Off Road Business, December 1st, 2006
You know your customer. An off-road enthusiast who trusts your shop for advice, parts, components and the occasional upgrade, he or she may be a gearhead or local racer. However, off-roading is quickly becoming a favorite American pastime. Entire families travel to weekend off-road events, certainly, but many are simply inspired by the pursuit of adventure, exploration of our beautiful country and the warmth of a campfire at day's end.
While your shop provides the parts and upgrades required by off-roaders, be it for Jeepers or racers, aftermarket equipment has a limit: When the vehicle is upgraded, it's upgraded. Having invested so many hours and dollars in a rig, testing the vehicle's limits on a challenging trail is its own reward, and your shop can benefit from getting that vehicle out of the garage and onto the trails–with the whole family in tow.
By offering high-end off-road camping accessories, parts and recovery gear, the opportunity for an expanded sales cycle and repeat purchase of key components increases exponentially. Partnering with a local off-road or truck club to host a weekend-long family trip encourages the growth of this niche, builds customer loyalty and plants the seeds for the next generation of off-roading customers: Your customer's children could one day become your best clients. Furthermore, your service bay can offer customized off-roading packages combining parts and components optimum to your local terrain, marketed as a kit. Your show can introduce serious off-roaders to specialized tire and wheel packages. With this burgeoning niche presenting a virtually limitless retailing opportunity for your business, Off-Road Business highlights some of today's best extreme camping equipment for your clientele.
OFF-ROAD TRAILING IN STYLE
Arne Martin, owner of MSE Welding and Fabrication, is also an avid outdoorsman who spends weekends off-roading in his Land Cruiser and camping in remote areas. After too many years of sleeping in a bag on the cold, hard ground, Martin designed a durable camping trailer able to withstand rough 4x4 country, carry lots of camping supplies, yet light enough to be pulled on any trail.
Martin's Haultent Expedition Trailer ($8,495.00) is constructed from the lightest and strongest rustproof materials. He reports that it easily accommodates his wife and two children, although eight people can sit comfortably inside while meals are prepared. At 1,000 pounds empty, the 8x6-foot trailer offers an incredible 100-plus cubic feet of storage space, and the 3,500-pound rubber torsion axle and independent suspension allows each wheel to travel independently, achieving a smoother ride with less sway and reduced noise.
Another option is Adventure Trailers' family of camping trailers (from $5,586.95 to $9,855.20). This group has traversed the Rubicon and explored Moab and Baja. Durable and field-serviceable, long-arm air-adjustable suspension supports up to 37-inch tires without modification. American-built with a lifetime guarantee, the ample cargo compartments keep customers' gear clean and dry. Adventure Trailers offers an optional kitchen galley, rooftop tents and storage for water, fuel, propane and on-board electrical systems. "The modular nature of the trailers creates opportunity to continue selling the numerous available accessories to this growing group of off-road enthusiasts," says Mario Donovan of Adventure Trailers.
Tentrax Adventure Trailers offers solid craftsmanship and good looks. Handcrafted and assembled in Eugene, Ore., the Off-Road A/T base model starts at $2,997.00 (after package discount) and weighs only 600 pounds. Built to order, customers pay more for their choice of–literally–hundreds of features and options. Tentrax custom builds trailers to match any vehicle's paint, lights, wheels and tires, which makes for impressive looks and enhanced customer satisfaction. Tentrax's Bob Mazziotti assures retailers, "Packaging is everything. If it's built to match the vehicle towing it, it sells itself." The base model includes a fiberglass-laminated tub, powdercoated tube frame and top rack, 2-inch coupler tongue, 1,000-pound Torflex axle and bumper with built-in 2-inch receiver tube. It takes less than two minutes for one person to set up the tent.
Napier presents trailer-less camping at its finest. The Sportz Truck Tent III ($220.00) keeps your customers off the ground, high and dry. The comfortable sewn-in floor, nearly 6 feet of headroom and two large windows transform a pickup truck's bed into a virtual five-star hotel room. The tent includes a 6x6-foot awning and rain fly, weighs approximately 16 to 18 pounds and is available in tan and navy or Advantage Timber Camo.
UNDER THE STARS AND SATELLITES
Your off-roading customers can now enjoy cutting-edge entertainment from the most remote locations through satellite radio, one of the fastest-growing media. Broadcast via satellite from coast to coast, stations won't "fade away" as they travel from town to town or across the country. Both XM and Sirius offer hundreds of digital, commercial-free channels at only $12.95 per month.
The Sportster 4 ($119.99, after rebate) is Sirius' latest offering from the Sportster series. The sleek unit features a large, easy-read display and moves effortlessly between a vehicle, home or boom box. Allowing 30 channel presets, the Sportster lists favorite teams' scores on one screen, traffic and weather reports for any city and includes a receiver, remote, vehicle power adapter, vehicle antenna and dock, suction cup and vent mounts. Roger Vennewald of Sirius Radio recommends retailers inventory the Sportster 4 as it is a proven, top-selling product.
For campground listening, XM offers the Delphi RoadyXT ($79.99), a compact radio that can be plugged into a home stereo, truck stereo (through the cigarette lighter) or portable boom box ($99.99). XM's Pioneer XM2go Inno ($349.99) is a handheld device that plays MP3 music and live or recorded XM Radio shows. Worn on the hip, it also plays on a vehicle radio or home stereo. "XM Radio is tailor made for the off-road family. XM can be added to virtually any vehicle," says XM's David Butler.
