How we price v1.5 · Oct 28, 2026

We show what dealers are asking for an RV, and the middle price for the same RV across dealers. Here is how we do it, in plain words. If you want the exact rules, they are in The fine print at the bottom.

What the Real Price is

An example. We found 75 of the same trailer for sale. Lined up from cheapest to most expensive, the one in the middle costs $44,995. That is the Real Price.

Say a dealer lists one of those trailers for $41,000. The Real Price is $44,995, so it is $3,995 below. We mark it "Below Real Price."

"The same trailer" means the same make, model, floorplan and model year, all new. We show a Real Price only when we have at least 5 listings from at least 2 dealer chains. (A chain is one company, even if it has many lots.) With fewer, we say "limited data" and show no price.

The Real Price is what dealers are asking, not what anyone paid. Use it as a starting point when you talk to a dealer. Most new RVs are advertised well below the factory sticker price (the MSRP), so the sticker price is a poor yardstick. Used RVs are never part of a Real Price.

How we find prices

We read the public inventory pages on dealers' own websites. We write down the facts: year, make, model, floorplan, price, stock number and size.
Every number on this site shows where we found it and the date we saw it.
We only use listings we saw in the last 7 days. If we have not seen a listing for 30 days, we mark it old and leave it out of every comparison.
Each listing page says "Listing data as of" and a date. That is the last time we saw the listing. We do not check the dealer's page again when you open a page or a report, so always confirm with the dealer.
We do not copy dealers' photos, ads or customer information. Each listing links to the dealer's own page, where you can see photos.
Some dealers do not say what type of RV a listing is. Then we make our best guess from similar listings and mark it "estimated." A guess is never used in a Real Price or a label.

Freight and dealer fees

Not every dealer prices the same way. Some include shipping from the factory (called freight) in the price they show. Camping World does. Others add it later, along with prep and paperwork fees. Putting those prices side by side is not fair.

An example. Say Dealer A shows $44,995 and adds $2,394 in fees later. Dealer B shows $47,000 with everything in. Dealer A looks cheaper, but its real total is $47,389. So when a dealer shows a total with its fees, we use that total. That way prices are compared fairly.

Here is how it works out today. We compared 13,037 new RV listings where we have enough listings to show a Real Price. For 5,949 of them (46%), we used the dealer's total with its fees. For 1,747 (13%), the price already includes shipping from the factory. For the other 5,341 (41%), we used the advertised price, with no fees added.

Camping World says its price (it calls this ClearPrice) includes shipping from the factory. Source: rv.campingworld.com/clearprice, checked Oct 27, 2026.
Blue Compass, Campers Inn and Fun Town show a total that adds their fees. We use that total.
Still not included: taxes, title and registration, and any fee a dealer does not show us. Always ask for the out-the-door price. That is the full amount you would pay.

When a dealer states its fees, you will see them on the listing page under "Fees we know about." They can include paperwork (documentation), prep, freight, finance and add-ons. We show the dealer's own words, where we found them and the date. We never guess an amount. If a dealer mentions a fee but not the amount, we say "Amount not stated."

What the labels mean

We use two labels. Both are good news for a buyer. Everything else is shown as plain numbers.

Below Real Price. Say the Real Price is $44,995 and a trailer is listed for $41,000. It is $3,995 below, so it gets this label. A listing earns it when its price is at least 5% under the Real Price of the same new floorplan and model year. There must be enough listings to give a Real Price.
Price drop. Say a dealer lowers a trailer from $46,500 to $44,000, and we see it on Oct 20, 2026. We show "$2,500 drop on Oct 20, 2026." The label stays for 30 days after the drop, as long as the listing still has the lower price.

* We compare like with like: the dealer's total with fees if it shows one, otherwise the advertised price. Taxes, title and registration are never included, so ask for the out-the-door price (the full amount you would pay). Real Price is the price in the middle of the listings we compared. It is not a sale price. A price drop means the advertised price went down.

We never put a bad label on a listing or a dealer. You can filter search results by these labels, and Price Drops lists the latest ones.

One more thing you may see. On a listing page we may say how the price compares with similar listings, for example "Priced $2,150 below the middle price of 34 similar listings." That is just a number, not a label. We say it only when we found at least 30 similar listings: same make, model and floorplan, same condition, and the model year one year newer or older. Sometimes several dealers all list at the same price. Then we say so, and remind you that the listed price is a starting point and discounts usually come from talking it over.

