I started repairing my own RV in 1980, after a…. umm…. “less than satisfactory” experience with an RV repair shop. Luckily, now it has become somewhat easier to find a good, qualified repair place, and training opportunities for RV technicians have greatly increased. While (as in any industry) you can still find bad RV repair shops (as well as good RV repair shops), for the past 10+ years, the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, in partnership with the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association have offered RV Technician certification.
While certification, or lack of certification certainly doesn’t give you a 100% gauge of service satisfaction, asking for, and dealing with certified technicians does give a good baseline for competence.
I try to attend as many training seminars as I can, and I tend to see many of the same people, from the same shops at them. This gives me an idea that:
- The technician is interested in learning more, being able to work more efficiently, and serving the customer better.
- The shop they work for wants to have well trained people, and is willing to pay for continuing education.
On a related subject, there is still a shortage of qualified RV technicians (as many of you who go in for service can attest to). The RV industry has many, many more training opportunities than it had even 10 years ago for people who want to make a change in careers.
Some (but certainly not all) of the educational resources are Camping World University, The RV Service Academy , and The National RV Technical Institute– a network of community colleges, and several more, including online training.
For anyone interested in a career in a field where you can find work in virtually any part of the country, and where the job is never boring, there are a lot of ways to get the training needed, and get your foot in the door.
Anyway- next week, back to boring technical stuff !
Comments or questions? See this thread in the RV.Net forums.