Published: August 5, 2006
Section: Business, page D1
Source: KATE SHELLNUTT
© 2006- Landmark Communications Inc.
PORTSMOUTH - BY KATE SHELLNUTT THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
PORTSMOUTH - When George Dodd began selling recreational vehicles in 1973, RV-ing was for snowbirds and outdoorsy families. Winnebago was just making it big and KOA Campgrounds were growing fast, with 600 sites across the country.
The industry has changed since then. Baby boomers have reignited an RV boom while they and others grapple with higher gas prices. And Dodd RV has evolved along with the industry, shifting to younger leadership and expanding in size and selection.
In 2001, Dodd's son, Jamie, 35, took over as the company's president. Since then, Dodd RV, which sells, rents and services RVs, has grown from three to 40 employees and added a 5-acre second location in Newport News. Revenue in 2005 was about $14 million, up from $3 million in 2001 when Jamie took the helm.
"The success has really come from the foundation Dad built for us, Jamie's vision and a team effort, by the family and our employees," said Jennifer Moore, 37, George Dodd's daughter and the general manager of the company's Portsmouth location.
The business has expanded in today's high-gas-priced market even though many RVs get only between eight and 13 miles per gallon. Campers start at about $12,000, while some motor homes top $200,000.
The bigger challenge has been passing the family business to the next generation with four siblings involved.
Besides Jamie and Jennifer, Paul Dodd, 40, is the president of Dodd's Auto Service, which repairs both cars and RVs. Another sister, Susie Shiflet, 37, acts as Dodd RV's comptroller. The four, recalled father George Dodd, did not plan on joining the business, but "it gets in your blood."
"We had always camped," said Shiflet, the youngest daughter and the first to get on board. "We'd take two or three trips a year, and we'd to factories with Dad and bring back motor homes."
Three days after she graduated from Old Dominion University in 1994, she began filling in at Dodd RV. "Then," Shiflet said, "I never left ."
Next was Paul Dodd, who became president of the RV and auto repair division in 1996. Jamie Dodd, fresh from graduate school at the University of Florida, joined five years later.
"My dad called and asked if I wanted to discuss employment at Dodd RV, and that was not what I wanted to do," he said. "I had to think about it. I talked to my professors, and they recommended the RV industry. But I never imagined ending up here."
Fifty years ago, his father bought a Texaco station on Portsmouth Boulevard in Portsmouth, and operated it with friends William Boyd and Bobby Branch. That Texaco station is now the location of Dodd's Auto Service. Across the street is Dodd RV of Portsmouth.
George Dodd and Branch still work at the Portsmouth location. Boyd retired in 1996.
After Jamie Dodd assumed leadership in 2001, he started researching the industry and suggested an ambitious expansion of the company. He persuaded his sister , Moore, to join the business to help with the expansion and "complete the family circle" in 2002.
"We work together well," Moore said, "and we're able to translate that family atmosphere into all of our business ."
They have even worked with a family business consultant to ease conflicts over the company's expansion. Two wanted to stay small, and two - Jamie and Jennifer - predicted the industry would take off and wanted the company to take advantage of it.
RVs have taken off. A 2005 University of Michigan study found that nearly one in 12 vehicle-owning households in the U.S. own an RV. That's 8 million families, up 15 percent from 2001 and 58 percent from 1980, according to the study, commissioned by the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.
Jamie Dodd said sport utility vehicles and television have helped increase ownership and "show RVs to a younger audience."
Today, more families drive SUVs, which are capable of towing campers. Hit TV reality shows such as "Road Rules" and "The Simple Life," plus a big-screen appearance in "Meet the Fockers," have made motor homes more trendy.
More 35-to-54-year-olds own RVs than any other age group, according to the RV trade association, which attributes the industry's growth to baby boomers. RVs are adding more features, such as slide-out compartments that can triple the space inside and high-tech electronics on board.
"People are hooking up GPS, satellite TV and radio, plasma-screen TVs," Jamie Dodd said.
Although most RVs get lower gas mileage than the typical family vehicle, today's higher gas prices have had minimal effect on customers, according to industry reports.
"Now, they're shortening their trips," Jamie Dodd said of RV users. Many families will also spend more time at camps and less time driving.
Despite paying around $3 a gallon for fuel, an RV vacation can still cost less than staying at a hotel.
"It's not just a way to travel," Paul Dodd said. "You can do things you can't do while in a hotel. ... It's just a more healthy lifestyle."
The Dodd family prides itself in promoting the RV lifestyle by holding rallies for its customers.
"We don't just sell to customers, we camp with them," Moore said. Twice a year, the company reserves sites, brings in music, sets up pot-luck-style dining and invites customers to join the Dodd family for a weekend at a Virginia campground.
A message on the Dodd RV Web site reads: "Once you make a purchase at Dodd RV, you become a part of our family"