Dave McMann of Meyers RV raised issues that led to confusion at the FMCA Convention.

While everyone is trying to put on their best business face and downplaying the problems that erupted shortly before the show opening, there are some hard feelings out there and there seems to be enough blame to go around for everyone.

The problems were highlighted in a Buffalo News article on Saturday morning titled, Unhappy Campers – State’s laws cause headaches for motor coach conventioneers. The article, written by reporter Lisa Haarlander, said, "New York state laws have caused numerous headaches for the convention organizers and companies selling RVs at the show. And it may mean that the convention – which is estimated to pump $8 million into the economy – may not come back to the state."

Jerry Yeatts, FMCA director of conventions and commercial services, was quoted in the article saying, "Dealers are suggesting in the future that we go to a motorcoach-friendly state." He further noted to the reporter, "You’re an over-regulated state. New York needs to take a serious look at the laws put in place and how restrictive they are. A show like this is here not to harm the economy but to enhance."

The guy with the biggest bulls-eye on his back appears to be Dave McMann who was very vocal with members of the press and many of his industry peers during the recent convention at the Erie County Fairgrounds in Buffalo, New York.

Dealers and manufacturers were quick to point out that this was not the show it was intended to be. Most companies felt the attendance was low because of confusion surrounding the show, the sales process that would have to be used for selling RV’s in New York, and a general lack of cooperation among those who should have been working together to maximize the selling opportunities normally associated with this show.

Kay Toolson, Chairman & CEO of Monaco Coach expressed displeasure at the events surrounding this convention. Toolson noted, "Meyers scared people away. They made it difficult for out-of-state dealers to work this show and some of our dealers are not here. The situation has hurt FMCA. This is half our normal display and we would have more coaches here if conditions were different. We’ve seen many people who were scared of buying at this show."

The references were against Meyers RV, and specifically Dave McMann, vice president of sales and marketing, who made sure everyone knew exactly how he felt about having the show in his back yard and wanting to make sure that everyone abided by the difficult New York State rules that govern this type of event.

We caught up with Dave in the Fleetwood display and he was quite candid with his comments about the show. McMann said, "I think 95% of what FMCA does is fantastic, but that last 5%, how they fund events and handle retail sales, is the problem in New York State.

I don’t believe they are honoring the state laws the way they were written. The larger manufacturers have too much influence on FMCA and the show space. It’s all done through big money interests. FMCA is extremely arrogant and they think everyone else should bend for them.

They over-promised on the show and now I’m their scapegoat for the poor attendance they are experiencing.

Errol Howorka, Owner of Camp Rd. Collision, processed about 100 consignment deals at $100 each. About half of these were Monaco deals with many going through Guaranry RV.

FMCA arranged the consignment deal with Camp Rd. Collision and worked with their attorney, the FMCA attorney and the DMV. I was told they promised him 300 deals and $300 per deal. (RV News interviewed Camp Rd. Collision and their commission on the deals was only $100, not the $300 quoted by McMann.) Jerry Yeatts made the arrangements with Camp Rd. Collision after many of the auto dealers in the vicinity of the fairgrounds wanted nothing to do with the consignment deals."

Haarlander’s article noted that several companies are not able to sell at the show because you need a New York state license, or have a location in an adjoining state that allows one to get a temporary license. Lisa noted, "Other companies opted to consign their vehicles to instate dealers and have them sell the vehicles – another option under the law."

We interviewed Errol Howorka, owner of Camp Rd. Collision, the morning after the convention ended. This local small businessman was obviously uncomfortable with all the attention that he was getting over the consignment situation. Errol said, "FMCA did contact me and made all the arrangements for us to handle the consignment deals. The Letter of Consignment was drawn up between my lawyer, the FMCA lawyer and the DMV people."

Howorka provided RV News with a copy of the Letter of Consignment that states, Owner /Consignor appoints NY Dealer /Consignee to serve as consignee in the sale of each Vehicle on Exhibit A from July 17, 2003 through July 20, 2003. Each vehicle is on consignment from the Owner/Consignor to the NY Dealer/Consignee. In this capacity, Camp Rd. Collision was acting legally as a third party in the sale of vehicles during the FMCA Convention.

McMann claims that, "The Monaco agreements state that you can not sell through a third party. As far as I’m concerned, they have violated their own agreement. We challenged this and lost our Monaco dealership. They told us the dealership was cancelled because of a difference in philosophy."

