You've just sold an RV, and your customer doesn't know if he should add his RV to his homeowner's policy or add an endorsement to his automobile insurance. He might not even be aware of his third option - a stand alone, specialized policy for RV owners. As a sales person you know everything about the RV you just sold. To be an exceptional sales person and increase customer loyalty, you'll also benefit from advising him of the best recreational insurance options within his budget. By asking him the questions below, you'll assist him in determining the protection he needs.

1. Is your customer's RV going to be used for vacations or will he live in it for six months or more? If he's going to live in his RV, full-timer coverage covers the RV as both a home and a vehicle so he doesn't need to purchase two separate policies (homeowner's and automobile). RVers who live in their vehicles are also eligible for heightened liability limits which protect from claims due to accidents that cause injury to other people or to their property. This coverage has the benefits of homeowners, auto and RV coverage in a single policy and protects the owner at all times - while he's rolling down the road or when he's relaxing at a campground.

2. What is your customer going to bring with him in his RV? Items that an owner may have inside his RV such as housewares, tools, sporting goods, and small electronics are rarely covered by automobile or homeowner's policies. Through personal effects coverage, the owner is covered up to a specified replacement cost for loss or damage to the insured RV contents. Also ensure the policy protects the items on the exterior of the vehicle, such as antennas, external racks and satellite dishes. If your customer plans to bring his pets along for the ride, there is pet injury coverage. If his dog or cat is injured from an accident while inside his RV, this policy will cover a specified amount for veterinary costs.

3. How much money did your customer put down? We all hate to think about it but everyone knows the minute a customer drives their RV off the lot, it begins to depreciate in value. Automobile policies are typically "actual cash" policies which means that if the RV is totaled, the policy will only pay out the current market value of the RV. The amount the insurance company may reimburse for the RV may be less than what is owed. To protect themselves, many RVers choose to purchase a stand-alone policy with total loss replacement coverage. This coverage will replace the owner's RV with a brand new unit, identical to the one he owns or upgrade him to the newest similar model if his model is no longer available. In most cases after the first few years, the policy will adjust to agreed value coverage, which will entitle the policy holder to the full amount agreed upon when the policy was purchased and can be used towards the purchase of a replacement RV.

4. Does your customer have an emergency fund? Any experienced RVer has seen it happen. A family on vacation in their RV has an accident and the RV needs repairs. They're hundreds of miles away from home and their means of transportation, shelter and food just got towed away to the repair shop. Don't let this happen to your customer. RVers who purchase emergency expense coverage breathe easy knowing that their policy will pay for a rental car, hotel and dining expenses while their RV is in the shop. Advise your customer to consider purchasing this coverage so that even if an unfortunate accident happens, he can continue his vacation without missing a beat.

5. How is your customer's driving record? Just as in automobile policies, a good driving record is rewarded in specialized insurance policies with discounts for things like "safe-driving." Drivers with a good record can also receive disappearing deductible coverage, which rewards safe drivers with reduced collision and comprehensive deductibles. For each claim free year, their deductibles reduce by a specified percentage until the policy reaches a zero deductible.

Specialized insurance coverage gives your customer customized options that fit their needs. An automobile endorsement or homeowner's policy may look cheaper up front but can cost your customer thousands of dollars in the long run. An educated RV owner is a protected RV owner. Taking a few moments to help your customer evaluate his insurance needs and save money will ensure that he will enjoy his RV for years to come and return to your dealership when looking to upgrade.

For more information contact:

Veritas Insurance Group
742 Second Avenue South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
866-808-3344
www.veritasinsurance.com

Sixty-seven manufacturers and 199 suppliers were assigned display space totaling more than 750,000 square feet for RVIA’s 48th Annual National RV Trade Show during the annual space drawing held recently at association headquarters in Reston, VA.

After the recession severely cut back the size and scope of the National RV Trade Show last year, the increase in the amount of exhibit space assigned this year is another promising sign that the RV industry is on the road to recovery. At the 2009 National RV Trade Show, 70 manufacturer and 211 suppliers filled just over 604,000 square feet of space.

“We are very encouraged by the increase in exhibit space at this year’s show,” said RVIA President Richard Coon. “Having a large, well-attended National RV Trade Show sends a powerful message to consumers, the media, the financial markets, and our own industry about the health and outlook for the RV market.”

Exhibit space assignment was completed by using a lottery system established by RVIA. Tom Lutz of ASA Electronics and Joe Morales of Roadtrek Motorhomes attended the lottery as exhibitor representatives.

Exhibit space is still available for the show. For manufacturer space, contact Mike Hutya, vice president of Meetings and Shows at (800) 336-0154 ext. 332. For supplier space, contact Kelly Smith at ext. 465 at the same phone number.

