Flat rate membership fee

[Alex]

Hi all,

The commitee has been talking about changing the membership fees for club membership.

Currently the fees are £25 for a new member and £10 to renew. Returning/expired members can also join for £10.

The proposal is to charge everyone £15 flat rate for the year.

There are several reasons for doing this but the main 2 are to attract more members and to hopefully increase club funds to spend on things like National Day etc. It's thought that charging £25 is putting people off joining - something we really want to change. Whether altering the fees to £15 will increase club funds is less certain despite the number crunching.

We'd really like to hear what the members have to say about this so we can come to a decision soon.

Please discuss but please try and keep on topic!

[gtmatt]

Sounds good to me

[rs250nut]

Current or older members s**t out new members have it all to gain, that's how I feel this will be looked upon. Thing is how bad or good are things these days, are club numbers dwindling that fast. What are the numbers for 2006 onwards?

[JRP]

Hi all,

The commitee has been talking about changing the membership fees for club membership.

Currently the fees are £25 for a new member and £10 to renew. Returning/expired members can also join for £10.

The proposal is to charge everyone £15 flat rate for the year.

There are several reasons for doing this but the main 2 are to attract more members and to hopefully increase club funds to spend on things like National Day etc. It's thought that charging £25 is putting people off joining - something we really want to change. Whether altering the fees to £15 will increase club funds is less certain despite the number crunching.

We'd really like to hear what the members have to say about this so we can come to a decision soon.

Please discuss but please try and keep on topic!

Fine.. One less pint n crisps that's all

[Nad-5GTT]

Id be happy paying that, the amount of knowledge and help from members is worth that alone

[Alex]

Current or older members s**t out new members have it all to gain, that's how I feel this will be looked upon. Thing is how bad or good are things these days, are club numbers dwindling that fast. What are the numbers for 2006 onwards?

I don't have fingures going back that far but over the last few years memberships have dropped by quite a lot.

[dangerous dave]

[Hoolio]

Wow a whole 1.37p extra per day for existing members, not really worth thinking about when put in those terms.

[rs250nut]

I don't have fingures going back that far but over the last few years memberships have dropped by quite a lot.

By the tens, hundreds?

[Alex]

Ian S will have more definitive figures but as an example:

563 members joined or renewed in 2010

514 members joined or renewed in 2011

389 members joined or renewed up to September 2012

[Hoolio]

Ian S will have more definitive figures but as an example:

563 members joined or renewed in 2010

514 members joined or renewed in 2011

389 members joined or renewed up to September 2012

Sobering numbers those.

[Big Steve - Raider]

[GTphil]

I would happily pay £15, i think this is a good idea, if your new to Renault turbo's and you don't know anyone off the site then i agree £25 seems a little steep. I know it's worth more than that in terms of info and help but i really can see £25 putting people off.

Wow, only 389 renewals last year

[car.crash]

Sounds good to me.

[James5]

Sounds good to me.

I will go with whatever the club decides

[Trevhib]

Less than 400 members and less than 100 turning up for the ND. It's a sad reality tbh.

The current tiered system was designed primarily to try and retain existing (and pre-existing) members by making it cheaper for them to renew. Has it been in place long enough to understand how well that has worked? The numbers need analysing, otherwise what was the point of putting it in place and what is the point of changing it again now?

That said, I'll just go with whatever the club decides, as ever. I'll pay £15.

[clee]

We only need a certain bank balance to cover nat day losses .If we don't have the money then that will have to change format .
Inflation rise and long overdue .
15 quid is still very cheap compared to other clubs and what they offer .

[Duncan Grier]

I think its fair to say 95% of the regulars if not more would have no issues paying £15 and if it means we can drop the new joining fee to hopefully increase new members seems a good idea.

Maybe £20 1st year and £15 after for new joiners?

DG

[Slammed 66]

I'm happy to pay it but I don't think you can attribute low membership numbers to the joining fee. 2010 was £25 but 2012 was nearly 200 people less and the same price.

I guess people are just less interested in the whole renault 5 thing nowadays and kids prefer corsas, evos etc etc

What's needed is better media coverage but how to go about it? I've seen the ads in ppc and they're great so I don't know what else can be done

Ross

[Mart]

We've been here before (with regards to attracting new members/other breeds of Renault Turbo), but it's still status quo.

https://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=29802 - Long thread, but a good read with some valid points & ideas (more so end of page 2 onwards).

