Dusty's Camper World

Frank Crum has always done what he wanted to.

"I started working in this RV dealership when I was 12, washing vehicles," he said, speaking as general manager of Dusty's Camper World in Region 3 near Lakeland, once owned and operated by his father and grandfather. Frank grew up at Dusty's learning every aspect of the trade.

"We're an RVing family, not just RV purveyors," the 35-year-old noted. And how. When Hurricane Frances stormed through the Lakeland and Bartow areas recently, Frank packed his wife, Jody, their four daughters, his in-laws, their dog and his dog in an RV and headed north.

He can respond to changing business environments with equal flexibility. Last year, after almost 40 years in operation, Dusty's was sold to Freedom Roads, becoming part of the big, successful conglomerate and positioning the business to offer an even greater quality of service to its multitude of customers across the state and nation.

Through it all, Frank says, the FRVTA has played a key role, a role that has proven even more influential as he wraps up his two-year tenure as FRVTA President and prepares for another two years serving as Chairman of the Board.

He discussed those roles in a recent conversation with FRVTA News.

Q: What are you most proud of in your two-year term as FRVTA President?

CRUM: There's so many things. The continued unity of our members in the state, for one thing. I really believe our state trade association is unparalleled compared to most associations. That's proven by our ability to discuss issues and then decide. For example, a new building. We purchased a new state office building (to help promote the RV Industry in Florida), and the decision to spend $650,000 was so simple. Everybody saw it was right, and everybody on the Board made the right decision, voting unanimously for the project.

Q: As you begin the next two-year term, this time as FRVTA Chairman of the Board, what are your goals?

CRUM: My goal is to try to encourage more empathy for new members and from new members for the FRVTA. I see a lot of associations, including ours to some extent, and they don't have new and additional people coming through. One thing we saw from all our planning – new people who don't know what the Association means to them, who never benefited from it before, get to know and talk with people throughout the RV Industry. And that's always better for them and their businesses.

Personally, I have found so many friends across the state and country through the FRVTA – so it's benefited me personally and it's benefited my business, everything.

Q: What did you discover during your term as President that you didn't know before, and how has your view of the FRVTA and its impact on the business changed?

CRUM: I discovered that our staff does a lot more than I thought they did. They're incredible. It's not hard to do your job as President because of the staff – they do everything for you. But the Board makes the decisions – and I like the fact that the staff tells you everything you need to know, but doesn't influence the decision of the Board. And I must say, the communication the executive director gives me is just great.

Q: What do you see as the greatest challenges facing the Florida RV Industry?

CRUM: The biggest thing for dealers is the quality of products being built by manufacturers, coupled with the warranties those manufacturers do, or don't provide. There is a lot shoved on the dealer in taking care of customers for quality. And the expectations of customers are much higher. As the Generation X ages, they can flip on a computer and get any million facts about products and so a higher quality is demanded. These RVs can be more money than the most expensive automobiles, so they deserve it.

Here's where I'm going with this. The FRVTA can help encourage manufacturers to build higher quality into their products and to warranty those products more thoroughly. But it's gonna take work from both manufacturers and dealers, and it starts with manufacturers building quality. Our state is doing so well in recreation vehicle sales, but that might be more demanding on the dealer who has been open only a year. A small dealership that does, say, 300 vehicles instead of 1,500, now has 300 customers to take care of.

Our challenge is to make that process easier.

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