By Chuck Woodbury
EDITOR
Three weeks ago I proposed the creation of a new organization for RVers, which I suggested might be called AARVO— an acronym for the American Association of RV Owners.
The idea was well received by readers — except for some: those in Canada! We should have included our best friends from the North right away. So we have tweaked the proposed name to NAARVO, for North American Association of RV Owners. We have purchased the domain name Naarvo.org.
The way I see it, the RV Industry Association (RVIA) has one job: to do whatever it can to help its members, mostly RV manufacturers, sell RVs. What happens to those RVs once they are sold is not one of its mandates.
The fact that so many defective RVs are rolling off the assembly lines is not important enough to the industry to do anything about it. The RVIA fights lemon laws wherever they are proposed. Great for manufacturers, but not you, me and other RVers who can get stuck for months, years — or forever — with RVs that are too defective to even be on the highway.
The RV industry’s loyalty to its members compared to us (RVers) is akin to those of the fox and the chickens in the henhouse. The fact is, the foxes want to eat the chickens. The chickens don’t want to be eaten: they want to be protected from the foxes. How could one organization represent both the foxes (RV industry) and us (RVers)? It can’t!
There is no national organization that represents the interests of RVers. None. You and I are at the mercy of the industry, which only cares about our money. RVtravel.com along with the RV Show USA are the only two media organizations gutsy enough to even discuss this.
That’s all I will say for now, but if you would like to be included on our mailing list for occasional updates about the North American Association of RV Owners please sign up here. Leave a message if you are interested in being significantly involved. I cannot take this project on by myself, but I can help get it started.
If you want to learn more about the RV industry and how it is unknowingly self-destructing, please read Greg Gerber’s eight-part series “The RV Industry Death Spiral,” available as a PDF download.
Every organization starts with an idea… Successful organizations persevere. There is strength in numbers. The Auto Club (AAA) did have room fora RV and camping voice, but seems to have lost that voice. They could be a good ally.
I read “The RV Industry Death Spiral” when Greg first published it and found it very accurate and was really impressed he would take the time to write such a long article. It’s such a shame he had to stop his newsletter but I wish him the best. We need more people like you to point out what’s wrong with the RV industry.
When you say RV you mean all things recreational, TT, 5th wheels, MH, boats, jet skis, & all. Good Sam was for campers & that’s why we joined them. Now it is for all RV’ing people, which is fine, & we like Gander Outdoor as much as Camping world for camping & other outdoor supplies. It would be nice to have a campers organization. That’s why we belong to RVTravel.com & Escapees, just to hear news & stories about camping.
Nice idea in theory, but I believe it would take years to build enough of a lobbyist base to foster any real change. Even if you had a million voices of the average RV owners, there still wouldn’t be enough influential wealth to move the RVIA. IMO, the NAARVO would be sitting with membership fees, paying administrators and staff and really accomplish nothing. I do wish the organization the best of luck though.
You have to start somewhere and sometime.
True. I did wish them the best of luck. I do hope it works well, but the industry is very much driven by the RVIA. They have a lot of wealth and clout at the state and federal levels. I just don’t know how much influence the NAARVO could bring to the Lemon Law table, regardless of the number of voices.
Both of you are correct. There needs to be a starting point and that is in education for the consumer. With bad construction and poor service called out an educated consumer can hit them were they will take notice. Business is driven by supply and demand. Only when the consumer demand for quality (and willing to pay for that quality) is noticed will it change. For too long we have accepted poor quality and service just to keep prices relatively low and there will always be a market for “cheap RV’s” for the occasional user. Now we have only 2 choices: Cheap with impulse eye appeal that won’t last or a few quality built choices that are not affordable. To get that balance between quality and affordability is were there needs to be an advocate for the consumer. What to avoid and what has good value.
You’re probably right about building clout for conventional lobbying activities, Bill…. but there are other ways our voices can be heard. I’d venture to guess that boycotting brands or products is one way massive numbers of RVers can make a difference — without the expense and burden of hiring lobbyists. Coming together in a single, organized group enables unified action — just ask anybody who’s organized the massive marches and protests we’ve been seeing on the political scene lately. Instead of marching in the streets we could be marching in front of dealerships who provide lousy service and manufacturers who build unsafe RVs. Get enough people making enough noise and THAT, my friend, attracts attention.
Thank you for your reply Ellen. Your quote of “we could be marching in front of dealerships who provide lousy service and manufacturers who build unsafe RVs. ” I don’t see how you could get enough people to march in front of enough dealership and manufacturer locations, simultaneously and even more important, long enough, to carry influence. Most protest marches are localized to certain areas and events such as political rallies.