[chris]

I have no problem paying 15 pound still good value for money. As regard to a lower amount of people joining is it because the club is seen as a club for old renault turbos and people dont consider the club for the newer cars

[clee]

It's not even about older Renault ,it's all about 5gtt .
That attitude will take a lot of changing and I doubt it will ever be more than it is already without a major overhaul of the site and PR in mags etc and there is no-one that will do that job .
The increase is to try and attract new members ,maybe even newer model owners , at 15 quid it's still throw away money ..pie and a pint ,but is also needed to keep the coffers full .

[Trevhib]

Nearly 20 members have posted on this thread so far. That's 5% of the total membership (and probably represents 10-15% of those who actually ever post). Not one has said they are unhappy to pay an extra £5, which is good.

[Romil Davda]

My 2 pence worth: You need to make it appealing to renew as well as get new members:

£20 for new members, £15 for renewals

We are faced with new forums/groups such as FB. Why pay RTOC when you get the same for free? Hence a lot of newbies not joining!

[clee]

The point is to have a flat rate and move away from the two tier system .This whole renewals discount scheme is just a complication we don't need and puts newbies off I think especially as it's far more than double what existing members pay .

[Mart]

We are faced with new forums/groups such as FB. Why pay RTOC when you get the same for free? Hence a lot of newbies not joining!

How many National Day events have those FB groups hosted?

It's also far easier to read the daily news/topics on this/a forum, than what it is trailing through lines upon lines of everyone's posts on FB.

[chris]

I think if we maybe went to larger events as a club for example PFC i know this year is not an option but maybe the following year we have cars like meganes and there was a lad on here with the new shape clio was it the 1.2 turbo and obviously theres loads of retro renaults or is there a problem with just staying with the older cars?

[Trevhib]

Chris, read the thread that Mart posted.

[Mr Raider]

Think problems with staying with older cars is that the numbers decline as some become beyond repair or broken for parts, cost and availability of parts etc

[Logg]

Im happy with £15.

389 renews for 3/4 of a year sounds like we where on corse for another 500ish for 2012.

[tubbyG]

£5 inceased annual fee is feck all...... if it helps the club continue then its a go-er imo.

I only use the forum for the excellent advice available and vast information it has stored and that alone is well worth the investment.

And athough I would like to, I dont really see myself attending one of the national days this year or next unfortunatley .... but you never know.

I would also like to read more about the modern renaults ie megane's clio's etc so anything that will encourage more members like them to join will only make for a more interesting forum

[Alex]

How many National Day events have those FB groups hosted?

It's also far easier to read the daily news/topics on this/a forum, than what it is trailing through lines upon lines of everyone's posts on FB.

I quite agree with you although obviously not everybody does - Blunty's R5 Group has over 500 members now, that's about the same as RTOC!

[TNT Tricky Nicky]

Haven't looked around the site for a while as I go straight to the boards, maybe if we could show people who are looking to join the club what members discounts they'll receive once a member, say on the home page, the initial higher charge wouldn't be so bad. After all most people have another car and a Renault turbo which they need parts for, show you can off set the cost of membership against money saved at gtt spares, ecp, gsf ect....

Ie, with my club discount I saved £50 when I spent £200 at .......... Because of the 25% off discount rtoc have negotiated

Then renewal time the £10 is easier to swallow

But like what has been said, the price of everything has gone up so maybe it's time membership did as well

[JRP]

Personally the FB group does not help the club in my eyes. Yes I'm a member and part of the issue, but I'll cough up for Rtoc,

Maybe we should approach the people who run the other sites or FB pages and get advertising, on FB I can't see it being an issue as long as bluntly agree's.

The FB page is the best way to get members into the club.

My 2 pence... Dont hate them use them

[Matt Cole]

Ffs! its like groundhog day on here! I mentioned about looking into different cars in this post other day:

https://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=31494

only to find a thread hi-jack and sarcasm!

Maybe a fresh thread should be started with a list of objectives and dates set in place?

[BluntyR5GTT]

Anyone is free to post any links etc to the fb page i have told big steve this a few times. Iv also made an event for the rtoc national day and pinned it to the top of the page so people can see about it also there are links to rtoc on that post so any non members can find you and hopefully stump up the cash to join up.

On another note the fb page was never set up to be a rival or anything daft like that it was actually set up in 2009 just after i got my 5gtt it for a long time was very quiet then all of a sudden jumped in numbers and posts.

[Mart]

I quite agree with you although obviously not everybody does - Blunty's R5 Group has over 500 members now, that's about the same as RTOC!

