were equal.

A caution on reading the gap: the two medians describe different sets of units. The gap shows that buyers concentrated at lower price points than the lot as a whole. It does not show that any single unit was discounted.

A state's price level doesn't predict its very slow share

You might think states with expensive RVs would have a harder time selling them, but that's not true. No matter how high or low a state's overall prices are, about 28% to 29% of its RVs always end up stuck in the "very slow" bucket.

The very slow share barely moves from the lowest-priced states to the highest

States with less stuck stock sold a larger share of their lot

Spotlight: Florida and Texas, the two biggest lots

Texas carried 3,812 more units than Florida in September 2026, yet it sold 1,383 more. The difference is which end of the barbell each state is weighted toward.

Texas is weighted to the fast end of the barbell; Florida to the slow end

So what should dealers and OEMs do with a barbell lot?

Run the two ends of the lot as two separate problems. The fast end needs supply. The slow end needs unit-by-unit attention.

For dealers

1. Track velocity mix, not just average age. Know what share of your lot sits in each velocity bucket every month. The national very slow share in September 2026 was 28.2%, a useful benchmark for your own lot.
2. Reorder from the fast end. Your rapid and fast units are the clearest signal of what buyers in your market are taking right now. Use them as the starting point for restocking.
3. Work very slow units one at a time. Identify which models and price points sit in the very slow bucket, and compare each against where local buyers are landing. In 38 of 44 states, that landing point was below the lot's median price.
4. Watch your gap. Compare your inventory median price with your market's sold units median price each month. A widening gap can be an early sign that the lot is drifting away from where buyers are landing.

For OEMs

1. Allocate on sell-through and velocity mix, not inventory volume. Texas and Florida hold the two biggest lots, but Texas sold 25.4% of its September inventory and Florida sold 22.9%.
2. Flag markets above the national very slow share. In September 2026, the 10 states with the highest very slow share sold 22.7% of their inventory, against 25.6% for the 10 lowest. New allocation into high-share markets can add to aging stock.
3. Target program support at very slow units. Very slow share stayed between 28.3% and 29.0% across state price tiers, so a market's overall price level won't show where very slow stock sits. Aim support at the very slow units themselves, by model and price point.

As the market shifts, the dealers and OEMs who come out ahead won't be the ones with the most units. They will be the ones who can see which end of the barbell each unit sits on, and act on it every month.

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