wildebill308

WOW, I must be doing something right. This is your second post and the first one in 10 years. Bill

Yes I bet you have. Bill

True it is also an outsiders opinion and a good segway into the discussion of what is the FMCA doing to fix the problem. Yes the last 4 months are a problem for all of us. This isn't about this time period. Like Herman said we all need to work at promoting FMCA. I always have handouts and membership forms available. Last fall I helped recruit and bring an entire chapter (Lone star Bounders) into the FMCA. Mostly behind the scenes but I like to think I helped. Let's all move forward together. Bill

"I am the CEO. I do not own an RV. " There are people who would say that kind of speaks volumes about your problems. Please point out where I stated anything that was misinformation? " I shared how many members we have from that new segment. Not sure how that is condescending. The point was to show why it has been tough getting those advertisers on board." Yes I actually have a pretty good grasp of the problem. You don't have the market share to warrant spending the advertising dollars. You didn't say what you were doing to correct /improve it. The outher part "Not sure how that is condescending" do you keep class "B" coaches in a separate group or gas coaches or diesel coaches? It is all about perception in the marketplace. What are you doing to correct the problem? Why don't you have your internet person do a little polling on the different forums so you will have an idea of the problem and see what you can do to correct it. "Dealers and manufacturers do not and will not offer a comp membership into FMCA during their sales process. They are trying to close the deal. They do offer the membership after the sale." This entire statement infers they are selling the membership not giving it. Why wouldn't a FMCA membership be a + during the negotiation process. They certainly consider a Thousand Trails membership a bonus item when closing a deal. Why is that? Why not develop a program where campgrounds can sell membership and get rewarded for it. Have contest. "FMCA does have a Youtube channel. We do produce video content." Please go back and read what I said about Youtube. Yes I know about your channel but you A) did not understand what I wrote or B ) chose to ignore or gloss over what I suggested. Let's all move forward together. Bill

Well Herman it appears that what we realey need is for some people to pay attention to the problem. Bill

Ok Smithy, What is your job at FMCA? What RV do you have? "We have 5,500 non-motorhome members." I hate to tell you but that sounds realey condescending towards our fellow RVers. You do know there is a perception in the non-motorhome world that FMCA is a bunch of rich elitist in their fancy coaches. It is more about the person and the journey than the type of RV they have. "It is easy to say selling ads should be a piece of cake to that segment. When you ask them to outlay print ad money, the numbers make it a tough sell." No one said it would be easy. What kind of deals are you offering? "We have partnerships with many dealers and manufacturers to offer comp memberships. We have been doing this for longer than I have been with FMCA." That's interesting because I have been in several major dealers and I have just bought a new to me 2008 Newmar Mountain Aire frome (NIDRVC) and never heard anything about FMCA. Never saw a poster on the wall or any type of promotional material. I can't think of ever seeing anything at any RV dealership. "We have a limited budget on the advertising side" Ok what are you doing to leverage it? "We get great bang for our buck promoting FMCA on Facebook and Google. Our cost per acquisition is excellent." Well that is realey cool but you arn't making your goals for numbers. This goes back to my original questions. What do you think? What do you think can be improved and how? Here's a tip for your "social media" people. Work on some of the Channels on Youtube. Many have thousand of followers Many are full time RVers. Some can get several hundred to show up for a meet and greet. Work on getting benefit packages that will appeal to full timers. Then promote them because they are the ones in touch with those who plan on gong full time or joining the RV lifestyle. Bill

No they don't like me. Bill

Welcome to the forum. I just had that problem. My insurance guy recommended Safelite. They are the number one go to company recommended by most insurance companies. They came out to where I had the RV stored and did the work.There was no charge to me. Bill

Well that's what they told me when I called them. But I have been lied to before. I still maintain you are better off with a dedicated certified RV inspector that reports to you. Bill