With the association’s Board of Directors elections set to begin on Aug. 3, RVIA has posted a pre-ballot detailing the field of candidates and their backgrounds on RVIA.org (click here to view)

A field of 12 candidates, selected by the RVIA Nominating Committee, will be running for 7 seats on the Board of Directors. The elections will take place electronically Aug. 3-23 with the official representatives from RVIA member companies electing candidates in each category to serve on the Board of Directors for terms beginning Oct. 1, 2010.

Three candidates are in the running for two Manufacturer seats with three-year terms. They are: Pam Graber, vice president of operations, Open Range RV; Matt Miller, president, Newmar Corp.; and John Rhymer, vice president of engineering, Heartland Recreation Vehicles.

Three Supplier seats, each with three-year terms, are in contention this year. Adam Dexter, president of Dexter Axle Co.; Craig Floyd, national sales manager, Technology Research Associates; Gregg Fore, president, Dicor Corporation; Tim Stephens, president, Atwood Mobile Products; Stan Sunshine, chairman, Stag-Parkway, Inc., and B.J. Thompson, president, B.J. Thompson and Associates, are the candidates for these spots.

Three candidates are competing for two At-Large seats with three-year terms. They are Matt Grierson, director of sales and marketing, Quality Drive Away; Bob Parish, vice president, G.E. Capital; and Jonathan Randall, director of sales and marketing, Freightliner Custom Chassis.

RVIA’s Nominating Committee is chaired by Dan Shea of Gulfstream Coach and includes Garry Enyart of Cummins Power Generation and Carl Pfalzgraf of Atwood Mobile Products.

Lake Havasu City, Ariz. - July 21, 2010 - Coach-Net, a leading provider of 24/7 emergency roadside assistance and other services for RV owners and manufacturers, autos and commercial vehicles, recently announced plans to relocate its call center operations from Lake Havasu City, Ariz. to the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area over the next nine months. The relocation takes place as part of an initiative by the National Motor Club, Coach-Net's Irving, Texas-based parent company, to implement its strategic growth plan and better align several closely related sister companies.

The vast majority of Coach-Net's Lake Havasu City employees will have an opportunity to relocate to call center operations in the Dallas area, ensuring continuity in service and preservation of the company's deep industry knowledge. Coach-Net's DFW-based call center operations will be managed by National Motor Club's sister company, Stellar, which will leverage its global expertise in call center management for the benefit of Coach-Net's valued customers. The process of transitioning calls will begin in October 2010, and the process is expected to be completed by March 2011.

"As we transition these operations to the Dallas area, where our corporate headquarters and accounting functions are already based, we are pleased to be keeping these critical jobs in the U.S. and offering an opportunity to keep much of our outstanding team intact," said Matt Krzysiak, Chief Operations Officer. "As a consequence of this expected employee retention and our phased transition plan, our customers will experience no disruption to service over the coming months. Ultimately, this relocation will position us for positive growth and allow Coach-Net to be even stronger in delivering outstanding customer service, drawing on our employees' deep knowledge base and the geographic advantages, telecom technology, network infrastructure and business resources available in the Dallas/Fort Worth area."

RVIA’s 2009 Industry Profile, which provides a statistical portrait of RV production and sales from the year 2009, has been published and is now available to the industry.

The publication offers a detailed look at RV production and shipment statistics, including historical comparisons of shipment figures and dollar volume as well as production breakdowns by product type and shipment destination.

An analysis of the production highlights and examination of consumer buying preferences, which includes a look at the post-recession consumer and RV ownership demographics, is also presented.

A copy of the 2009 Industry Profile was sent to all RVIA members. Additional copies for members as well as industry contacts are available through the publications store at rvia.org.

RVIA’s 2009 Industry Profile, which provides a statistical portrait of RV production and sales from the year 2009, has been published and is now available to the industry.

The publication offers a detailed look at RV production and shipment statistics, including historical comparisons of shipment figures and dollar volume as well as production breakdowns by product type and shipment destination.

An analysis of the production highlights and examination of consumer buying preferences, which includes a look at the post-recession consumer and RV ownership demographics, is also presented.

A copy of the 2009 Industry Profile was sent to all RVIA members. Additional copies for members as well as industry contacts are available through the publications store at rvia.org.

The RVIA Board of Directors capped four days of intense activity at Committee Week by voting unanimously to reduce the RVIA seal price by $5 to $25, effective July 1, 2010.

This is the second reduction in the seal price in a three-month period. The Board had previously approved a similar $5 reduction at its April meeting. The seal price had been increased to $35 in July 2009 to ease pressure on the association budget caused by the reduction in show and dues revenue triggered by the economic downturn. This action helped avoid further program cuts and allowed RVIA to continue providing essential association services at a critical time for the membership and industry.

