RVIA rig certification

[poppi]

I just was looking at some big rig RV parks and one states
" Coaches must be approved/certified by RVIA. (Recreational Vehicle Industry Association). "

  Anyone know how I can get one of them certifications for my bus?
  (maybe I can buy a Marathon ornament)

   Is this becoming more of an issue for those of you that are well travelled?

Thanks
Skip

[Len Silva]

That is just a way to keep the riff-raff out.  If you pull up in a nice looking bus, nobody is going to challenge you.

[bobofthenorth]

Nobody has ever questioned us on RVIA certification or age but we take that type of "requirement" into consideration when we are booking.  We don't actively go looking for a fight in other words.  We very specifically inquired about any age requirements with Thousand Trails before buying a membership. (we were assured that they had no such requirement)

[Airbag]

You can't they are a RV manufacture private regulating agency. I went to their web site and only manufactures can join. So the RV park only wants rigs built by RVIA certified companies in their park. I say Phooey and go to a KOA or state campground. But don't dispair the economic slow down has a way of changing crazy policies such as this.

We have the same type of nonsense in the aircraft biz. If I build a experimental aircraft I cannot get insurance unless it is inspected by an Experimental Aircraft Association member. Now the EAA is nothing more than a club a very large and powerful club of which you are forced to join if you want this inspection. Now I have been to a few of their meetings and did not learn a thing about aircraft just who was to bring the potato salad to the next picnic. Again PHOOOOOOEY.  

[poppi]

  And I certainly don't go where I'm not wanted.........

    and there are more places for me to go to that are just as nice. Just thought it might be a doable proccess

  Skip

 

[bobofthenorth]

If you just want the sticker Skip I'm sure any RV salvage yard could supply you with one.  And on the off chance that some RV park someday wants to look at your certification it will likely be some minimum wage security guard doing the looking. 

[poppi]

       I'll just take the one off my class C

    Now where did I hear something about easier to ask for forgiveness....

    Oh shoot now I'm being corrupted.........

   Skip

[Sean]

RVIA is not a "regulatory agency" -- it's a trade association.

The best response to RV parks that want to enforce an RVIA-only policy is to avoid them.  That being said, sometimes it is nearly impossible to do so.

FWIW, we have stayed at such parks (as well as parks with a 10-, 15-, or 20- year old requirement, none of which we meet) and have never been asked.  This is really a matter of them having a way to refuse entry to any rig that does not meet some subjective standard of "appearance."

It is worthwhile to note that NONE of the major bus converters is a member of RVIA, and so you will not find an RVIA sticker on a Marathon, Vantare, American Carriage, Liberty, or nearly any other Prevost conversion (the one exception might be Country Coach, which was an RVIA member).  Yet somehow I suspect that none of those conversions is ever denied entry to one of these parks.  I doubt, however, that pointing this out to the clerk at the registration desk will get you anywhere, even if you can wander through the park and find ten non-RVIA rigs in there.

It is discrimination, pure and simple, but there is absolutely nothing you can do about it (unless you happen to be a member of a "protected class"), since almost every private business "reserves the right to refuse service" to anyone for any reason.

Unless your coach looks like the Joads' truck, or maybe an unpainted schoolie, I would not worry about it.  Besides which, you can't really do anything about it, since membership and the RVIA sticker are available only to bona fide RV manufacturers.  You can, as Bob suggests, buy a wreck just for the RVIA sticker (although they are very hard to transfer -- they are designed to self-destruct if removed), but this is, of course, illegal.

If asked, I would (and have) simply answered that my coach meets or exceeds RVIA standards.

YMMV.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[Dallas]

Now Your Learning! 

       I'll just take the one off my class C

    Now where did I hear something about easier to ask for forgiveness....

    Oh shoot now I'm being corrupted.........

   Skip

[Singing Land Cruiser]

Thanks for the heads up. We will keep it in mind when on the road. M&C

[poppi]

Dallas,

    The one thing us mountain folk learn early is that it runs down hill and the rest is negotiable.

   Singing land
   there are some big rig (35+ foot) catalogs out there
  just Google "big rig rv park"  you'll get a ton. A lot are above my riff raff old self
   
  I would like to go to one just to see though

Skip

[uncle ned]

On our trip down the Natchez Trace last fall. We crossed the Mississippi river and went into a RV Resort.

As I was checking in i saw a sign that said no RV over 10 years old. The clerk asked what kind of RV I had and I kept saying a 35 foot GM. About that time the manager came in the front door and said  that is the prettiest old bus he had ever seen. That was the end of the questions from the clerk.

I found out later that Sean stayed across the river for free and I payed $45:00 to stay in a RV resort.

uncle ned
"HUGGY BEAR"
4104 172

[Sean]

...
I found out later that Sean stayed across the river for free and I payed $45:00 to stay in a RV resort.
...

That's me, Mr. Cheapskate.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[Airbag]

RVIA is not a "regulatory agency" -- it's a trade association.




-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

Your right Sean they are not but if a manufacture wants their stickers they become one just like the EAA has to inspect before an insurance company will cover a experimental aircraft. Legally one cannot fly without insurance.

RVIA does six inspections a year to qualify a couch builder for the stickers.

When I insured my bus they asked who did the conversion, I first told them the name of the fella and they did not want to cover me until I gave them the name of his company, regardless of the business type it added an air of legitimacy to the conversion. This makes no sense becuase I have seen conversions done by private individuals that are far better.

[bobofthenorth]

Our experience - and that's all it is - one couple's experience - has been that the parks that would deny us access based on the age of our coach are places we'd rather avoid anyway.  I describe the parks we are happiest in this way "they are a place where I wouldn't be afraid to change the oil on the coach but I would be damn careful that I didn't spill so much as one drop while I was doing the change."  We have found that this type of park attracts a friendlier clientelle and is staffed by real people.  Some of the hoity-toity parks have an attitude that gives me a pain where its not polite to scratch.  When they telegraph that attitude through their listing in Woodalls (by saying that they only accept some subjective criteria of coach) we just assume that we wouldn't like it there anyway and book in elsewhere.  There's lots of parks out there - LOTS of parks - if we're not welcome at one it isn't going to affect our travels one iota.