‘Toy Haulers’ Are Taking The RV Trade Into Cavernous New Territory

ATC Trailers started out in 2015 making “everything from 5-by-8-foot trailers for dog groomers to a 53-foot gooseneck car hauler, with custom living quarters,” recalled Jason Schlabach, category manager for RVs for the manufacturer based in Nippanee, Indiana.

“Then we said, ‘Why don’t we dive into the RV market? And we started a dedicated team to start producing RVs, getting in with ‘toy haulers.’”

And now, ATC Trailers is in deep to the booming toy-hauler trend in the booming RV industry. Recreational vehicles can be expensive enough, but for consumers who want the ultimate in travel convenience or an ability to take their hobbies with them, toy haulers are the answer. A recent survey of U.S. campers by ATC found that 71% planned to buy a new RV or toy hauler in the future, and 20% said they plan to buy one in the next year; 57% of those surveyed didn’t own an RV or toy hauler at the time of the survey.

In addition to the living spaces that are conventional in RV trailers and coaches, toy haulers provide a garage on the back end that can be used to stuff all-terrain vehicles, bicycles, golf carts — or just a whole lot of luggage for the extremely high-maintenance traveler. They come with or without a removable partition from the living-area part of the RV and the business part.

“People have realized that toy haulers are more versatile than conventional travel trailers,” Schlabach told me. “One customer is an avid collector of antiques and likes to go to auctions with his toy hauler. He travels around, opens up the ramp door and puts his stuff in the trailer.”

ATC models typically bring $100,000 to as much as $180,000 at the company’s independent dealers, in models ranging from 20 to 45 feet long. Some can even fit full-size vehicles such as a four-door Jeep Wrangler.

“We get a lot of customers that maybe had a motor home and always towed their cars behind it, and these people like the fact that they can pull their car inside our trailer,” Stalbach said.

The toy haulers are cleverly designed so that the garage part can double as part of the living quarters if owners empty it of vehicles once reaching a destination. Furnishings can be pulled down from side positions. “We focus on making everything configurable,” Stalbach said, “which is somewhat unique in the industry. We don’t have a set floor plan. And in our Pro line, you can move your sofa and dinette anywhere along the walls.

“We have a customer who hauls a Corvette and sometimes on a long trip will pull over alongside the road and can get to his kitchen area and dinette with the car sitting in front of him,” Stalbach said.

The necessary complexity of these vehicles bespeaks the need for putting them together by hand, like a small house.