COVID-19 drives up snowmobile sales in New Brunswick

COVID-19 has revved up the snowmobile season the likes of which dealers have not seen in years.

“The recreational leisure world has been a phenomenal year,” said Coral Lanteigne, a sales professional at Extreme Torque Motorsports in Moncton.

Lanteigne said the dealership has sold out of almost every model of snowmobile this year because people who would normally travel south are being forced to stay home amid the pandemic and they are looking for something to do.

“They want to keep busy and they want to keep the family busy. the kids are staying at home driving mom crazy, probably, so it is normal that they want to have something to do,” he said.

While sales have skyrocketed, he said some customers have been frustrated by the fact that they cannot always get what they are looking for. Lanteigne said there is a shortage of new sleds available due to production delays early in the pandemic.

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At this point, he said some new product orders have no expected delivery dates.  He said the lack of new machines is also driving up the prices of second-hand models.

3:26 Importance of snowmobiling on groomed trails

But a key ingredient for the season, he said, is still missing in the southern part of the province.

“Snow. People are tired of watching snowmobile videos, they want the snow,” he said.

Jason Didychuk is president of the Moncton-St. Antoine Snowmobile Club.

He said the lack of snow before Christmas caused a drop in early season trail pass sales, which is their main source of income.

“This is where we get our money for our grooming operations and trail maintenance. we are all volunteers and none of us get paid but we still need to have some money in the bank to keep the tracks turning on the groomers,” he said.

Didychuk says there is still plenty of time to salvage the season and most die-hard snowmobilers will buy their passes as soon as the snow flies.

“I think we will be alright if we get snow soon enough.”