RVDA’s Larry Trout: From Pickup Toppers to Topper’s RVs – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column by Larry Trout III, board chairman of the RV Dealers Association (RVDA), was originally published in the December issue of RV Executive Today. It is reposted here with permission.
It was a great experience seeing so many dealers and industry folks at the convention last month where I had the honor of being elected your RVDA Chairman of the Board. Further into this issue of RV Executive Today (see page 10), there’s a Q&A where I talk about some industry issues, but for this first column I thought I would introduce myself to those of you who I haven’t had the opportunity to meet yet.
Our family’s dealership is getting close to 60 years in business. Just like Ryan Horsey at Parkview RV Center who served before me, we are in our third generation of ownership and located in Waller, Texas, just west of Houston.
My grandpa started Topper’s Sales in 1967 by selling camper shells – or toppers – that you put on the bed of your pickup truck. He quickly began selling travel trailers and then pop-up trailers came along.
My dad, Larry Troutt, had two careers before getting involved with Topper’s. He was journalist at the Houston Post, and after that he worked as the spokesman for the chief of police at the Houston police department. When he got bored with that, he decided a real challenge was what he needed, and came over to Topper’s in the early 1980s. It wasn’t long before he bought my grandfather and his partner out and solely owned Topper’s. My dad is a past James B. Summers Award winner and former chairman of RVDA as well. My mother, Janis, had a financial career before being the controller at Topper’s. She worked with John Hancock as a stockbroker, but didn’t relocate after the company moved to Boston. Now being married and having kids I’m beginning to understand what it took to not only run a great dealership but come home and be two great role models for me and my sister.
I’ve always been hanging around the dealership. My story is probably familiar to a lot of you. I started by cleaning units.
Jumping roof to roof. OSHA would like to hear that, I’m sure! Then I got my chance to drive the forklift which we still have at the dealership! Then I worked the service desk, the parts desk, sales management and then GM.
Through all these years, I’ve been attending the RVDA Convention since my dad was chairman, and it’s had a big impact on my career. Without the convention I wouldn’t be in the 20 group I am in today. Most of those folks are still great friends and remain 20 group members with me to this day. Those rela- tionships all started in Las Vegas.
As we head into 2025, the Board of Directors and staff are working on a number of projects to set dealers up for success in the coming year. We are excited to roll out the new dealer member hotline this month to provide help and offer solutions in an increasingly complicated business environment (see page 25).
The RV Learning Center is working to complete its fifth online course for service managers that will provide members with a suite of fixed operations training for both new hires and those moving up the career ladder. And RVDA will continue to play a leadership role with our industry partners to improve customer service through the Repair Event Cycle Time initiative.
I look forward to the coming year… and working for you as RVDA Chairman of the Board.