What we don't include

Taxes, title and registration. They are never in our prices. Neither are fees a dealer does not show us. Ask every dealer for the out-the-door price.
Sale prices. We show what dealers advertise. Prices change, so check with the dealer before you travel or pay.
Photos. We do not show or store dealer photos. We link you to the dealer's page, and to the maker's website, where you can see them.
Advice. We are not an appraiser, and we do not tell you what to buy. Our numbers are a guide, not an appraisal.

Who we are and how we make money

FairHitch is an independent RV price guide. We are not a dealer, broker or lender, and we do not sell RVs.

The site is free to use. The Real Price Report is free.
We earn money from ads, featured dealer listings, and fees when you ask a dealer for a quote through us.
Anything paid for is labeled "Advertisement" or "Featured".
Dealers cannot pay to change a price or a label. A Real Price and a "Below Real Price" or "Price drop" label come only from the numbers.

Corrections

Found a wrong number? Tell us. We fix a confirmed error within 2 business days and add a note to the page for 30 days. If a comparison was built on wrong data, we take it down within 24 hours. If you got a Real Price Report with the error in it, we email you within 5 business days. Every fix goes in the corrections log, which is never erased. Dealers can ask to be removed.

The fine print

This is the exact rulebook behind the plain words above. Nothing here changes how any price is calculated.

What we collect

Facts only, from dealerships' own public websites: year, make, model, trim or floorplan, RV type, advertised price, posted MSRP, sale price, dealer discount, stock number, VIN, and basic specs (sleeps, length, weight, mileage). We do not republish dealer photographs, marketing copy or customer information. Each listing page links to the dealer's own page for photos.

The claim rule

Every published figure carries three things: the value, where we found it, and the date we saw it. A figure missing any one of the three does not appear, on listing pages, in labels, in the Real Price Report, or anywhere else. We keep the raw page capture so any claim can be checked later.

Freshness

A listing enters a comparison only if we last saw it in the dealer's public inventory within the past 7 days.
Listings not seen within 30 days are marked stale and left out of all comparisons.
Every listing page shows "Listing data as of" with the date we last saw the listing. We do not fetch a listing again when a report is requested.

Comparison price

Each listing is compared on the dealer-posted total when the dealer lists one above its advertised price (the gap must be at most $15,000 and at most 25% of the advertised price; a larger gap we treat as a keying error). Otherwise it is compared on the advertised price. The listing page says which one was used and shows both numbers when they differ.

What uses it. The Real Price median and middle half, the uniform-pricing flag, "Below Real Price" and its "$X below" amounts, and the figures in reports and emails. The rules for when a Real Price qualifies (5+ listings from 2+ dealer chains, freshness) are unchanged, because they count listings, not prices.
What stays on the advertised price. "Price drop," price-drop alerts on a listing, the percent below MSRP, the weekly advertised-price charts and a unit's price-history chart. A dealer changes the advertised price, and the MSRP comparison has always been against it. Those charts do not record dealer totals, so they are labeled as advertised prices and are not called a Real Price.
Never estimated. We use only numbers a dealer published. We do not guess a fee or add a freight allowance. Dealers that do not show a total (for example General RV and Bish's today) are compared on their advertised price, which may leave out shipping, prep and paperwork fees.
Groups. 933 floorplan and model-year groups have a Real Price today. 185 include at least one price that already includes freight, and 185 mix those with other prices. Each group's mix is shown on its model and listing pages and in the open-data CSV.

Fees we show

Where a dealer states its fees, each listing page shows them under "Fees we know about": documentation, prep (including setup, inspection and orientation), freight (including destination, transport and delivery), finance and dealer add-on fees, each with the dealer's own wording, its source and the capture date. Amounts come only from the dealer's own listing pages, website disclaimers or published fee policies and are never estimated; a fee the dealer mentions without an amount is shown as "Amount not stated."