The Letter of Consignment stipulates the duties of the NY Dealer/Consignee and states, When the Owner/Consignor locates a Purchaser for a Vehicle, the NY Dealer/Consignor shall transfer title to the Vehicle as follows: "Name of Owner/Consignor through Camp Rd. Collision to Name of Purchaser." The letter also is very clear on the role of Camp Rd. Collision in these transactions. It states, This Consign-ment is being entered into solely for the purpose of satisfying 15 NYCRR 78.25. The NY Dealer/Consignee is not a transaction principal nor a seller.

Howorka did express a sense of frustration over the situation that developed. He noted, "We thought there would be more transactions, around 300, and we would make $100 for each deal. Most of our deals went through Guaranty RV, in fact they probably had half of the transactions we processed." The letter explained the processing fee as, For each Vehicle sale processed by the NY Dealer/ Consignee for the Owner/ Consignor pursuant to this Agreement, Owner/Consignor shall pay NY Dealer/Consignee a processing fee of $100.00.

Monaco display was impacted by drop in attendance.

Using a completely legal system, Monaco was able to provide sales to out-of-state dealers who were working the show.

Although confusing, the New York State laws are designed to collect taxes from New York state residents who purchased new units at the convention. The consignment paperwork appears to provide the necessary information for the Department of Motor Vehicles who was very interested in the activities that took place during the weekend of the show.

We visited with Joe Picchi, Director of Communications for the DMV on the Tuesday following the convention. Like Howorka, Joe didn’t really appreciate the spotlight that had been cast over the state and the vehicle transactions at the FMCA convention. Joe refused to let me take his picture in the DMV building, and would not comment at the time because the situation was "still being investigated and he could not comment until the investigation was completed."

Picchi did say, "Consignments are not illegal. It is the mechanism used to make sure the state gets any taxes due on the sale of the vehicles."

A completely different viewpoint was provided by Jeff Schollnick, General Sales Manager for Colton RV. Jeff’s perspective was the exact opposite of McMann’s. Schollnick stated, "The FMCA attendees are great customers. We had no problem with FMCA; they were bringing business into Buffalo and providing a shot in the arm for Western New York. And everyone knows we surely needed it. If a sale is made at FMCA a sales rep will make a commission and pay taxes on that. The dealership will make a profit and pay taxes on that. The person who buys a motorhome will register it in their home state and pay taxes on it there. There’s nothing wrong with this set up.

“We were able to sell units at the show and we also had a lot set up near Ralph Wilson Stadium where many of the attendees were staying in their coaches. The rally is the rally, nothing could have been better for us.

“Many out-of-state people got a better idea of what we (Colton RV) do, and what the industry does. We get nationwide wordof- mouth by attending this type of show. We sold 12-15 units to people who had their first exposure to our dealership through this show."

On the day that we were interviewing Jeff, they were preparing coaches for people who lived in Florida, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Georgia, Oklahoma and Washington.

Shannon Nil, General Manager of Guaranty RV Centers, spoke to RV News a few weeks after the controversy erupted. He noted, "Every FMCA has a local focus and in most locations they usually permit out of state sales. Every state has a different set of rules. RVDA must get more involved and get all states on board. I’d like to see us avoid controversy in the future and get all of this out in the open and discuss it."

Paul Williams, General Sales Manager at Guaranty RV, said, "FMCA and the commercial council didn’t do enough homework and lacked foresight on this one. We had to meet Saturday with the DMV and the consignee to make sure we were legal at this convention. The event has to be more userfriendly. We could have done some of the same things that Meyers did here when the convention was in Redmond two years ago, but we didn’t. The way this worked out, there were no local dealers in some displays. There are dealers that don’t sell the highline products in New York and we could. You wouldn’t want the manufacturers losing sales just because they may not have had a local dealer representing products they had on display.

“We were disappointed in our sales activity. FMCA must look closely at the area they are going into and each manufacturer must work with the dealers, and import dealers if necessary at any given FMCA convention. FMCA would not exist without its commercial side. We didn’t’ find out about the problems until 30-60-90 days before the convention and were told not to worry. These things are planned years in advance and we were running around at the last minute making sure all our paperwork was going to be processed legally.

150 - 200 units are usually available for test drives at FMCA conventions.

“The manufacturers must be stronger with FMCA. We need to pick large market destinations or at least be 75-100 miles from a large population base. Maybe they should do it like Pomona and have a 10-11 day show. FMCA could do their convention during the first weekend of the show and then there could be 5- 6 days of public showing and keep the units there ten days. This is a big investment for the manufacturers and we have to find a better way to maximize the exposure not only for FMCA but for the general public and the dealers also."

