Country Wide RV Transport (CWRV), the nation’s second-largest RV and motorhome transportation provider, is shutting down for good, according to information received Oct. 11 by FreightWaves, a news website covering the transportation industry.
RV PRO requests for comment from CWRV went unanswered.
This story by Craig Fuller originally appeared in Freight Waves.
The 540 drivers that currently work for the RV transport company will be out of work effective Nov. 1, according to FreightWaves. The CWRV site says the company is exclusive hauler for RV retail chain Camping World.
CWRV uses independent contractors to transport RVs and motorhomes from the factory and retail stores to consumers that purchased the vehicles. The company’s website says a driver must supply at least a 3/4-ton truck and necessary hitches and towing equipment.
The company recently was the defendant in a civil lawsuit involving a driver who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a husband and wife. The jury awarded the children of the victims $26.6 million in a wrongful death lawsuit in a Denver courtroom just two weeks ago.
According to the Denver Post, the CWRV driver was an independent contractor, but the jury determined that he should be treated as an agent of the company and therefore the company should be liable in the accident. The Post describes the family’s reason for suing was “to make a change in sleepy driving habits and within the trucking industry, including ensuring drivers log hours and companies take responsibility for driver actions while on the job.”’
The accident happened on July 4, 2017 at 2:30 PM, when the CWRV Dodge Ram plowed into the family’s GMC Yukon, according to news reports. The driver for CWRV, Mark Bollinger, pleaded guilty last year to two charges of reckless driving resulting in injury and received a suspended sentence, avoiding jail time.
