Many of you know that in addition to publishing RV News we manage the RV America On Line^® (rvamerica.com) web site and the RV America Association, which is the consumer side of the larger RV America Coalition. Through these channels our goal is to continue to expand our support of, and services to the RV community. This commitment includes all segments of the RV industry such as dealers and manufacturers and most importantly RV owners. It has always been our goal when selecting product and services to highlight in RV News that it contain one common underlying criteria. Can the RV dealer make money on the product or service and also bring value to the RVer. We believe that we have discovered such a service

At the spring 2001 RV America Rally we introduced the first of these new services - Travel-es.

Travel-es provides comprehensive personal and medical assistance services. Unfortunately, on some occasions, RVers encounter emergency situations while they are away from home. Far and away, these incidents are routine in nature. However, sometimes it can be serious and can be life-threatening. And since RVers spend long periods of time and great distances from their homes, many do not have adequate protection in case of a serious accident or illness - specifically medical transportation.

Typical medical insurance, including Medicare, commercial indemnity and HMO/PPO's only pay to transport you to the nearest medical facility. If you need to be transported to your home hospital, costs in the domestic U.S. can easily exceed $15,000. Internationally, costs can easily surpass $40,000. In either case, the patient is responsible for payment upfront. Health insurance will not pay for long distance medical transportation.

At the core of the program, it assures a member who suffers a serious injury or illness while traveling that the cost associated with medical transportation to a local hospital, and if needed, back to their home hospital, will be paid by Travel-es. To further enhance this program it features a liberal expense limit for the return of their RV, auto or towed vehicle if it is abandoned as a result of a medical emergency. All together there are 40 services accessible through one phone call nationwide and worldwide. Visitors to RV America and members of the RV America Association enjoy special pricing and can enroll directly through the RV America website.

What makes Travel-es stand out from other providers is the fact that they have developed programs for not only individual RVers and associations but for RV rental and rolling stock dealers too. The Travel-es' RV Dealer program, RV Personal Protect, is designed to help dealers generate additional revenues while minimizing administrative responsibility to the dealer. Travel-es provides enrollment supplies, point-of-sale materials, program training and a toll-free helpdesk. The end result is an enhanced dealer/customer relationship that produces lifetime residual income to the dealer. Dealer income can be substantial. Regardless of the size of your dealership, this program can be a great source of profit. Selling 10 programs each month can generate nearly $70,000 of annual income.

There are three programs available to dealers. This flexibility enables dealers to pick the program that best suits their needs.

Dealer Program One:
RV Personal Protect "Add-On"

The Add-On program works just like an extended warranty or service contract program. Dealers can include a 3 or 5 - year program either within the advance limits as a "hard-add" or on the back-end as a "soft-add" depending upon the lending institutions guidelines. Travel-es provides a wholesale price and a suggested retail price for the program. The dealer retains the difference between the two prices. The average income per program is $550.00. The dealer is only required to complete a simple enrollment form for each program sold. Travel-es does all the administrative work from there. This program is ideally suited for motorcoach dealers and for customers who chose not to purchase a warranty or service contract at the time of sale.

Dealer Program Two:
Included With Sale

This program is designed for all dealers large or small. Travel-es provides the dealer with a deeply discounted price for a 1-year couple or family program. The dealer includes the program with every unit sold. On the anniversary date of the purchase Travel-es verifies with the customer their desire to renew. Travel-es tracks all renewal activity and provides the dealer with an attractive commission for each year the customer renews their program. The average commission is $60 per customer. Plus, nearly 85% of customers renew their programs. Depending upon the annual unit sales of your dealership a significant revenue source can be created.

Rental Dealer Program Three: Rental Program

This exclusive program is developed for dealers that offer RV rentals. It is provided on a low cost monthly fee for each rental unit. Many rental customers are inexperienced with driving RV's. This assistance service provides vital services that differentiate your rental program from other dealers. Plus, it provides payment to return the rental unit back to the dealership if the customer must abandon it due to injury or illness.

We know there are many aftermarket, add-on income generating options. RV Personal Protect differs from extended warranty, paint, fabric and tire programs because it provides service on behalf of the needs of the customer ­ not upon the needs of the vehicle. Plus it is activated when they take delivery of the vehicle.

Over the coming months we will be exploring other new services and programs that we feel will benefit our RV News' readers and RVers that visit our website ­ so stay tuned.

If you would like to learn more about the RV Personal Protect dealer program you can contact Phil at Travel-es at 602-274-7799. General program information can be found at www.irvamerica.com/Traveles/info.cfm