S02 E11 - Are RV memberships worth it?

Listen to our interview with Aaron White of Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA)

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Interview by Perry Mack

Perry Mack:

Aaron White is the Director of Membership for FMCA and works the national headquarters located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Aaron and the membership team process and maintain member records for all family and commercial members, as well as provide customer service for all membership benefits and services. Welcome, Aaron.

It seems that we're in the age of memberships and rewards programs from Costco to Canadian Tire, from CAA to KOA. What do you feel is the number one reason that an RVer should join the Family Motor Coach Association, which you guys abbreviate to FMCA?

Aaron White:

I would say probably the biggest thing that drives people to FMCA outside of the benefits and discounts is the education that they can gain all about the RV lifestyle. We pride ourselves in paving an avenue for our members to take advantage of learning as much as they can about how their RV works, things they may encounter during living the RV lifestyle. We want to try to make it as seamless process as possible so that people can actually get out there and enjoy all the great things that are available.

Perry Mack:

I understand you've got a fairly large library online that people can access, is that right?

Aaron White:

We do, yes. It's something that our educational committee put together for active members. We refer to it as the FMCA University, but it is available to all active members through their online account and it offers decades of information for anything that you can think of pretty much related to operating an RV, components that are in RVs. things you need to do before winterizing your RV or before getting it ready for spring, hitting the roads. So it's set up to where everything is done online at the member's pace and then you're kind of given an award as you complete each course. So there's a ton of information and it's absolutely incredible to an active RVer to have that stuff.

Perry Mack:

Now, you also have a print magazine for people like myself that enjoy print. So how does that integrate with the online university or is it completely different content?

Aaron White:

Well, it is. It's different content. Our magazine, which is Family RVing, it is included with a paid membership. We've got our magazine department is in house in our Cincinnati office. So we've got editors, writers, but we pretty much within the magazine put things that, you know, maybe going on like a, if a manufacturer rolls out with a new coach, we'll highlight one of those or destination stops or, you know, recipes, cooking on the road. So it's kind of a hodgepodge of a different variety of just things related to the RV lifestyle. Now we do also have sections, kind of like a classified section for business owners that are involved in the RV lifestyle to advertise their products that they have, as well as a section for our members. Let's say you've got an old coach and you want to try and sell it to somebody who would enjoy it like you have because you just got a new one. you can list it in our magazine and it's a good avenue to check for different things. Tow vehicles as well.

Perry Mack:

I understand that you have chapters, which I guess are local or regional organizations that belong to the FMCA. How do they work into the whole organization? Is it important to join a chapter, for instance?

Aaron White:

It is, in my opinion, it's not a requirement as an FMCA member. Our chapters are formed of all active FMCA members and they are broken down by region, whether you're in the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northwest, Rocky Mountain area. It's kind of broken up across the entire United States and Canada. Roughly right now we have about just under 300 active chapters. by like interest, whether it's the same coach that you own, or if you're a fan of bluegrass music, or quilting. So there's a wide variety of chapters that are available. A good portion of them are by region or by area, but we also do have some that cross over. So you could be from a different area and join a chapter in the Rocky Mountain area if their enrollment's open to that. It's a great way for our members to spend time together. Some of them actually caravan around to different campgrounds, different destinations throughout the year. So it's a really big proponent, in my opinion, for fellowship, camaraderie. And those are two important things, in my opinion, for enjoying the RV lifestyle. Meeting friends and getting out and hitting the road and spending time and enjoying it.

Perry Mack

I do have a question, because you did mention Canada. Are all of the benefits, the member services, partner discounts, are they available to everyone in both countries?

Aaron White:

Well, unfortunately, they're not. There are some that are available only to US members. But again, there are some that are available to both US and Canadian members. In the event that you do come across a benefit, let's say, for example, our tire program. We've partnered with one of our tire providers is Michelin. For quite some time, Michelin was only available to our US members. About two years ago, Michelin did some workarounds on their end, and we worked with them closely and were able to roll that out for our Canadian members. But there are some other benefits that we do have that just unfortunately are not available to Canadian members at this time.