The Real Price index (new units)

For each make, model, floorplan and model year we publish the median comparison price of new units (the Real Price), the middle half of those prices (25th to 75th percentile), the number of listings and of distinct dealer chains behind it, the median percentage by which those listings are advertised below the MSRP each dealer posted for the same unit, and the date of the newest listing in the set. These are asking prices and dealer-posted totals, not sale prices. A figure appears only with 5+ listings from 2+ dealer chains; otherwise the page says "limited data" and shows no figure. A "% below MSRP" appears only with 5+ listings that carry a posted MSRP, and a listing whose asking price is more than 1.5 times or less than 0.3 times its own posted MSRP is treated as a keying error and left out. Only listings seen within 7 days count. Opted-out dealers are left out, and the California display geofence (currently off, so California listings are included) applies exactly as it does to comparisons. Where a floorplan has too little data, the page may show the model-year roll-up across all floorplans, labeled as such.

Labels

Below Real Price: the listing is a new unit in a floorplan and model-year group that qualifies for a Real Price, and its comparison price is at least 5% below that group's median. It is shown as "$X below the Real Price." Listings in groups with too little data, used units, stale listings, and prices excluded as keying errors get no label.
Price drop: the listing's advertised price decreased within the last 30 days, read from the price history we record when a price changes between visits. Only the most recent change counts, only if it was a decrease and the listing still carries that lower price. A decrease to under half the previous price is treated as a keying-error correction and is not shown. A large drop (15% or more) is shown only after we have seen the listing again on a later day with the lower price.
Both labels are worked out once per data refresh. Neither includes taxes, title or registration.

Uniform advertised pricing

For a floorplan and model year with a Real Price, if the middle half (25th to 75th percentile) of the comparison prices spans no more than 1% of the median, across at least 2 dealer chains and 5 listings, we flag it "uniform advertised price" and say how many of the listings are within 1% of the same price. The flag describes posted prices only and says nothing about why they match.

The "similar listings" sentence

The sentence on a listing page compares the advertised price with the median of its comparison set. It appears only if all of these hold:

At least 30 comparable listings. Fewer: no sentence, and the page shows the listing's own numbers with "not enough comparable listings yet."
The comparison set is the same make, model family and trim or floorplan, model year one year newer or older, the same condition (new and used are never mixed), live listings only, each last seen within 7 days, and none from an opted-out dealer.
Trim names are tidied first: capitals and separators are unified ("170BH - SPORT" and "170BH Sport" both become 170BH), and trailing package words (Sport, Limited, Deluxe, Select, and similar) are dropped. Only the ending is dropped, so different floorplans never merge (170BH and 170BHW stay apart).
Two verified identical rebadge pairs count together, because they are the same unit built on the same line: Jayco Terrain with Entegra Coach Launch, and Jayco Seneca with Entegra Coach Accolade. When a comparison includes them, the page says so. Similar-but-not-identical units are never merged.

The price must also be 15% or more below the median (and no higher than the highest posted MSRP in the set, which catches mis-keyed prices), within 10% of the median, or 15% or more above it. Between 10% and 15% either side we say nothing. Every sentence shows its basis: how many listings, and that they were seen within the last 7 days. Changing these limits needs founder approval and a changelog entry below.

Factory MSRP (aggregated)

We never present one dealer's posted MSRP as "the factory MSRP." A figure labeled factory MSRP (aggregated) is the median of 5+ independent dealer postings of new units with the same make, model, floorplan and model year, after discarding postings more than 15% from the first median as outliers. It is shown with its basis: "Median of N dealer postings." With 2 to 4 postings we show the range only. With one posting we say exactly that: "MSRP as advertised by [Dealer]." If the 15% rule discards more than 40% of postings, we withhold the median and show the range.

Estimated RV type

Some dealer sites (today Camping World and General RV) do not label the RV type. Where it is missing we estimate it from the make, model and floorplan of labeled units at other dealers, and mark it "estimated" wherever it appears. We estimate only when at least 90% of the labeled units agree on one type. Estimated types never feed a comparison, a label or a report, and the original dealer data is never changed.

Open data

The Real Price index is free to download as a spreadsheet file: real-price-index.csv. It has one row per qualifying floorplan and model-year group: make, model, floorplan, model year, Real Price (the median comparison price), 25th and 75th percentile and their difference, number of listings and dealer chains, median percent below posted MSRP, the uniform-advertised-price flag, the newest listing date, the as-of date, and how many of the listings were compared on a dealer-posted total, on an advertised price that includes freight, and on an advertised price (n_posted_total, n_advertised_incl_freight, n_advertised). It is regenerated with every data refresh. Please credit FairHitch and the as-of date when you use it.