Want more bang for the buck? Receive your XM radio subscription through Garmin's GPSMAP 378 ($1199.99), an amazingly versatile and portable GPS navigator with a high-resolution 256-color sunlight-readable TFT display. For road trips, the GPSMAP 378 comes pre-loaded with detailed street maps of the U.S. and Canada, featuring more than six million points of interest and an automotive kit (including an integrated 12-volt power supply and speaker). IPX-7 standards make it submersible to one meter for up to 30 minutes.
With the GXM 30 antenna ($249.99), the GPSMAP 378 can graphically display XM WX Satellite Weather Data. With this option, "the GPSMAP 378 is the only portable unit on the market that lets motorists know what kind of weather to expect during their trip," says Garmin's Gary Kelley. The GPSMAP 378 includes an audio output jack allowing users to wire XM audio and turn-by-turn navigational voice prompts directly into their vehicle's audio system.
The GlobalMap Baja 480C from Lowrance ($349.00) is a GPS and WAAS mapping system that has been ruggedized and made shock resistant to withstand off-road use. The 480C is sealed and waterproof, using a 5-inch 256-color TFT display that offers superb readability in direct sunlight. Optional software such as MapCreate USA Topo Accessory Pack and Freedom Maps can be used to make higher-detail maps. Standard is the ability to save 1,000 waypoints, 1,000 event markers and 100 routes with 10,000 points per trail along with 40 map zoom ranges. Favorite trail spots can be marked using 42 different graphic icons
The Magellan RoadMate 2000 ($399) is a pocket-sized durable and powerful car navigation device with SiRFstar III for the highest level of GPS accuracy, providing navigation for both driving and off-road adventures. IPX-4 waterproof with integrated battery and antenna, the RoadMate 2000 features voice and visual turn-by-turn guidance with 3.5-inch color touchscreen display and a 3D birds-eye-view map screen. The unit includes pre-loaded detailed map coverage of the 48 contiguous states and a database of more than 1.3 million points of interest–including gas stations. An integrated battery allows customers to take it anywhere for extended use without a power cord.
Your customers' wheels and tires require special care on the trail. While punctures are inevitable, many off-roaders choose to deflate tires 5 to 10 psi for better traction, then re-inflate for the ride home. The Powertank ($429.95) is a quality product backed by a solid warranty. A versatile air system, it's used by both desert race teams and on the Glamis dunes by weekend enthusiasts. Powertank's Steve Sasaki insists retailers should purchase the model and demo it to customers; he believes the product speaks for itself. "It's one thing to say it will inflate a 35-inch tire in 30 seconds but doing it in front of their eyes gets a totally different reaction."
ARB 4x4 Accessories just added the ARB E-Z Deflator ($32.50) to its line of premium recovery gear. The valve core can be removed to deflate the tire at a rapid rate while an easy-to-read dial displays psi increments from 4 to 60. Made to last from corrosion-resistant brass and stainless-steel, the gauge is designed for precision movement. The E-Z Deflator also comes with a rubberized guard providing protection and maximum grip and a protective canvas pouch.
Ideal for four-wheeling trips, ARB's 42-quart Fridge Freezer ($824.99) will never be confused with any 12-volt "cooler." The model maintains sub-freezing temperatures in 100-degree heat while drawing an intermittent 2.7 amps from a 12-volt power source. Since the Fridge Freezer operates at angles up to 30 degrees without affecting reliability, desert racers install them in the cockpit and rock crawlers take them on the trail. Featuring steel handles and a stylish design, ARB's 100 percent CFC-free fridge accommodates large, upright bottles and is solar panel and generator compatible.
FridgeFreeze's portable refrigerator/ freezers are available in a variety of sizes and range from $1,195.00 to $2,545.00. All units come with a choice of a smooth or diamond-plated finish, 12/24-volt power cord, 110-volt power cord, thermal barrier, wire basket and flashlight. FridgeFreeze's John Roemer asserts, "They will go 300,000 miles and still keep food and drink icy cold in 115-degree weather."
The foregoing pages offer just a few of the many products that can make a retailer shine with trail-minded clientele, but you get the idea. The next time your customer hears the call of the wild, he or she can load up the family and put those new components to the ultimate test, just as nature intended.
Adventure Trailers
2277 La Crosse Ave., #302
Colton, Calif. 92324
877-661-8097
www.adventuretrailers.com|~
ARB 4x4 Accessories
720 S.W. 34th St.
Renton, Wash. 98057
425-264-1391
www.arbusa.com|~
Fridge Freeze
5343 Banks St.
San Diego, Calif. 92110
619-220-6003
www.fridgefreeze.com|~
Garmin International
1200 E. 151st St.
Olathe, Kan. 66062
913-397-8200
www.garmin.com|~
Haultent
4251 Reno Hwy.
Fallon, Nev. 89406
775-867-3268
www.haultent.com|~
Lowrance Electronics Inc.
12000 E. Skelly Dr.
Tulsa, Okla. 74128
800-324-1356
www.lowrance.com|~
Magellan GPS
960 Overland Ct.
San Dimas, Calif. 91773
800-707-9971
www.magellangps.com|~
Advanced Air Systems Inc. for Powertank
2214 Babson Dr.
Elk Grove, Calif. 95758
209-366-2163
www.powertank.com|~
Napier
2315 Whirlpool St., Ste. 161
Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14305
800-567-2434
www.sportzbynapier.com|~
Sirius Satellite Radio
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, N.Y. 10020
212-584-5100
www.siriusradio.com|~
Slime
800 Farroll Rd.
Grover Beach, Calif. 93433
888-45-SLIME
www.slime.com|~
Tentrax Sport Utility Trailers
30470 Seely Ln.
Eugene, Ore. 97405
800-488-2022
www.tentrax.com|~
XM Satellite Radio
1500 Eckington Pl., N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002
202-380-4000
www.xmradio.com|~
