The Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA)

Mike Harding · Guru

The Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA)

bgt · Guru

CMCA has two membership levels. From the very beginning of the club to be a full member you had to own a 'qualifying' vehicle. Anyone else can join as an associated member. The only 'real' difference, besides the qualifying vehicle, is that only full members can become board members and vote in club affairs. Such as for board members and at AGM's. Only about 1 or 2 % of members bother.

For the $44.00 you have access to a number of benefits. The Wanderer is the big one IMHO. You have a choice of the printed version or the download version for you computer/tablet. There's a small additional cost for the printed version. You can't buy 12 monthly issues of anything much for $44.00 so it's good value if nothing else. There are also CMCA discounts for members for various things. Many caravan parks give CMCA members a discount. Ken Tame insurance is for members only. The web site should show you all the benefits.

Be aware that there is some anti CMCA sentiment out there. All baseless but it's out there nonetheless.

Years ago the CMCA partnered up with KEA to install many many dump points around Australia. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent by the CMCA for dump points that everyone can use. Not just members.

Legendts · Member

I joined the CMCA several years ago and had been in it for approximately 6 years. To be honest, I could not say that much was achieved from being an associate member. Your opinion, as a caravaner seemed to be of little if any value and fell on deaf ears. From my experience I wouldnt say all the anti CMCA is baseless. As an associate member you have no voice. Just my honest opinion only. Yes, the dump points are a great initiative that the CMCA have championed. They also push very hard on full self containment which in some situations is justified but now makes it extremely hard on those of us that dont have grey water tanks but are all the same responsible travellers.

-- Edited by Legendts on Wednesday 24th of June 2020 08:05:17 PM

bgt · Guru

If your opinion falls on deaf ears then you are talking to the wrong ears!!! Like all similar organizations/clubs it's a matter of seeking out those who are prepared to listen. Unfortunately without getting involved in the nuts and bolts of the CMCA it's difficult for individual members to be heard. Easier to simply go camping, take advantage of the benefits and leave the politics of the club to others. The CMCA was/is responsible from the RV Friendly Towns, Self Containment Scheme and the LNT. (As well as dump points). Those 3 initiatives have helped to change the entire way rv camping has changed in the past 15 years or so.

PeterInSa · Guru

We have taken out Tandem Traveller Caravan to a number of CMCA Rallies and local chapter events and had good experiences. Voting at the AGM is not and issue for us, and as said above most of the members unfortunately on some issues give it a miss as well.

Jaahn · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
Possum3 has often mentioned the CMCA in positive terms and given I've frequently seen their logo on dump points to which they have contributed I thought I'd take a look at their website with a view to joining ($44 per year + $16.50 joining fee).
https://www.cmca.net.au/
One thing which concerned me a little was I could find no mention of caravans on the public area of the website; now this may be of little consequence but I am left wondering if caravan owners are not really sought as members?
As I know next to nothing about the club I'm hoping others can comment on this and other aspects.
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Hi Mike
I am a member of the CMCA. Not very active at all but joined to get the benefits of their negotiated insurance deal with Ken Tame. We have a small MH. There is a social aspect with rallies and meetings that we are not attracted to.
I understand that the original founder of the club was biased against caravans and considered MHs were superior. But things change over time, and the superior types with big MHs have become less ascendant and they do let in vans as second rate members. The very fact of classifying MHs into class A, B, C etc shows the class thinking IMHO.
But really the club became very active in promoting all those areas of touring mentioned, responsible behaviour, dump points, user friendly towns etc etc, and for us that is more than enough to support them even if we only have a small second rate MH.  They are now setting up camping areas for members use too.
Cheers Jaahn
PS Now that Ken Tame has been sold to a regular insurance company the benefit of that connection may change, but our experience with them has been good.

-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 25th of June 2020 09:24:30 AM

iana · Guru

We are members, owning a caravan. We find our benefits are from CMCA friendly parks, a saving there, the use of Geowiki, and the Geowiki POI's which can be downloaded into ones GPS. Ken Tame insce, won't go near them again. The Wander I find has little of interest, and yes everything id motor home orientated.

Sorry nearly forgot the most important items, the dump points installed around the country, great.

-- Edited by iana on Thursday 25th of June 2020 09:30:20 AM

bgt · Guru

Jaahn a couple of point that I need to pick you up on.

First the founder, Don Whitworth, was far from a motorhome snob. On the contrary he was open to all RV's. It's just he and his wife felt there was a need for a motorhome club after he and his family toured much of the world in a humble VW Kombi. Keep in mind that there are CARAVAN clubs in Australia. It's all just a name.