Perry Mack:

Well, let's talk about some of the benefits that you offer. You know, I did see FMCAssist. Tell me a little bit about it.

Aaron White:

It's a medical emergency coverage. It's kind of an insurance policy, you know, for peace of mind while you're out on the road. There is no additional cost for our members. For this coverage, once you become a paid FMCA member, this is automatically built in with your membership. And kind of how it comes into play, let's say you're out on a trip, you're 75 miles from home. Let's say for example, you have an accident where you break your leg and you're unable to drive your coach. If you're taken to a medical facility, if they determine that it's a severe injury and they can't provide the help that you need and need to get you transported to a facility that could, the benefit provider would arrange and cover the cost of that transportation for you. Now, if in the event of the injury, you were unable to get your coach back home, the benefit provider would then arrange and cover the cost of having a professional driver return your coach home for you at no cost. And then once you've been cleared to return home by the physician, the benefit provider then follows up and arranges and covers the cost of your return trip home as well. Hopefully, our members never have to take advantage of it. You obviously don't want to sell a benefit on something bad happening to you. But for the peace of mind of knowing. in the event of an unexpected emergency, you do have this available to you. Kind of makes it a little bit easier to enjoy RVing.

Perry Mack:

Is this something I need a medical exam for?

Aaron White:

Well, there are no medical exams. There's no paperwork that our members need to fill out. Again, once you become an FMCA member, that information goes directly to the provider of the policy in the form of your F number or your family number, which is what you're assigned when you become a member, and you're automatically enrolled from day one of the coverage. So in the event that something happens, you're provided with the contact information. through Chubb, that's who our policy is provided by. And in the event that you have to, reach out to them and get your claim started.

Perry Mack:

Does this mean I don't need the typical travel insurance that I pay or buy somewhere else?

Aaron White:

I would say it's better safe than sorry. You know, in my opinion, you can really never have enough medical coverage. This isn't going to be, you know, something similar to like your medical insurance policy. It would not offset any medical bills. You would still be responsible for that. It's kind of just, you know, an extra help in regards to if an emergency comes up while you're on the road and ensuring that your RV gets back home. 

Perry Mack:

So in a way it’s more like transportation insurance in the event of a medical emergency but not medical coverage.

Aaron White:

Right. You know, in worst case scenario, in the event that you passed away, there is also repatriation. So they would get your remains back to a location that was determined. And again, those are, you know, worst case scenarios. You hope those things don't happen, but you know, peace of mind, I guess.

Perry Mack:

Yeah. So the other one that caught my eye was Tech Connect Plus. What is that?

Aaron White:

The Tech Connect Plus program is an offering for our members to enroll in a mobile internet service. We currently have two offerings. One is for a mobile jetpack device or a mobile hotspot unit. It's about the size of a deck of playing cards, but it would provide you the ability to connect as long as you're in an area of coverage while you're out on the road. There is a one-time rental fee. It's $39.99 for the Jetpack device. And then the monthly charge is $59.99. It does operate on a 4G network. Now we do also have another offering. It's a little bit more advanced. It's for a router that you would be able to install, just kind of plug and play in your RV. The same price for the rental is $39.99, a one-time fee. but the service for the router is $89.99 per month. It does offer 290 gigabyte data limit and it does all operate on the 5G network.

Perry Mack:

You've tossed out a couple of brand names like Michelin, and now there's some things by like Tech Connect. Does the FMCA in any way sort of guarantee, how happy an RVer is with the products or services?

Aaron White:

Well, I guess to say that we guarantee, we really don't use those terms, but we stand behind every one of our commercial partners, you know, the products that they're offering. We have done here at the office level, a lot of research before we even come to the agreement table when adding on a new benefit or discount provider. Now within the active membership, we also have different committees that are set up and we have a member services committee. that also reviews any proposals that would be brought to the membership. And they really, you know, voice their opinion as to whether or not they feel the members would find value in it or if they wouldn't, you know, and sometimes that does happen. But we stand behind who we're partnered with. We've got a good track record with them. You know, but as far as, you know, saying we absolutely guarantee that everyone's going to be happy all the time. Yeah, honestly, I can't say we say that, you know.