“With the RV market gaining strength and the economic outlook improving, we are happy to once again lower the price of seals for our members,” said RVIA President Richard Coon.

The new $25 seal fee will apply to all member manufacturer vehicle types. The Go RVing per unit assessment of manufacturer members remains unchanged at the current levels of $46 for folding camping trailers and truck campers; $61 for travel trailers and 5th wheel travel trailers; and $74 for motorhomes.

In other actions at their meeting at the Century Center in South Bend, Ind., on June 9, the RVIA Board of Directors:

• Approved publishing a new Consumer Demographic Profile Study in FY2011 in order to identify changes in current owner demographics in the RV marketplace.
• Approved several changes to wholesale shipment reporting, including: providing wholesale shipment statistics for diesel and gasoline type B motorhomes; eliminating the category of type A diesel motorhomes without slideouts from market surveys and reporting since nearly all reported having slideouts; and, reporting sports utility trailer shipments on a quarterly basis.
• Voted to establish a subcommittee of the Market Information Committee to review methods of reporting industry retail sales and retail inventory levels.
• Directed that manufacturer exhibitors in the California RV Show be permitted to have up to 20 percent of the units in each booth space composed of units from the previous model year with the remaining 80 percent devoted to units from the current model year.
• Approved four Trouble Shooter Clinics to be scheduled for FY2011 and FY2012, with one session in 2012 being an advanced clinic.
• Approved $15,000 in FY2011 to support the RV Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF), providing a report on past and future activities is submitted by the RVSEF to the RVIA annually.
• Approved supporting the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers (NATM) in developing an SAE brake performance and testing standard that would establish uniform brake requirements for manufacturers of light and medium duty trailers (less than 26,000 GVWR) and that an RVIA-designated representative work with the NATM brake task force.
• Approved an update to the Vacation Cost Comparison Study, which was last conducted in 2008.
• Approved the FY2011 RV Market Expansion and Reinforcement Program to be executed by Barton-Gilanelli, subject to budget considerations. This consists of the RV Top-of-Mind-Awareness Program, including national electronic and print media outreach, RV media luncheons, satellite media tours, and other spokesperson activities.
• Approved publishing the 2009 Annual Survey of Lenders’ Experiences and continuing the research for FY2011.

The RVIA Board actions, which came on the final day of Committee Week 2010, were the result of recommendations from many of RVIA’s standing committees that met earlier in the week. Programs with specific budgets for FY2011 are pending until final approval by the RVIA Executive Committee at its August budget meeting and the RVIA Board of Directors at its September meeting.

RVIA’s Nominating Committee is now seeking candidates from the association’s membership to run in this year’s Board of Directors elections.

There are seven seats up for election this year including two Manufacturer, three Supplier and two At-Large representatives.

The RVIA Board has the highest level of authority in the association’s organizational structure. It is responsible for association affairs on a broad policy basis. The Board meets three times per year: in March, during Committee Week in mid-June, and in mid-September.

“The RVIA Board of Directors plays a critical role in guiding the work of the association and shaping the future of the RV industry,” said Dan Shea, president of the Towable Division at Gulfstream Coach and chairman of RVIA’s Nominating Committee. “Any association member with an interest in addressing the issues that impact the RV industry should consider running for a seat on the Board.”

Each RVIA manufacturer and supplier member company is afforded a single vote in the association elections, scheduled to take place electronically from August 3 – 23, 2010.

Newly elected Board members will begin serving their terms on October 1, 2010. The deadline for nominations is June 15, 2010.

In addition to Chairman Dan Shea, this year’s Nominating Committee includes Garry Enyart of Cummins Power Generation and Carl Pfalzgraf of Atwood Mobile Products.

Those interested in running in the Board elections should contact a member of the Nominating Committee or RVIA’s Mac Bryan at (703) 620-6003 ext 334 or [ e-mail ].

Hundreds of RV industry members will gather June 7 at the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart, Ind. for RVIA's RV Centennial Celebration, an energetic extravaganza with a fun-filled festival, reception and barbecue; a special one-hour program featuring entertaining videos and presentations saluting the industry's history; and a cake-cutting ceremony and stirring fireworks display to cap the evening.

During the festival portion of the evening, attendees are encouraged to stop by the “History of Go RVing” booth, which will feature the entire archive of the award-winning Go RVing advertising campaigns from 1997 to the present.

All past and current Go RVing print ads will be on display, alongside the Go RVing banners from this year’s Super Bowl. A video playing in the booth will include all of the campaign’s TV commercials – beginning with 1997’s, “Recreation Vehicles. Wherever You Go, You’re Always at Home” through the “Life’s A Trip,” “Pursue Your Passions,” “What Will You Discover? Go RVing”, and “Go Affordably. Go RVing” campaigns.

