Clueless caravan sellers targeted

More than 10 years after rolling out its RV manufacturer member accreditation program, the Caravan Industry Association of Australia is now trialing a similar ‘seal of approval’ program for caravan salespeople.

Currently in a pilot phase, the CIAA said its new ‘Salesperson Accreditation’ program is focused on ensuring that people who sell caravans for a living have a thorough knowledge of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

With a recent ACCC report highlighting a concerning degree of consumer law non-compliance as well as the number of misleading claims made by caravan retailers, the CIAA said the voluntary program is also designed to improve the interaction with consumers at the time of sale.

“Salespersons will in addition to completing a knowledge test around the ACL also have to abide by a code of conduct, subject themselves to police checks as required, as well as declaring they have not been convicted of financial crimes in the past or are an undischarged bankrupt,” said Caravan Industry Association of Australia CEO, Stuart Lamont.

“All of these have been in-built into the program to provide additional comfort and safety in dealing with individuals within the caravanning industry.” 

Those who have achieved ‘Salesperson Accreditation’ will be identified by an RVMAP key-style badge with their photo, name, identification number and an expiry date, “with accreditation requiring to be renewed on an annual basis following the conducting of targeted professional development and ongoing testing of their knowledge of the ACL”.

“As an industry we strive to deliver the best experiences and products for our customers, with salesperson accreditation an important link in this chain as it is at the early stage of the customer journey,” Lamont said.

“We expect sales representatives to jump on this education program as a matter of priority with 27 having already successfully completed sales accreditation in the first 10 days of the pilot phase. We are really excited to be able to provide yet another layer of confidence between the customer and the industry,” he said.

The new ‘Salesperson Accreditation’ program will be fully rolled out at the CIAA National Conference in May 2023.