Perry Mack:

Fair enough. Nobody's happy all the time and including myself. You mentioned membership and membership committees. How many members does the FMCA have?

Aaron White:

Right now we're about 72,000 active family members. And when we say family members, that could be, some of our members are just solo RVers. We've got a few of those. A good majority though are partners, whether it be spouse or a traveling companion, life partner. But right now we're around 72,000 active family members. So I would equate to probably about 130,000 people.

Perry Mack:

It sounds like a fair sized membership to me.

Aaron White:

And the thing that makes us kind of unique, unlike our competitors, FMCA is actually a non-profit group. We are a member-driven organization, member-run, our executive board, our governing board are all active members, and everyone has a voice within the club. 

Perry Mack:

You used an interesting word there, voices. Do you have an advocacy arm that supports the rights of RVers?

Aaron White:

We absolutely do. One of the committees, that's another one of the committees that we have, is actually our Governmental and Legislative Affairs Committee. They go to bat for RVers, not just RVers within the United States, but Canada as well. They write letters to Congress, they work for reforms, for regulations, changes to the RV industry. So they've got a pretty tough. you know, task. You know, when we get information or feedback from our members about, you know, maybe problems they're running into at the state level, you know, they reach out to us and we then pass it to the committee. They do all of the investigation, all of the legwork up to and including writing letters and making phone calls to the higher ups and decision makers at the state level in hopes that, you know, with the size of our group of being active RVers. We are a pretty big voice in that community.

Perry Mack:

Is it separated? I know I'm going a little bit into the advocacy end of this but, is there a separate committee for Canadian advocacy rights?

Aaron White:

There's not, no. The one committee, it represents the entire body of FMCA members.

Perry Mack:

You know, there's another benefit, which I think everybody is sort of involved in, in one form or another, and that's RV roadside assistance. You know, why choose or why use the FMCA or CAA or AAA or whatever other organization people might choose or pay for now?

Aaron White:

I would say in most cases, your roadside policy is going to pretty much cover, for the most part, the same things, whether it's from one of the providers that you referenced or the one that's offered through FMCA's program through the membership is offered through SafeRide RV Motor Club. I would encourage it because number one, they can sign up at a member's discounted rate. There's two different rates versus whether you have a motorized RV or a non-motorized RV. The benefits that are included, you know, your winch out, fuel delivery, lockout assistance, towing to the nearest qualified repair facility are probably similar to what, you know, you would have through another provider. With FMCA's program, there's no age limit for the RV. So, you know, that is unique to our membership because we still have members that, you know, have converted old school GMC buses. And, you know, so it goes from those up to the brand new coaches. So we've got a wide range of members with a wide range of RVs.

Perry Mack:

Is this one of the services, is it offered in both the USA and Canada?

Aaron White:

It absolutely is. The roadside policy is offered to US members as well as our Canadian members. 

Perry Mack:

Aside from the roadside assistance, I think you offer discounts on other types of insurance, not just RV insurance, is that right?

Aaron White:

We do, yes. We also have a brokerage firm that works with us in regards to RV insurance. Now they offer for our members also policies that would cover automobiles, home, as well as pets. So there are avenues for that. Our broker works with the four major insurance providers. So they do the legwork. If a member contacts them, they capture their information and then the brokerage team. reaches out, puts their feelers out to try to acquire the best rate to set up that policy for our members.

Perry Mack:

What is the membership fee to join the FMCA?

Aaron White:

Okay, good question. It's an annual fee. So you could join as a new member for $60. We offer terms anywhere between one, two or three years. But then the renewal for your membership would be 50. And again, those renewals are offered, you know, one year, two year, three year. So if you opted for, you know, a three year join, your cost to join would be $160. Then to renew for another three years. three years down the road would be 150.

Perry Mack:

And are there two different rates, one for solo RVers and one for families?

Aaron White:

There's not. No, the family membership is just one and you could have one RVer on there or, you know, a pilot and the co-pilot is what we refer to them as.

Perry Mack:

How long have you guys been around?

