Club Membership

Off Topic Forum for all non car comments and disussion

Moderator: Contaminated

User avatar
Weathers
Posts: 1024
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:32 pm
Contact:

Club Membership

Postby Weathers » Mon Feb 07, 2022 8:53 am

I’m sure many of you belong to other clubs both car and otherwise.

Of those clubs that you pay for what makes you a) cough up in the first instance and b) keep going back year on year.

What do they do well? And what could they do or do better?

Thanks all

Chris

greenwoo
Site Admin
Posts: 10185
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:34 am
Contact:

Re: Club Membership

Postby greenwoo » Mon Feb 07, 2022 11:04 pm

good question, one that i can't answer from a 'i'm a paying member of xyz'. But my 2 cents is that 'value'.
That may be access to a site/info that will enrich my hobby, or perhaps save me money. Shamelessly i joined a club to get access to a discount that i could leverage across a number of tickets for pals to go to attend an event, oh and i got a discount card for halfords, which is handy (when i remember to use it).

In the early days of skcc i used to trawl other kit sites, until a few made it hard to do so as a non member. But overall ( sweeping generalization) i came to the conclusion that many members trot out the same guff - either something can't be done, or can only be done 1 way. Which coupled with partisan promoting of companies/products just frustrated me.

Thing that made that worse, is that generally it was a handful of people that replied to questions etc without really 'getting' the point. one bloke on the tiger forum would forever bang the drum about 'just take your car to tiger' or would extol the virtue of the 3k suspension upgrade that he'd had someone make and who could make one for 'you'.

anyway, kind of in answer to your question - 'value'......i was a member of the Caterham club ( or whatever its called these days), so i could join in run outs. But a/ some of the runs were not 'kit' inclusive b/ the local ones stopped posting them on the forum and had 'code' for what was happening. Too much aggro, not enough value......

User avatar
Wingco
Posts: 2757
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:49 am
Location: Swanley, Kent
Contact:

Re: Club Membership

Postby Wingco » Tue Feb 08, 2022 9:26 am

SKCC is the only club I belong to, I was with the Tiger thing but if you did not contribute they stopped access to it fir some reason. I complained and got nowhere.
This club does all that I want from a kit car club, I get to see different cars, meet some top guys and have a laugh. I imagine its hard work keeping this site going and working properly, to those I thank you.
So we use whatsapp a lot and its quick and easy and we have a laugh but I think both this forum and the whatsapp group we have work together.
Am I missing out not being a member of other clubs ? I leave to others to decide.
Mirror, Signal go faster pedal !!

User avatar
Weathers
Posts: 1024
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Club Membership

Postby Weathers » Tue Feb 08, 2022 1:26 pm

Thanks all for your thoughts. It’s an interesting point and it does feel to me like the days of the formal club are limited. I think the likes of Westfield Club etc are safe but the general clubs, especially with older membership are fading.

I don’t know what I could do to attract younger PAYING members to a club. Forums and WhatsApp seem to have the advantage that they are fast and free. And I think the free bit is the main barrier.

I’m trying to work out how to inject some energy in to an existing kit car club. And I’m struggling with ideas on how to do it. They have a forum but no one uses it and there is a WhatsApp group but again limited traffic. I’ve a feeling that the demographic age wise is the issue.

Thanks again everyone. And hopefully see you all out on a run soon.

User avatar
nelmo
Posts: 514
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:25 pm
Location: Reigate, Surrey
Contact:

Re: Club Membership

Postby nelmo » Tue Feb 08, 2022 5:55 pm

I'm on the committee for the RHOCAR club and the only advantage they have is they produce a quarterly mag (from me, I'm the editor :D) and discounts at 2 insurers if you tell them your membership number.

Whether that makes the £20 a year good value, I don't know but that club is also suffering from apathy - trying to get anyone to meet up or contribute to the mag is like pulling teeth.

