A new owner pulls into a campsite at 8pm. The fridge will not light on gas and the water pump keeps cycling. Your yard closed three hours ago. The answer is in the handover pack they left at home.

That is the real support load at a caravan, motorhome or RV dealership. Owners on the road, asking how the thing you sold them works.

This page compares the options NZ and Australian dealers have for those calls, with prices as of September 2026. We build Help Genie, so weigh our entry accordingly.

What caravan and RV owners actually ring about

Australia had about 937,000 registered RVs in 2025, including more than 817,000 towables, according to the Caravan Industry Association of Australia. Each came with gas, 12V and water systems, and a manual most owners open only when something stops.

The calls fall into a few buckets.

• Handover and first trips. Switching the fridge between 240V, 12V and gas. Finding the pump switch. Levelling the van.
• 12V, solar and lithium. Flat batteries after storage, isolators and solar capacity.
• Water and gas. Draining the hot water service, sanitising tanks, and why an imported appliance behaves oddly. In New Zealand, LPG is a propane and butane mix, and the NZMCA warns that propane-only imported appliances can have safety consequences.
• Towing weights and licences. “Can my ute tow this one?” is the most common pre-sale question and a frequent post-sale one.
• Compliance. WoF, CoF, electrical warrants, gas certificates and self-containment.
• Warranty and service. First service timing, warranty terms and booking in.

The rules owners ask about in New Zealand

In New Zealand, a light trailer (up to 3500kg loaded) needs registration and a WoF, per NZTA. A motorhome with a GVM over 3500kg is a heavy vehicle and needs a certificate of fitness, per NZTA. A Class 1 licence covers combinations up to 6000kg, according to NZTA licence classes. The maximum open road speed when towing is 90 km/h, per the NZTA towing guidance.

Trailers over 2000kg laden need brakes, and breakaway brakes apply in the 2500kg to 3500kg band, as summarised by Trailer Sauce.

Self-containment is the big one. Since 7 June 2026, only the green warrant counts. Blue warrants no longer support freedom camping, whatever date is printed on them, according to the NZMCA and MBIE. A green warrant needs a fixed toilet and fresh and waste water capacity of at least 12 litres per person, and lasts up to four years.

An electrical warrant of fitness for the 230V system is valid for four years, and gasfitting in an RV with sleeping quarters is treated as high risk work needing certification, per WorkSafe NZ.

The rules owners ask about in Australia

Towing rules are set state by state, per the Guide to Towing in Australia. Braking follows the national design rules. No brakes are needed up to 750kg GTM. From 751kg to 2000kg, at least one axle needs brakes. Over 2000kg, every wheel needs brakes plus a breakaway system, per the same guide.

None of these rules are hard. They are just asked constantly.

What a genie answers from your owner’s manual

A genie answers from the documents you give it, such as handover packs, appliance manuals, spec sheets and your service policy. These examples show the shape of the answers. The wording comes from your own manuals.

1. “The fridge works on 240 but won’t light on gas.” Walks the owner through the checks in your fridge manual, such as cylinder open, isolation valve on and 12V present for the igniter. It tells them to stop and call the service team if it still fails.
2. “My lithium battery reads zero after three weeks in the shed.” Explains the isolator and battery cut-out from your 12V manual.
3. “The water pump keeps running at night.” Lists the usual causes in your plumbing guide, such as an open tap, a low tank or a leak at a fitting, and when to book it in.
4. “How do I drain the hot water before winter?” Gives the drain steps for the water heater fitted to that model.
5. “Can a 3000kg rated ute tow the 21-foot tandem?” Quotes the ATM and ball weight from your spec sheet, reminds the caller to check their vehicle’s own ratings, and passes the lead to sales with the details.
6. “Is this van certified self-contained?” Answers from the stock sheet, including toilet type and tank sizes, and explains that only green warrants count now in New Zealand.
7. “When is the first service due, and does missing it affect warranty?” Gives the interval from your service schedule and warranty terms, then captures a service request for your workshop.

A genie answers the how-to question on the spot. Anything needing a technician, a price or a judgement call goes to your team with the context written down. You can send us your manual and we will build a genie on it, or ring the demo line on +64 9 886 4856 and ask it something.

The support options a caravan dealer has

1. Help Genie (our product, disclosure)

Help Genie builds one genie trained on your website, manuals, spec sheets and service policy. It answers by voice and chat on your phone line, website, email and a QR code inside every van. It is a first layer of product support, and hands the rest to your team with the conversation attached.

Best for: Dealers whose after-hours calls are product questions from owners, not only new leads.

Honest trade-off: It is voice AI, with no human answering team. It does not book into your workshop diary or DMS out of the box. It emails the request to your team.

Pricing: Free plan to build and test. Pro is $299 a month flat and includes the phone number, chat, web, QR and email from one knowledge base. No per-call or per-minute meter. Prices are NZD and the same figures in AUD. See pricing.

Where it wins: Real answers from your manuals at 9pm on a Sunday.

Where it falls short: An angry owner with a leaking roof still wants a human.

2. Voicemail or the owner’s mobile

The yard phone diverts to voicemail after hours, or to the dealer principal’s mobile.