The dealers are coming down on all sides of this discussion, so we thought it would be appropriate to get the views of the RVDA on the controversy that erupted in Buffalo. On a conference call with Mike Molino and Phil Ingrassia of RVDA, Molino noted, "There is no RVDA position at this time. We serve all our dealers and because there are so many different viewpoints we can not come to a position. We are looking for it, and trying to define it, and a lot of the dealers feel strongly on the dealer protection side.

“Many dealers feel that this type of show, which is very popular with consumers, forces dealers to undercut prices and are forced to sell below appropriate margins as they get closer to the end of the event.

“Industry statistics show that the most dissatisfied customers are those that purchase farther from home. There is a lot of disagreement on how the association should look at this situation and what we should do to protect the dealers. There are even some who wouldn’t be disappointed if this type of national show activity just went away.

“This is an FMCA issue with the manufacturers, who in turn must work with the dealers who are supporting or working the shows."

After several attempts, we were able to get Don Eversmann, Executive Director of FMCA, to comment on the developments surrounding the convention. Don said, "There is a lot of paperwork and red tape associated with putting on a convention. Each state has different laws and we have to service our customers. I’m not sure we would go back to New York if the current conditions don’t change.

“The show is a great sales opportunity for the manufacturers and dealers. The manufacturers enjoy providing service to their customers at such a large gathering. There are not many places where they can provide that level of service all in one place.

“This type of situation has come up in the past and we try to work with each state. Sometimes we get a one-time exclusion for the show and other times, quite honestly, they just look the other way. Some states just throw their hands up when they realize the magnitude of what we are doing at the convention.

“Some states protect their instate dealers. New York was difficult, and we stay away from Texas. There is no question that manufacturers gear up production in anticipation of this event. What’s unique about FMCA is the ability to test drive from a large selection of coaches. The consumer can test a gas versus a diesel or compare one manufacturer’s product with a comparable product from a competitor. We will usually have 150-200 demo coaches available at the convention.

“The other benefit is that they can usually see every model, every floor plan and every color scheme, including options, on the various coaches on display.

“Many people don’t see what goes on behind the scenes at one of our conventions. There was just more of that type of activity in Buffalo. It’s something we learn to live with. Every venue is different with show issues and state issues. Jerry Yeatts did an excellent job of rolling with the punches.

“If our commercial members invest time and effort, they should have a reasonable opportunity to do business at the convention."

When asked about the local show promotion prior to the convention, Eversmann noted that this was another controversial area of the law that complicated the tax situation if the entire show was open to the general public, including seminars.

According to Eversmann, the average age of a Good Sam member is 62 and an FMCA member is 65. Although there are a lot of new buyers with different demographic statistics, Don said, "The average age of all RV buyers dropped from 59.6 to 59.2 years old, and this convention is for that audience. Younger people are not ready for an FMCA convention just yet, it’s a different crowd. Most of these people are retired and able to enjoy the RV lifestyle and look forward to the convention."

We did check back with the DMV and spoke to Joe Picchi again, along with Mike Maher, Director of Vehicle Safety. Maher noted, "FMCA operated legally. We spoke in March about the New York regulations. These regulations were not set up for RV dealers, but for car dealers. I’m not sure the situation that developed here could have been avoided.

“I know Meyers has written to the Attorney General asking for a ruling, but the AG is satisfied. It’s just a dealer trying to protect his turf.

“We are going to pull 25-20 VIN’s to investigate and check them through the book of registry. FMCA tried to make it as easy as possible but New York State is more difficult than most.

“This is not a new issue for us. We had the same situation with the Rockland RV show. Local dealers were complaining. To resolve the issue, the Rockland Association that sponsors the show became a dealer and handles consignments. The secret to making it work is a good title clerk." It’s a confusing situation to say the least, and one that strained many relationships not far from the thunderous roar of Niagara Falls. Perhaps the situation could have been avoided if there was more communication between FMCA, RVDA, and even RVIA six months prior to the convention date.

There has to be a better way of handling the various state laws, the manufacturers desire to sell their display units, and the local and distant dealers trying to come to common ground that will allow an enjoyable environment for all.

If this is to remain a selling show, then something has to change and FMCA has to change it … it’s their show.

If this is to be a display only show, then I think the financial support from manufacturers and dealers would be dramatically different than what it is today.