Everyone likes a free ride. Simple as.

[Mart]

Good to see you posting back on here, Blunty

[chris]

Chris, read the thread that Mart posted.

Read cheers trev

[Mart]

Maybe a fresh thread should be started with a list of objectives and dates set in place?

Another fresh thread? There's been plenty of threads akin to all this over the years, but it's stalemate, it's status quo, it's same old same

Feel free to start another thread, but no doubt we'll be here in 12 months time having exactly the same discussion

[Ian S]

This simple problem is that other car clubs don't want to be absorbed into this one.

Even though the 21T OC and other clubs like that are now small, they want their own club. So we won't get those cars here.

Seems the Alpine people tend to look down their nose at this club and so we won't get any of that kind of thing here.

New cars are well catered for by bigger clubs with more members and money as no-one in this club bought those new cars as they came out and wrote tuning guides, etc, that people would have come here for.

[clee]

Err is that you generalising again Ian .....
It the clique mentality that pervades all one model car clubs ...this one included .Dont see many RTOC on RAOC either .......
Both Big Steve and I have tried in vain to get cross club relations started but it really needs someone of the likes of Stephen Dell to have the time and energy to do it ...for nothing ...and have a very thick skin

[Matt Cole]

Another fresh thread? There's been plenty of threads akin to all this over the years, but it's stalemate, it's status quo, it's same old same

Feel free to start another thread, but I guarantee we'll be here in 12 months time having exactly the same discussion

Yes Mart, another fresh thread, with the current members and committee members.

At the end of the day, and the way i see it, the members in various threads over time have given the committee plenty of ideas to work with. What we need now is the committee to take these ideas forward and set dates and objectives on when they can be implemented.

[Mart]

New cars are well catered for by bigger clubs with more members and money as no-one in this club bought those new cars as they came out and wrote tuning guides, etc, that people would have come here for.

This.

As much as I feel change is needed, I also feel that we've missed the boat.

However, we have a golden opportunity with the new ClioT that's about to be launched, but if we don't nip that one in the bud from the start, so to speak, it'll soon have its own forum dedicated to that marque. That, or there'll be a relevant section on ClioSport.

[Matt Cole]

Err is that you generalising again Ian .....
It the clique mentality that pervades all one model car clubs ...this one included .Dont see many RTOC on RAOC either .......
Both Big Steve and I have tried in vain to get cross club relations started but it really needs someone of the likes of Stephen Dell to have the time and energy to do it ...for nothing ...and have a very thick skin

Someone needs to camp out in the meganesport forums. No offence to them, but many are clueless and tuner driven!!

[JRP]

This.

As much as I feel change is needed, I also feel that we've missed the boat.

However, we have a golden opportunity with the new ClioT that's about to be launched, but if we don't nip that one in the bud from the start, so to speak, it'll soon have its own forum dedicated to that marque. That, or there'll be a relevant section on ClioSport.

How mart? Great thought but unless you get a flyer for Rtoc to every body that buys a Clio t,
It's going to be hard to get the word out.

[Mart]

Yes Mart, another fresh thread, with the current members and committee members.

At the end of the day, and the way i see it, the members in various threads over time have given the committee plenty of ideas to work with. What we need now is the committee to take these ideas forward and set dates and objectives on when they can be implemented.

Matt, I totally agree with ya. That's been the point of my thread(s) over the years, not to p1ss off people/the Committee, as they always seem to think that's my motive but simply for rtoc'ers to flag up fresh ideas/changes, and the Committee to at least chew them over/give them a go if deemed worthy.

I can only think of one scenario where that's happened - Changing ND venue from that of quarter-mile racing to track driving.

[Ian S]

Err is that you generalising again Ian

Yes, but in general, that's how it is.

There are a few exceptions, namely yourself, Andy Bond, who are here as well.

But to grow the RTOC it needs more that 50 other cars from the 1980's.

The Twingo Turbo idea that committee had, to buy and tune one, fell flat, as it looks like, did the Twingo Turbo.

The Clio turbo, I didn't know there was one. People who are in touch with modern cars need to be involved with this. Leaving it to the committee as it is, isn't going to do it.

[clee]

Someone needs to camp out in the meganesport forums. No offence to them, but many are clueless and tuner driven!!

Go on then ,you got a tent

[clee]

Anyway this is all going off topic ( as expected )
We putting the fees up or what ?
I think it's a resounding ' yes ,that's OK ,as the club needs our support to enable it to continue to offer the great services and plenty cheap offers it has always done '