Welcome to the forum. There area lot of people who like the Oxygenics. They have several models so you may want to do a little research on them. You made me think I don't know what I have in my new to me coach as I haven't used the shower yet. Now I need to go look. Bill

So what do you think should be done to turn those numbers around? I gave a couple now tell me yours. Here is something else they should work on. being attractive to full timers like docj. There are a growing number of younger full timers out there and we need to actively work to attract them. Bill

Richard, Why are you telling the OP to spend money on a CarFax when they don't cover class A motorhomes? Bill

Interesting statement. We have opened up the club to all towables. That tells me the management that oversees selling advertising for the magazine needs to do a better job. How many hundred dealers and manufactuers did that add to the potential customer list? I also think they need to do a much better job of promoting the club. They also need to do a better job promoting the FMCA image to campgrounds. Why don't I see information about FMCA when I am checking into a campground. Why do the majority of them say they have never heard of FMCA? Why isn't FMCA making deals with all the major dealers to offer a years free membership to people buying a RV? Why can I get a $600.00+ Thousand Trails membership but not a FMCA membership? Bill

I have never heard of a "Car Fax" on a class A motorhome. You would be much better having it inspected by a certified RV inspector. Eaven if they did have Car Fax for RVs you would still be better with a certified inspection. The reason is it looks at all of the RV right now and doesn't rely on someone voluntarily sending in a report. Bill

Thank you for your service. Glad you got them to break loose. Bill

I saw this article and thought it might be useful to start a conversation about "what is going on" and "what can we do to change this". The article was in RV travel and gives an interesting perspective. Also read the comments at the end. https://www.rvtravel.com/fmca-944/ What do you think? What do you think can be improved and how? Bill

Bill Brown, if you do get under your coach, first make sure you chock the wheels so it can't roll. Remember you are trying to release the brakes. The only time I have had this problem I was able to rock the coach and they came loose. Bill

Welcome to the forum. How much experience do you have driving oversize vehicles? How did it drive when you test drove it? Bill

Glad you got Doris home. Bill

Looking good. So with all this "distincing" you got time to work on your coach. I like the lighter colored wood. Bill

Don't worry about buying a used. I took my used Blue ox to a FMCA rally that I was going to and Blue Ox came out to the RV and did a complete rebuild and when they were done put a sticker on it saying it was certified. That only cost me about $30.00 now I have heard that Roadmaster does the rebuild for free but haven't any experience with them. As Jim said you can save a lot of money buying used. I think the used Break Buddy and towbar were under $450.00. Look around there are people geting off the road all the time. Bill

Welcome to the forum rlbaer. Just curious are you buying or selling? Where are you located? I haven't heard much good about them but I haven't had any personal experience eather. What are you looking for? My experiance is I just bought a coach through National Indoor RV Centers https://www.nirvc.com/Sales and have one for sale at PPL Motorhomes https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/ Bill

I would look at Remco Towing, http://www.remcotowing.com/Towing/Store.php You might call and see if there is someone they recommend for the installation in your area. Makes me feel lucky. I bought a used towbar and break buddy and had Blue Ox refurbish it at a rally before I had something I could tow 4 down. I think I would like a new base plate but there are lots of used towbars out there. I negotiated the baseplate and lights etc install when I bought my 2014 CR-V as part of the deal. Bill

Call 800-322-8216 have your vin handey. They can send you the code to make new keys or they may have keys for sale.I bet all the storage bay doors are keyed the same. Welcome to the forum. Bill

Glad we got that settled. For reference purposes. I just moved some tires around. It wasn't "rotating" in the normal sense. Before I took this coach home I ended up with 6 new tires on the back. The front ones were 2 1/2 years old. I decided I wanted to move the steers to the tag and have new tires on the front. Cowser Tire service on north loop 820 in Fort Worth did the work for me. $25.00 each labor and $27.00 balance. 2 ea valve extensions $9.97. As far as I can tell it rides smooth with no vibration. Some don't balance all the tires but I like to start with all of them balanced. Bill