Motorhome Lemon Laws….are they on the horizon?

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The Good Sam Club’s RV Owners’ Advisory Council has now conducted three major surveys of Club membership, asking our members to identify issues which were of most importance to them.  The results were overwhelming:  1.  the quality of RVs; 2. service for RVs; and 3. the need for appropriate lemon law protection if the RV can’t be fixed.

Under the leadership of our Council Chairman, Tom Gonser, the Club joined the International Association of Lemon Law Arbitrators (IALLA), a group which was in the process of developing model motorhome lemon law legislation which could presumably be used by the states as a template should they choose to draft individual state legislation.

This is important because currently most states do not have RV lemon laws — but try to use automobile lemon law legislation to deal with RV issues.  There are enormous differences between a car and an RV — mostly because the RV offers living accommodations in addition to transportation.  And it’s our opinion that to some extent lemon law protection should be offered when there is an ongoing problem with a living component of the RV, not just for mechanical issues.

In May of this year, Tom and the Council prepared a detailed position paper on the RV owners’ lemon law needs, and submitted it to IALLA.  On the other side, the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) also submitted their proposed legislation, offering far less protection to the RV owner.

Since then, we’ve had two major day long meetings, phone conferences, and countless E-mails between Good Sam, IALLA and RVIA representatives.  We’re still negotiating some of the aspects of lemon law protection on the house portion of a motorhome.  Obviously, providing lemon law coverage for the house components opens up much more liability for the RV manufacturer.  But we at Good Sam believe that if a motorhome is unusable, it really doesn’t matter to the owner whether it’s a mechanical problem or a house problem….the bottom line is the rig is out of service.

We are continuing our negotiations and are hopeful that in the end we’ll develop some model legislation which will provide more equitable protection for the RV owner, regardless of the problem.

Stay tuned!

Good Sam Club’s RV Owners’ Council….Who Are They?

We at Good Sam are proud to offer many member benefits - camping discounts at Good Sam Parks, our new Petro gas and diesel discount program, our website and this magazine, just to name a few.  But we take particular pride in applying the powerful size of our organization and the enthusiasm of our members to protect and preserve the rights of all RVers, particularly in the legislative arena.

Over the years, we’ve worked on such issues as special drivers’ license requirements for drivers of large motorhomes and trailers, RV weight limitations, RV friendly highway signage, access to our public lands, gas rationing, not to mention the dozens of restrictive RV parking ordinances we face on a daily basis.  We have always tried to do the right thing for the RV owner - acting as an advocate for those of us who participate in the RV lifestyle.

As more and more issues at the state and national levels develop, we want to more actively involve our members in the process.  Two years ago, we formed the Good Sam RV Owners Advisory Council, a small group of members, to do just that - provide RV industry personnel and legislators with direct input from RV owners on specific and pertinent issues.  We are hopeful that this resource will prove to be a constructive communication channel with the RV industry, and by establishing this process of continuing dialogue, we can address issues of common concern for the benefit of both owners and those in the RV industry, gaining enhanced credibility of mutually adopted proposals.

Just who are these Council members?  We couldn’t have found a better group of independent, thoughtful, knowledgeable and experienced RVers.  Many of you may be familiar with our Council chairman, Tom Gonser, the founder of the popular website, www.rversonline.org.  Although he calls himself a “country lawyer”, Tom was a highly respected corporate attorney for many years, specializing in preventive law.  He left his practice to become Executive Director of the American Bar Association for five years, went back to the legal world, and eventually started RVing more, practicing law less.  Today, Tom and his wife, Stephanie, are  traveling extensively in a new Alpine motorcoach.

Jan McNeill has been fulltiming with her husband, Chris since she retired as a realtor and he retired as a doctor five years ago.  Chris now works as a substitute doctor, accepting temporary positions all over the country, choosing areas they want to explore.  Since hitting the road, Jan has developed her photographic skills which Chris combines into DVDs with music from local musicians they find in their travels.  Their granddaughters have been brought up knowing that “grandma’s house is on wheels”, according to Jan.  Actually, it’s a Country Coach they bought in 2001, and “haven’t looked back since”.

Our third member, Tom Killmer, has been in the propane business for most of his career, and has been extremely active in various professional propane organizations in the northeast.  He has also served as Vermont State Director of the Good Sam Club, and is currently one of our Sambassadors.

Most people in the RV world need no introduction to Bill Estes.  Bill retired earlier this year, after 38 years with Trailer Life and Motorhome magazines.  Bill’s name is synonymous with the professional integrity and standards he applied as editor and publisher of these magazines.  To the RV owner, he established himself as our most trusted spokesperson.  And to many in the RV industry, Bill’s careful evaluations and standards for product testing helped launch many successful and innovative products.  He is highly respected on both the consumer and industry sides of the table, and although he’s certainly enjoying the new found freedom of retirement, Bill has agreed to serve on the Council.

But this group won’t do it alone.  Good Sam members are invited to participate and have the opportunity to provide input via our Council’s E-mail box, at rvownerscouncil@goodsamclub.com.  The Council is also conducting E-mail surveys among members from time to time, and are currently deploying one asking members if and how the current increased gas prices are affecting their RV driving habits.  And their activities are updated both in Highways magazine and on  our Good Sam website, www.goodsamclub.com.

We feel very fortunate to have enlisted the voluntary involvement of these outstanding individuals, and look forward to some great results from the Council.