Aaron White:

The club was actually formed in 1963, so it's been quite a few years and we're actually getting ready to celebrate or have, we've got a convention coming up in August, it will be our 60th international convention. So it's pretty exciting and another thing, a fact that you know I think it's kind of cool in regards to the club, since it was formed in 63, FMCA has actually issued more than 500,000 family member numbers. So there's a lot of old plates, you know, that you may see on an RV ride down the road or maybe even parked in a junkyard, but there's been a lot of family memberships that have been issued within that time.

Perry Mack:

Is there some other really good reason to spend that 160 bucks for a three year membership? And I'm assuming that is all in US dollars.

Aaron White:

It is, yes it is. And again, the three year option was just something I threw out there, but the one year, 60 to join, 50 to renew, the benefits, the discounts, the ability to join a chapter, find a group of people who are active RVers with like interests, we've kind of simplified that process. Again, we offer events each year. We've got... two international conventions that our national headquarters host, different locations. But then our areas, they also host area rallies throughout the year. So there's always something going on, whether it's being, you know, facilitated through our national headquarters or the different areas, you know, potlucks or, you know, weekend getaways at campgrounds, you know, so just, you know, family is a big part of it, camaraderie, fellowship. Again, I'm going to touch on education. That is a big thing. And actually, one of the things that we offer only at our international conventions, we call it the RV basics. And what that is, it's a two and a half day course that members who register for the convention can attend. It's taught by professional instructors and there's, I believe, 10 sessions between that two and a half days of instruction of... just a wealth of information regarding RVing, your systems, components, boondocking, tire, care and maintenance, just a wealth of information. So really education, I would say, is probably in the forefront of becoming an FMCA member.

Perry Mack:

What is the membership renewal rate does FMCA have? It kind of tells us how well how good of a job or how good of an organization you have.

Aaron White:

Our renewal rates are actually really good. You know, the one thing that we have noticed, and it makes complete sense to us, is we kind of struggle with getting folks to renew on time. We've seen a little bit of late renewals, but the majority of those say, you know, unfortunately we weren't home to get our mail, we missed the renewal notice. You know, a lot of our members are on the road a lot of the time, so we absolutely understand that. But as far as... membership and retention of members. We do a great job. And I think that, you know, the member benefits and discounts, you know, speak for themselves in that regard. You know, the members who join and take advantage of what is actually offered through their membership, whether it's through, you know, the benefits, the discounts, the chapters, the avenues for education, the camaraderie, you know, it's kind of a no brainer in my opinion.

Aaron White:

I would say probably the best return and just from what I've seen talking with members and I use it when I'm pitching FMCA to non-members is, you know, if you're in the market to get new tires, and again I'll reference Michelin, but we partner with Michelin, Continental, and Goodyear. So all three of those provide discounts for our members for the purchase of tires, whether it be RV, light truck. passenger vehicles and Goodyear offers the ST tires, which are designed specifically for fifth wheels travel trailers. But I've seen savings on Michelin tires up to almost $200 per tire. So if you think, you know, if you're driving a 40-foot class A rig, if you've got six to eight tires and you can save $200 per tire, that absolutely helps to offset that $60 that you paid to become a member for that savings.

Perry Mack:

Is there somebody I can call at FMCA and say hey? You know what does this do? You know, perhaps there's more information that they want to get more than we've talked about here. Is there some chat line or support or online that they can get a hold of?

Aaron White:

Yes, absolutely. We are located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and we are in our office Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The contact number would be 800-543-3622. Brain dead there for a second. But you can also visit our website, fmca.com. Through the website, we do have an online chat feature that does run, you know, Monday through Friday. 8 a.m. to roughly 6-7 p.m. But yeah, absolutely. I would say the best resource is our website. You know, but if you do have any questions please don't hesitate to give our office in Cincinnati a call. We'd be more than happy to talk to you and explain everything and hopefully get you signed up.

Perry Mack:

Well, hey, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. We already know now that people can go to fmca.com, to get more information and or give you guys a call. Thanks for

taking the time to chat with us today, Aaron. 

Aaron White:

Well, again, I appreciate you putting the invite out to the FMCA to join your podcast. And it's been a pleasure speaking with you.

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