Get FinancingGiant RV Wants To Bring Back The Great American Family Road Trip
“Touch grass.” These days, that phrase is often used as an insult, implying that a person has lost touch with reality, but Frankie Barouti, the owner and president of Giant RV, really wants you to get outside and touch grass, literally. And while you’re out there, go for a hike, or a motorcycle ride, or watch the sunrise. Turn off the TV, put down the phone, and go on a road trip with your family. And the best way to do that, Barouti says, is in an RV.
“I wish everyone would just get back to having good family values. Let’s go camping, let’s go do good things, and have a better life instead of the yelling and screaming you see on social media and all the other stuff that just takes away from what we need, which is relationships,” he says.
Finding A Vehicle For Happiness
“Everything to me at work is, and it always will be, how we can make families happier in life? In what way can I help you make a memory that will last a lifetime?” Barouti explains. “You hear people talk about the family trips they took in an RV, and it’s like, we went motorcycle riding, went to the beach, someone made those breakfast burritos, and it was just fun. The fun stories you hear from RV trips are sometimes stronger than the ones you hear from anywhere else.”
Giant RV is highly selective of the brands and models it carries. With over 40 years in the industry, Barouti and his staff know their RVs and their customers. Visitors to their four locations in southern California will find a carefully picked selection of Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class Super C motorhomes, as well as park trailers, fifth wheels, travel trailers, and toy haulers from brands such as Alliance, Coachmen, Fleetwood RV, Thor Motor Coach, Winnebago, and more.
#VanLife
Last year, Giant RV opened a van center in response to the growing popularity of Class B camper vans. “I strive to find the cool guy stuff, products that are innovative, have a little more edge to them with more eye appeal and technology,” Barouti says.
The van center takes Class B Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans and customizes them with bumpers, skid plates, graphic kits, lights, bigger rims, carrying racks, and other special features to make the vans stand out from the crowd.
“It’s always a little bit of a challenge to make it better than the rest. I’m adding all these fun options to my RVs, so when a customer comes here, they don’t just get the same old RV,” he says. “Instead of buying the RV for $150,000 and then going back to a shop and spending another $20,000-$30,000 adding options to it, I’ve already done it here on the lot with quality products and style.”
Where Everyone Knows Your Name
Barouti wants his dealerships to be like the famous bar from an old sitcom, where customers walk in, and the staff know them by name. “There are a lot of people who want an RV. It’s just that they have to find the right dealer,” he says. “I think it always starts with the dealership.” Giant RV has four California locations in Colton, Downey, Montclair, and Murrieta. Each offers large service and parts departments to ensure their customers have little downtime.
“Come to any of our dealerships and meet the people behind the sales department, the finance department, and the parts and service departments,” Barouti says. “You don’t want to go somewhere you feel like a stranger. We have customers who come in, and they know everybody. They can talk to the service manager whenever they want, and to me, that’s important. I know I don’t want to buy anything from anybody I don’t like. They have to find the right RV and the right salesperson, or the right company—or as I call it, the total package.”
Reaching Buyers With RVUniverse
To help buyers find the right RV, Giant RV runs ads in the Western edition of RVUniverse magazine. The company was an early adopter of the platform, dating back to 2018. Over the years, they have taken advantage of the publication's large ad formats, including full-page ads, multi-page spreads, editorial ads, and priority pages, to showcase their inventory in the most eye-catching ways.
Running ads in RVUniverse allows Giant RV to list its entire inventory online at RVUniverse.com, where thousands of buyers browse every day. “We’re very, very happy with the system,” says Barouti.
Bringing Back The Road Trip
Like many industries, the RV market has struggled recently. “It’s definitely been a tougher market for everybody in the industry,” Barouti says. “When times are tough, this industry probably suffers the hardest in the United States because it’s a recreational vehicle, something people don’t have to have, but in California, and throughout the United States, plenty of people love RVing. So, RV sales will always be there, I believe. So, our goal is just to start selling more RVs again. You want to find a dealership where the owner is actually there and cares about his customers. We’re here all the time. We order new RVs every day. We take care of our customers, and we stand behind the brands we sell.”