RVIA Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Gary LaBella said, “We are glad to be able to share the products of thirteen years worth of Go RVing campaigns as we celebrate 100 years of RVing.”

Representatives from the Richards Group of Dallas, Texas – Go RVing’s ad agency - will be on hand at the booth for questions, and Go RVing staff will be giving away free Go RVing decals to affix to your cars and RVs.

Special Section of Elkhart Truth Honors RVing

The Elkhart Truth is putting together a special section to salute the RV industry’s history and commemorate the Centennial Celebration.

RV industry members are being offered the opportunity to purchase advertising space in the special section that will be included as an insert in the Truth on June 7 and distributed to attendees at the RV Centennial Celebration that evening. This is one way industry members can share in the Centennial Celebration with a message that will be read by the industry’s top executives and key decision-makers. The special section will also serve as a terrific souvenir of the RV Centennial.

To advertise in the section, contact advertising representatives Rachel Bradley at (574) 296-5905 ([ e-mail ]) or Bruce Drudge at 574-296-5914 ([ e-mail ]) to reserve space. The deadline to reserve space is May 21.

Tickets are required for entry to the RV Centennial celebration, and are available to RV industry representatives, the media and invited guests. The event is not open to consumers. Tickets to the event must be purchased in advance, as walk-ups cannot be accommodated at the event, and are available for anyone connected to the industry, including spouses, colleagues and co-workers, over the age of 18.

For a ticket request form, email Huyen Dang at [ e-mail ] or visit www.RVCentennial.org and click on "Events."

The RVIA Inspectors met from May 4-6 at RVIA's headquarters in Reston, VA. The group's primary focus during the three-day meeting was to review code changes and any technical issues that may have arisen since the last meeting at the National RV Trade Show in December, 2009.

The inspectors meetings are designed to maintain and improve consistency in the RVIA standards inspection process.

During the three-day visit to RVIA headquarters, Greg Wischmeyer was thanked by his colleagues for his five years of service at RVIA and given a commemorative plaque by RVIA President Richard Coon during a staff ceremony.

Also during the inspectors' visit, RVIA Director of Standards Kent Perkins was honored for his twenty-five years of service to RVIA. Perkins was also given a commemorative plaque from Coon, and spoke briefly of his quarter-century in the RV industry, saying, “It has been very rewarding to be a part of the Standards Department and work with so many dedicated members over the years in assuring we address the "safety" requirements for RVs. RVIA has been a great place to work because of the commitment and professionalism of both membership and staff.”

Advanced Aqua-Hot Hydronic Heating Systems provide unlimited hot water and quiet, evenly-distributed interior heat. After a thorough evaluation, Monaco RV has decided to continue to offer Aqua-Hot systems as optional or standard equipment on many of its 2010/2011 models.

"We think Aqua-Hot makes great products and more importantly, so do our customers," said Monaco RV marketing director Ryan Lee. "They help bring a residential feel to our motorhomes that our customers are looking for. They want the same features and benefits in their RVs that they have in their homes and Aqua-Hot delivers."

Aqua-Hot Hydronic Heating Systems are standard on Monaco Signature, Dynasty and Camelot, as well as the Holiday Rambler Navigator and Scepter. Employing the latest technology, self-contained Aqua-Hot Systems provide continuous, on-demand hot water, as well as quiet, uniform cabin heat by circulating hot water through subtle heat exchangers. This reduces fuel consumption and eliminates the need for a storage tank.

"Aqua-Hot helps enhance our motorhome offering," said Lee. "Our customers love the system and we always strive to offer products that exceed our customers' expectations."

Headquartered in Coburg, Oregon, with substantial manufacturing facilities in Indiana, Monaco RV is the nation's leading builder of recreational vehicles, including Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Bison and R-Vision brands. It produces Class A and Class C gasoline and diesel motorhomes, as well as travel trailer and fifth wheels. From value-packed, entry-level models to top-of-the-line, custom-made luxury RVs, the company has an RV for everyone.

"We're extremely happy with our relationship with Aqua-Hot," said Lee. "They have been a great partner for many years, deliver a quality product and back that product up with tremendous service after the sale."

For over 20 years, Aqua-Hot Heating Systems has been making the road a more comfortable place. The state-of-the-art units run on diesel or propane and are available in sizes for Class A diesel motorhomes through smaller RV, towable and park models.

Contact Aqua-Hot Heating Systems, 15549 E Hwy 52, Fort Lupton, CO 80621. Toll free: 800-685-4298 or 303-659-8221; Fax: 303-857-9000. [ e-mail ]; www.aqua-hot.com.