You need a few people prepared to really work at it, IMO. For example, someone could phone up and try arrange factory tours for members, discounts off show tickets or car parts etc. But that's hard work and I'm not volunteering ;)

greenwoo
Site Admin
Posts: 10185
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:34 am
Contact:

Re: Club Membership

Postby greenwoo » Tue Feb 08, 2022 10:58 pm

@ Neil;
discounts at 2 insurers if you tell them your membership number.
many insurers will 'do a deal' irrespective of membership status. Hell, i used to get asked for membership numbers for that purpose and folks just used to make their own number up.


trying to get anyone to meet up or contribute to the mag is like pulling teeth.

magazines (imho) from a club have even less appeal than a forum. Given that mainstream mags suffer from content issues.


You need a few people prepared to really work at it, IMO
. I disagree. Its not events that need to be worked on, its the folks that own the cars. Like most things in life people are happy to sit back and let others propose and arrange things and then make a decision; which often gets changed at the last minute; the sun isn't shinning, the dog looks fed up, oh i forgot its little masies birthday ( silly me whi did i sign up to this all those weeks ago without checking my diary)...the list goes on.
Reality is that anyone can arrange a meet up/event/whatever - but without 'buy in' it is pretty pointless.

Kit owners ( if they want to meet others) need to get it into their heads that it isnt like owning a BMW/Ford where there are hundreds of similar owners within a 5 mile radius. Meeting in the kit world generally means getting in the car and driving a distance. Moreover with the exception of caterham, most single marque clubs do not have sufficient ownership to warrant monthly meet ups.....in a sustainable way.

@ Chris;
They have a forum but no one uses it and there is a WhatsApp group but again limited traffic.

As a very peronal observation. Social apps kill forums and are not inclusive. How do newer members know of run outs etc that are arranged 'off grid'. On top of which its not an age thibg - but my phone alerts me every few mins to work emails, personal emails, and a few texts/whatsapp stuff. Last thing i'd need is more 'pings' from a club.

the difficulty is that the kit scene is small, then take out those that want to polish it, drive it 5 miles and put away again ( dry), take out the fact that few people build these days ( so not much interest in build diaries etc ), divide into those that are happy to drive for 50miles - but only at a time that suits their schedule.....you get the picture. Out of a small group you get a fewer in each sub category.
I used to reckon that for every 20-25 new members, about half would do a sensible 'intro' and start to have a go at getting integrated into the club, of those around 30% might come on a run out or 'post' a new thread about 'something', and out of the 20-25 around 1 might actually get involved in drive outs etc.

I hold my hands up. The last 18mths has been shite for various reasons, and having time to drive interest in this forum has been way down the list. Reality is that everyone who is a member has the opportunity to 'talk', arrange, promote......and am glad that you instigated such a topic Chris ;)

User avatar
Jeano
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2015 5:16 pm
Contact:

Re: Club Membership

Postby Jeano » Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:39 am

Morning, i thought id post as i joined SKCC through my old Dax and i joined you all at North Wield a few years ago. I had not logged on for years however i used to go on a Corsa forum for years even after i sold the cars, popping on ocassionally. The people, the content were great, i went back on there last week and they have a thread exactly like this about reduced traffic and the impact of social media. It seems to be a real issue.

In the last weeks Im looking at coming back to the Kitcar community so have been trying to find a home, i used to mainly use locostbuilders as it was busy but that seems very slow these days, MK Sportcars dont have a forum but just a facebook group and i dont like the quick post/response agenda on there, i want to look through build threads and follow peoples journeys.

Seems to be a difficult market out there for clubs, increased number of clubs has lead to dilution of the market.

For me value is in its members and them reguarly posting to provide content to draw people to what to read. The insurance offers etc like others have refereed to seem to be more of a hollow thing these days. I remember thou on some of the old forums there were people from companies like "opie oils" and "kit cars direct" that would have a section to assist with issues and sell there services, that added value to me as it added to the community.

oh dear i have bored myself!

User avatar
Weathers
Posts: 1024
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:32 pm
Contact:

Re: Club Membership

Postby Weathers » Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:19 pm

The technical input from companies who were then able to flog their stuff is a good one. I like that idea.


Return to “General Discussion - Non Car Related”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests