Mobile repair business is meeting the needs of RV owners

Throughout his more than 40-year career as a master certified RV technician and RV dealership owner, Bill D’Andrea knew there was a need for mobile repair techs.

He would get calls from people who needed repairs and couldn’t get anyone to come to where they were.

D’Andrea’s father owned Family Camping Outlet on West High Street in West Pottsgrove Township. Bill D’Andrea joined the firm as service manager in 1981, ultimately purchasing the business with his sister eight years ago. The pair sold the business two years ago.

Two months into his retirement, D’Andrea of Exeter Township said he realized he was too young to retire so he began planning a new business venture.

“You know how it is, you think you’re going to retire, but going from working 80 hours a week to a dead stop — I had to do something,” D’Andrea said.

He said he always enjoyed the service aspect of what he did at Family Camping Outlet.

As he thought about his next chapter, D’Andrea reflected back to the calls he used to receive from frustrated RV owners looking for help. After talking it over with his wife, Sharon, D’Andrea put his plan into motion, launching RV EMTs in November 2021.

Now, D’Andrea goes where he is needed — traveling to campsites and homes to repair or maintain RVs — providing mobile services for everything coach related.

“It’s one of those things that you recognize the need for, and I thought if I had a chance, it would be a good business to start,” he said. “The timing was right and I knew there would be a good market for it.”

It was something he had thought about when he owned the dealership but didn’t have the technicians to spare to be strictly mobile.

D’Andrea’s RV EMTs handles anything related to a motorhome coach — electrical, plumbing, appliances, electronics and gas.

“All the stuff they use when they get to the campsite,” he said.

D’Andrea does not work on engines or drive trains, saying he leave that work to those who have that experience.

D’Andrea said once he made the decision to move ahead with RV EMTs, it didn’t take too long. He bought a red and white ambulance and got the licensing he needed to get the business underway.

The ambulance, he said, already had great cabinets and space.

“Inside all I really did was take one bench seat out to make room for a couple of tools cabinets. That’s it,” he said.

He went to Lucky Squirrel Printworks in Amity Township to get set up with logos and decals for the vehicle. After more than 40 years in the business, he already had the tools, so once he ordered parts D’Andrea was ready to hit the road.

“It’s amazing how much attention it draws. It gets noticed,” he said of the ambulance. “I even have some times where it may be in the shop for an oil change or something, and I take my pickup truck to go to a scheduled job and you see the look of almost disappointment, like ‘Where is the ambulance?’”

D’Andrea limits his work to within about a one-hour radius of Reading. He has done no advertising beyond visiting some campgrounds and sharing his business card.

“There are quite a few campgrounds in the area, so the hour’s distance covers a lot of ground,” he said.

He doesn’t prebook a lot of appointments, preferring to leave the day open so he can help someone who needs help right away.

“I wanted to be able to react and help them,” he said, adding that some other services may prebook and then be booked for three or four weeks. “And that doesn’t help.”

D’Andrea said he gets calls throughout the day and will have a full day from 8:30 to 7 or 9 at night, 6 days a week.

“I am able to react to people’s problems that they’re having in real time,” he said.

RV EMTs is very busy as D’Andrea is back to working nearly 80 hour weeks again at least for part of the year. Business really slows down, he said, between November and March, when the calls are much less frequent.

“I am still working close to that, but I know I will have four months off, which is really nice,” he said.

During the winter, he will occasionally get a call from someone who needs help with their heat.

“But what I’m enjoying is I now have that time off,” he added. “I am enjoying being with my kids and grandkids.”

D’Andrea and his wife sold their own fifth-wheel RV, he said, but they are considering buying another one to do some traveling in that off time and go where it’s warmer.

RV EMTs is just D’Andrea at this point, and he admits he is starting to think about what he might do for the next step, whether to  expand or keep the business as it is.

“I was going to retire. I did this because I wanted to, not because I had to,” D’Andrea said. “I am actually enjoying helping people because I want to help people.”