The classification of A, B and C class motorhomes is a worldwide industry standard. Nothing to do with the CMCA. Based on how motorhome/campervans are built. ie Paradise motorhomes could hardly be called 'lower class' even though they are 'only' C Class units!!

The KEN Tame insurance policy is owned by the CMCA. Ken Tame was just the broker who handles the insurance on behalf of the CMCA.

We have found the chapter meetings a great social hoot. Meet some many great folk and have a great time. You even find, shhhhh, caravans at many chapter get togethers.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

We have been members of the CMCA for 17 years.
It is not the club it used to be, in fact it is not a "club" any more.
Cheers,
Peter

bgt · Guru

Peter to be technically correct it never was a club. But I tend to agree. The CMCA seems to have drifted away from its core goals and now has other priorities that I can't figure out.

montie · Guru

Jaahn wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:
Possum3 has often mentioned the CMCA in positive terms and given I've frequently seen their logo on dump points to which they have contributed I thought I'd take a look at their website with a view to joining ($44 per year + $16.50 joining fee).
https://www.cmca.net.au/
One thing which concerned me a little was I could find no mention of caravans on the public area of the website; now this may be of little consequence but I am left wondering if caravan owners are not really sought as members?
As I know next to nothing about the club I'm hoping others can comment on this and other aspects.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Mike
I am a member of the CMCA. Not very active at all but joined to get the benefits of their negotiated insurance deal with Ken Tame. We have a small MH. There is a social aspect with rallies and meetings that we are not attracted to.
I understand that the original founder of the club was biased against caravans and considered MHs were superior. But things change over time, and the superior types with big MHs have become less ascendant and they do let in vans as second rate members. The very fact of classifying MHs into class A, B, C etc shows the class thinking IMHO.
But really the club became very active in promoting all those areas of touring mentioned, responsible behaviour, dump points, user friendly towns etc etc, and for us that is more than enough to support them even if we only have a small second rate MH.  They are now setting up camping areas for members use too.
Cheers Jaahn
PS Now that Ken Tame has been sold to a regular insurance company the benefit of that connection may change, but our experience with them has been good.

-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 25th of June 2020 09:24:30 AM

Jaahn,

The classifaction of A,B,and C class motorhomes has nothing to do with the social standing of the owner rather the industry standard for the configuration of the motorhome.

C Class....has a Luton Peak bed over cab

B Class has no luton peak

A class is built on a chassis rather than a cab/chassis with a level floor all the way through. It is just a coincidence that A Class motorhomes are usually larger and more luxurious than their counterparts.

CMCA (Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia) are motorhome oriented as the name suggests and have over the years been of great service to to the industry. My membership of many years ago has expired but I believe they now offer associate membership for caravans.

-- Edited by montie on Thursday 25th of June 2020 02:07:59 PM

-- Edited by montie on Thursday 25th of June 2020 02:08:36 PM

Radar · Guru

Hi, could say I am a disgruntled paying caravan member.

Back around 2010 I found a CMCA mag in laundry of a caravan park, read and reread it, best read ever, over the few years managed to pick a few more mags up. Great read and thought one day we might like to be part of this rv club.

2017 we were around Grafton for the Jacaranda Festival and headed over to our normal stopping point at the Greyhound Club to find it being controlled by the local CMCA club and we were made welcome with our caravan and was reassured if we join the CMCA it had a lot to offer in the way of new low cost camps opening up which we have since used, the 3 being run by caravan owners. Product discounts, fuel discount.

last year the management of the club strongly recommended to its members to vote to allow full membership to the caravan owners on the grounds of the current % of members compared to motorhome members which is in rapid decline. Yes, it failed.

And the yelling on facebook that followed was not to good, I now do not follow facebook.

I never found the insurance to be good value.

Have not purchased any goods I need with the club discount.

No fuel yet with the club discount.

A little disappointed with the negative towards this caravan owner, maybe I have something they don't.

Yes, Have stayed at a caravan park for a low fee, which worked well.

Court is still out whether I continue my membership.

PeterInSa · Guru

Radar Re (last year the management of the club strongly recommended to its members to vote to allow full membership to the caravan owners on the grounds of the current % of members compared to motorhome members which is in rapid decline. Yes, it failed.)

My take (which may not be correct), The Vote needed 70% of voting members to pass and the 67% vote did not make it, and to me the silent majority did not bother to vote either way.

Radar · Guru

PeterInSa wrote:
Radar Re (last year the management of the club strongly recommended to its members to vote to allow full membership to the caravan owners on the grounds of the current % of members compared to motorhome members which is in rapid decline. Yes, it failed.)

My take (which may not be correct), The Vote needed 70% of voting members to pass and the 67% vote did not make it, and to me the silent majority did not bother to vote either way.

Yes, I did follow the voting and it was really in the scheme of things a pretty poor vote, that was my take on the members vote.

bgt · Guru

I joined way back in about 1996. So I've seen a lot of changes. First many organizations need a 70% + majority for major changes. So nothing unusual there. I've never understood why some caravaners are so desperate to be full members. I can understand why 'old' members want to keep the motorhome club a motorhome club. Bit like Collingwood members complaining about not having voting rights at the local cricket club! I don't see a real point. Unless you are really want to join the board or vote at the agm then why the desperate desire to be a full member? My advise is to join as an associate member, take all the goodies and go camping. Leave the politics to the 1 or 2% of the members who have an interest in those things.

Radar · Guru

bgt wrote:
I joined way back in about 1996. So I've seen a lot of changes. First many organizations need a 70% + majority for major changes. So nothing unusual there. I've never understood why some caravaners are so desperate to be full members. I can understand why 'old' members want to keep the motorhome club a motorhome club. Bit like Collingwood members complaining about not having voting rights at the local cricket club! I don't see a real point. Unless you are really want to join the board or vote at the agm then why the desperate desire to be a full member? My advise is to join as an associate member, take all the goodies and go camping. Leave the politics to the 1 or 2% of the members who have an interest in those things.

I think it like, you remember when mum said no and only because she said no you want it.

I really was not interested in the club until a motorhomer said to me how motorhome did this did that, unknowingly got me thinking.

Reading the number of caravaners who belong to the club puts the CMCA in great position to say which they do say they biggest RV club representing RV market to get the grants needed to put in the dump points.

My personal take on things.

bgt · Guru

Back around 2006 the CMCA lobbied hard for camping options outside of caravan parks. To gain traction they needed to lobby on behalf of ALL rvs. Not just motorhomes. Simple fact is that the authorities sit up and take notice when quoting larger numbers. At that time the CMCA made a deliberate decision to lobby on behalf of ALL rvs. As a result caravans, regardless of being a member or not, benefit from the CMCA's lobbying. So does being a member really matter?

msg · Guru

Jaahn wrote:

"I understand that the original founder of the club was biased against caravans and considered MHs were superior. But things change over time, and the superior types with big MHs have become less ascendant and they do let in vans as second rate members. The very fact of classifying MHs into class A, B, C etc shows the class thinking IMHO. "

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I thought it was a result of a number of Motorhomers getting together to talk about their issues (they are often irrelevant to caravanners and vice versa) There were plenty of caravan clubs but no clubs for motorhomers. Thats where the need for dump points came to the fore. Motorhomes were more likely to have cassettes than caravaners. any way thats what I thought

-- Edited by msg on Thursday 25th of June 2020 09:50:10 PM

Izabarack · Guru

I first joined the CMCA to support and acknowledge efforts by the club to have Dump Points installed around Australia. The club has paid for some, sponsored some, and has lobbied local authorities for some. No Campervan or MH at the time I first joined so just wanted to help in a minor way by adding to membership numbers and contributing some $. Not interested in being on the board but now keen to stop those who do not own a Qualifying Vehicle from taking over.

All the bitching by those who do not own a qualifying vehicle is annoying. It is a Campervan and MH club. The club (the members) have never tried to exclude any RV users from using the dump points the club organised, or had a hand in, installing. All RV users got the benefit of the the efforts of the club in having dump points installed across Australia. While all this was going on, club executive organised and won several benefits for club members. Then, as an act of pure kindness and inclusion, the club allowed people who did not own a qualifying vehicle to join as Associate Members and thus access the member benefits. The only difference then and now in the levels of club membership is that associate members cannot hold board positions or vote on club matters. That last bit is quite important. The club was formed to address the special and specific needs and wants of the owners of qualifying vehicles. It is a Campervan and MH club. It is not a Caravan club or some sort of generic RV owners club.

If people want to join a club and seek a board position or have a say in club matters, they should join a club that allows that. If some want to enjoy the benefits of being a CMCA member, join and enjoy the benefits that are available to club members. In the campgrounds and on the road, levels of membership are not treated differently and all club members mingle with all RV operators without distinction. Maybe the negative comments about levels of membership are confined to those who cannot show a little gratitude that the CMCA lets all members access club benefits, whether or not they own a qualifying vehicle.

Iza

PeterX · Senior Member

Look at

www.cmca.net.au/default.aspx

Gundog · Guru

Why would I want to join a club that will not have me as a full member because I have a caravan, and expect me to pay the same fee's.

All be it I see no advantage in joining such an club, as I am more than happy to pay my way and stay at a local caravan, I am sick to death of hearing CMCA members whining when a CP wont give them a discount, bloody tight arses.

bgt · Guru

Gundog it's very easy to generalize. If you look at all those that are 'free' camping the vast majority of them are caravans. So it could be very easy to say that caravaners are all tight arses as well. Don't judge the vast majority by the actions of the very small minority. FWIW I've seen some with expensive 4×4's and expensive caravans look down their noses noses at those with humble tow vehicles and their small caravans. Often the perceived snobbery is based on envy.

Mike Harding · Guru

A most interesting, and unexpected, set of responses - thank you to
all who replied.

I see little difference between caravans and motorhomes. The people
who travel in them, seem to me, to require exactly the same
facilities and I am unsure why a difference is perceived.

I have again looked at the CMCA website and it now troubles me that
not *one* mention of "caravan" is made on the public area of the
website, this seems almost pathological.

I note the recent AGM vote which missed by 3% for admitting caravan
owners as full members - regrettable but probably reversible in
future years.

It appears the CMCA are doing a fine job in regard to dump points
and, perhaps, other camping needs - hard to tell, but I thank them
for it.

I have decided I will not apply to join the club until it welcomes
caravan owners more (at all!) warmly.

----

I caution you:

I have been involved in outdoor sports for many years and, in
general, found us to be our own worst enemies.

The fishermen fail to support the shooters.

The shooters fail to support the motorcycle riders.

The motorcycle riders fail to support the horse riders.

The list goes on....

If RV owners believe they occupy a different plane to caravan owners
then they will soon find their options being severely limited by other
groups who despise all of us.

Your choice people....

bgt · Guru

Mike if you look at membership I'm sure that the Associate membership includes everyone. I still can't understand caravaners being upset by a Motorhome and campervan club having membership criteria. Give some time I'm sure I could find many many clubs with membership criteria. So why the stress over a club with membership rules?

Monica W · Veteran Member

Not a lot of advantage been a cmca member. My partner is a member and will remain purely for support dump points. Since they weakened criteria for RV Friendly towns they no longer count. The cmca app is worthless crap. We don't see the cmca as well managed outfit

Mike Harding · Guru

bgt wrote:
So why the stress over a club with membership rules?

There is no stress and it's only you who is insisting there is.

However, just as they are fully entitled to set whatever rules they choose I am fully entitled to choose not to be governed by those rules, am I not?

bgt · Guru

Mike I wasn't referring to you in particular about 'stress'. There's a minority of folks out there 'stressing' over the issue. Something I've never been able to understand.
Monica W I agree that the RVFT is nolonger what it started out to be. Just like the Self Containment scheme started out and got watered down just to appease a few squeaky wheels.

My advice i to go camping and forget the politics of RVing and clubs.

bomurra · Veteran Member

bgt wrote:
I joined way back in about 1996. So I've seen a lot of changes. First many organizations need a 70% + majority for major changes. So nothing unusual there. I've never understood why some caravaners are so desperate to be full members. I can understand why 'old' members want to keep the motorhome club a motorhome club. Bit like Collingwood members complaining about not having voting rights at the local cricket club! I don't see a real point. Unless you are really want to join the board or vote at the agm then why the desperate desire to be a full member? My advise is to join as an associate member, take all the goodies and go camping. Leave the politics to the 1 or 2% of the members who have an interest in those things.

I guess you need to become disenfranchised to understand.

Most people who belong to an organization, be it in the working or leisure environment, like to think their input (however small it maybe), is valued. Maybe that's it.

Tony Bev · Guru

iana wrote:
We are members, owning a caravan. We find our benefits are from CMCA friendly parks, a saving there, the use of Geowiki, and the Geowiki POI's which can be downloaded into ones GPS. Ken Tame insce, won't go near them again. The Wander I find has little of interest, and yes everything id motor home orientated.
Sorry nearly forgot the most important items, the dump points installed around the country, great.

-- Edited by iana on Thursday 25th of June 2020 09:30:20 AM

Hi Ian

Hope that I am not going off topic

Can you tell me how you found the Ken Tame insurance experience, as I thought, from reading posts on this forum, that it was one of the reputable ones

iana · Guru

PM sent.