The RV, marine, and powersports industries waste billions annually because nobody speaks the same data language. Automotive solved this problem forty years ago.
Estimated annual cost of bad data across the RV industry's $159B economic footprint
Fitment errors are the leading cause of aftermarket parts returns
Average fee per third-party integration that dealers pay just to move their own data
Of the average workweek spent searching for and gathering information
Sources: Experian applied to RVIA economic impact data (estimate); Dealertrack; McKinsey Global Institute.
Picture a $300,000 motorhome rolling through its lifecycle. The chassis manufacturer records build specs in one system. The RV manufacturer uses another. The dealer manually enters data into three different platforms. The service department can't access configuration details without phone calls and PDFs. When that unit sells used, all that information vanishes, forcing the next owner to start from zero.
Every step of the way, data is rekeyed, reformatted, or lost entirely because there's no common standard for how to describe vehicles and their components. Service techs waste hours tracking down build specs. Dealers lose sales because they can't verify features. Manufacturers field endless calls just to explain what was built. Parts suppliers see massive return rates from fitment errors. And the customers at the heart of the whole system get a worse ownership experience because of it.
This isn't a technology problem. We have plenty of software. The problem is every company invented their own way to describe the same information. The same floor plan might be "36B5" at the factory, "Appalachia 36ft 5 Series" at the dealer, and "App36B5F" in service records. Same unit, three different descriptions, no way to connect them programmatically. In RV alone, we're burning millions of dollars and thousands of hours a year just trying to understand vehicles we already built.
The U.S. automotive aftermarket generates more than $400 billion a year using ACES and PIES standards. One brake pad manufacturer publishes one file with precise fitment data. Every retailer from Amazon to AutoZone displays identical, accurate information.
How? Forty years ago, automotive manufacturers, dealers, and parts suppliers came together through a neutral industry body to create open data standards. ACES (Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard) defines how vehicles and their components are described. PIES (Product Information Exchange Standard) defines how parts data is structured. Anyone can implement these specifications in their systems. Now accurate, consistent information moves between manufacturers, dealers, and suppliers without anyone rekeying it.
The infrastructure already covers our industries. As of 2023, the Auto Care Association's vehicle database included more than 32,000 RVs, marine propulsion and auxiliary systems, and powersports vehicles back to 1920. The standards work. We're just not using them. Instead, dealers manually type the same VIN into eight different systems. Service bays spend an hour identifying components that should be instant lookups. Parts suppliers process returns that accurate fitment data would eliminate.
To be clear: ACES and PIES solve parts fitment, and they solve it well. What no standard covers is the unit itself: how a specific motorhome, boat, or side-by-side was actually built, optioned, and serviced. That's the gap we're closing.
Not new software. Not another database. An open protocol defining how unit information gets structured and exchanged.
Standardized schemas for complete configurations: base vehicles, factory options, installed components, upfits, modifications, service history.
API specifications letting any system query build data without custom integrations for every connection.
Consistent vocabulary so everyone describes components the same way across all platforms.
When OEMs publish data once in standard format, it flows automatically to dealer inventory systems, service departments, parts catalogs, and marketplaces without manual re-entry. Dealers stop typing the same specs eight times. Service techs get instant configuration lookups. Parts suppliers cut their single biggest source of returns: fitment errors. Customers see accurate, comparable data everywhere.
Automotive proved that coordination beats fragmentation. We're borrowing the playbook and skipping the bureaucracy: working code, an open spec, then a permanent neutral home.
This starts as a pilot, not an association. The first cohort is forming now: companies that recognize the status quo costs more than fixing it.
If you're an OEM: Pilot one product line. Publish its build data once in the draft format, and shape the schemas before they lock.
If you're a dealer: Test reference implementations. Document operational improvements that convince the next hundred dealers.
If you're a software vendor: Build standards compliance into your roadmap. Support one common protocol instead of a custom integration for every partner.
No dues, no bylaws, no committees. Just the work. If you want a say in how these standards get written, now is the time. Email me at john.gough@elementthree.com.
— John Gough, Element Three