Price-drop email alerts

You can ask for an email when a listing's advertised price falls, or when the Real Price of a floorplan or model falls by 1% or more. We send one confirmation message first (double opt-in) and nothing else until you confirm. Every alert has a one-click unsubscribe link, the price note above, and our postal address. See the privacy policy.

Language rules

Our copy is factual and never accusatory. We do not use insulting or accusing words about any named dealer, and we do not tell you what to conclude. We show the numbers and you decide: for example, "Advertised at [Dealer]: $X (seen [date]). Middle price for this model: $Y, from N listings."

Changelog

Version	Date	Change
1.5	Oct 28, 2026	Freight and dealer fees (founder-approved). Real Price now compares like with like where we can: each listing is compared on the dealer's posted total when the dealer lists one above its advertised price (Blue Compass, Campers Inn, Fun Town), otherwise on its advertised price, and the basis is shown. This applies to the Real Price median and middle half, the uniform-pricing flag, "Below Real Price" and its "$X below" amounts, listing comparisons, reports and the open-data CSV (new basis-count columns). Disclosed: Camping World states its advertised price includes factory freight, and most other dealers' prices do not, so every Real Price panel now shows its mix of bases. Unchanged: Price drop, listing alerts, the percent below MSRP and the home-page headline stay on the advertised price; qualification rules (listings, dealer chains, freshness) are unchanged. The weekly price charts are now labeled as advertised prices and are no longer called a Real Price. The label disclosure line is reworded to match.
1.5	Oct 28, 2026	Plain-language rewrite; no change to how prices are calculated. This page and the site's wording were rewritten for first-time buyers. The exact rules moved into "The fine print."
1.4	Oct 27, 2026	Product and copy. The paid product is now the "Real Price Report"; the site tagline is "Know the real price." Positive-only listing labels ("Below Real Price" at 5% under a qualifying cell median; "Price drop" within 30 days) replace the descriptive-only copy rule from v1.2; no listing or dealer is ever labeled negatively, and every label carries the advertised-price disclosure. Uniform advertised price flag on Real Price cells. Price-drops page, search filters for the labels, open-data CSV of the index, and price-drop email alerts (double opt-in). The California display geofence is lifted; the code path remains.
1.3	Oct 26, 2026	Real Price index (new units, per make + model + floorplan + model year) added. Factory-MSRP aggregation scoped to the same make, model, floorplan, and model year, new units only (previously aggregated across the whole model). Estimated RV type for dealers that do not label it. Model pages fold spelling/case variants of the same model into one page. Comparison pools treat make spellings such as "Forest River RV" and "Forest River" as one make. Freshness wording aligned with the code ("last seen within 7 days"); photos are linked, not displayed.
1.2	Oct 18, 2026	Descriptive comparisons only (founder-approved). The three earlier buyer-facing judgment labels were replaced with purely factual comparative statements — e.g. "Priced $2,150 below the median of 34 comparable listings" — always paired with the show-the-work basis line and comp distribution. The internal band math (≥15% below / ±10% / ≥15% above median, 30-comp threshold) is unchanged; the bands now determine which listings get a statement, never a judgment word. Rationale: trade-libel exposure reduction, pending the litigator's opinion (see legal/needs-lawyer.md Q1). Claim-your-listing funnel removed (pure publisher model). California launch geofence added (display-only, reversible).
1.1	Oct 17, 2026	Badge-pool normalization (founder-approved). Trim normalization: case/separator/whitespace unification plus trailing package-suffix stripping (Sport, Limited, Deluxe, Select, Signature, Platinum, Touring, Elite, Grand, Classic); merges are same-core-only — `170BH` absorbs "170BH - SPORT"/"170BH Sport" while `170BHW` stays separate. Exact-rebadge unification: Jayco Terrain / Entegra Coach Launch and Jayco Seneca / Entegra Coach Accolade pool together (verified identical units, same production line); pools containing rebadge units disclose it on the badge. Explicitly rejected: near-equivalent merging (Odyssey/Esteem vs Redhawk/Greyhawk — finishes differ, would make badges brand-tier detectors) and model-family pooling without trim split (trim-median spread reaches 3.4× on Jay Flight SLX — $12,938 to $43,995 — which would make badges size detectors, not deal detectors). Badge threshold unchanged at 30 comps.
1.0	Oct 15, 2026	Initial public methodology. Badge bands: ≥15% below / ±10% / ≥15% above median; 30-comp threshold; MSRP median-of-5 with ±15% outlier rejection.