Best for: A small yard with a handful of owners and someone willing to answer at dinner time.

Honest trade-off: Owners on the road rarely leave a useful message. The person who does answer is usually not the one who knows the fridge.

Pricing: Free, apart from the owner’s evenings.

Where it falls short: It does not scale, and a missed call about gas is a poor look. See Help Genie vs voicemail.

3. Live answering services (ReceptionHQ, CallCare)

A team of human receptionists answers under your business name and takes a message.

CallCare answers from Blenheim, 24 hours a day, with a 7-day free trial and month-to-month plans. Plan prices are not published. A 0800 number is NZ$50 a month plus GST, per its pricing page.

ReceptionHQ serves Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US, with an overnight team in Australia. Its published pricing is in US dollars, from US$25 a month, with overage of US$1.99 per call on the message-taking plan, per its pricing page.

Best for: Dealers who want a human voice and mainly need messages taken.

Honest trade-off: Receptionists do not know your van models. “Why won’t my fridge light?” becomes a message for tomorrow.

Pricing: Per call or per plan. CallCare not published, ReceptionHQ from US$25 a month plus per-call overage.

Where it wins: A real person for an upset caller.

Where it falls short: Message-taking, not answers, and cost climbs with call volume. See Help Genie vs answering services.

4. General AI call answering (Sophiie, Johnni)

Australian voice AI for inbound calls, built mainly for tradies.

Johnni publishes plans from A$44 a month for 60 minutes up to A$809 a month for 1,500 minutes, excluding GST, with per-minute overage from A$0.35 to A$0.50. It connects to ServiceM8, Simpro, ServiceTitan, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho and Google Calendar, per its home page. SMS notifications are an extra A$50 a month.

Sophiie does not publish prices. Third-party reviews report around A$300 a month plus a setup fee of about A$400, not confirmed by the vendor, per ServiceScale. The review says it suits teams of one to five.

Best for: Dealers whose calls are mostly bookings into a job tool these products connect to.

Honest trade-off: Built for booking jobs, not explaining a hot water system. Minute meters make long troubleshooting calls costly.

Pricing: Johnni A$44 to A$809 a month plus GST and overage. Sophiie not published.

Where it wins: Direct calendar and job-software booking, which Help Genie does not claim.

Where it falls short: Set up for trades, not RV product support.

5. Your DMS or dealer CRM (EasyCars, Ultimate)

Dealers run on systems such as EasyCars and Ultimate for stock, listings, finance, workshop and accounting. Neither publishes pricing.

Best for: Running the dealership. You need one regardless.

Honest trade-off: A DMS stores the records. It does not pick up the phone or explain the 12V system to an owner in the dark.

Pricing: Quote only.

Where it falls short: No owner-facing answers.

Side-by-side comparison

Option	Pricing as of Sep 2026	Answers product questions	After hours	Channels	Human option
Help Genie	Free plan, Pro $299 a month flat	Yes, from your manuals	Yes	Phone, web, chat, email, QR	Escalates to your team
Voicemail or mobile	Free	Only if the right person answers	Rarely	Phone	You
CallCare	Not published	No, takes messages	24 hours	Phone	Yes
ReceptionHQ	From US$25 a month plus per call	No, takes messages	Yes	Phone	Yes
Johnni	A$44 to A$809 a month plus GST	From loaded FAQs	Yes	Phone, web chat	No
Sophiie	Not published, around A$300 reported	From loaded FAQs	Yes	Phone	No
DMS or dealer CRM	Quote only	No	No	None to owners	Your staff

Best option by scenario

Lots of owners on the road asking how things work. A genie trained on your manuals, with a QR code in every van.

You mainly want a human voice taking messages. CallCare or ReceptionHQ.

Most calls are service bookings and you run ServiceM8 or Simpro. Johnni or Sophiie are worth a trial.

You sell rentals or a hire fleet as well. A genie behind a QR code in each vehicle answers renters’ setup and operating questions from your manuals, on the road.

FAQ

Can a genie tell an owner whether their vehicle can tow a caravan? It quotes the caravan’s ATM and ball weight from your spec sheet and explains the braking rules. It always tells the caller to confirm their own vehicle’s rating.

Does it know the NZ self-containment rules? It knows what you give it. Load your stock sheets and a short note on green warrants, and it can say which vans hold one and what the rules require.

Will it book service jobs into our workshop system? Not out of the box. It captures the model, fault and contact details and emails the request to your team. Deeper write-back into a DMS is scoped per deal.

What about warranty claims? A genie explains your warranty terms. In New Zealand, the Consumer Guarantees Act means a dealer cannot send the customer off to the manufacturer, per Consumer Protection NZ, so claims should reach a person quickly.

How long does setup take? Under an hour from your website, with no developer. Hear it work first if you want to judge the voice.

The bottom line

Caravan and RV dealers carry a heavy owner support load. Gas, 12V, water, towing and self-containment, asked from miles away.

Voicemail and live answering services take a message. General AI call answering books jobs well. A genie trained on your own manuals is the option that answers the question itself. If you also sell boats, see the marine dealer version of this page, or browse the automotive hub.

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