jcherokee94

is there anything you have to do to make one?? me and a few of my buddys wanted to make an offroad club but we dont know if there is any regulations or anything. thanks everyone

Nater

REWSTER

me and my friends once started a "car club" and it didn't go to well, we made up our own rules and a list of stuff that you "had to have" so that kinda drove a couple of good friends apart. so if your going to start a club make sure you stay buddy's and don't get down each others throat on little things. thats just my .02 cents though im not saying don't do it just i wish i wouldn't have.

jcherokee94

thanks for the advice man, yeah i know how that can be and we dont disagree on much so its okay. but do i have to let the state or anything like that know about it??? might be a stupid question but i just dont want to get introuble

xj4life2

No you do not have to let any State agency know. You will need to have meetings , come up with by laws ECT ECT. the other options would be to become a chapter of an already established organization. The biggest thing that has aleady been illuded to is you need to be friends to start and be friends when its done being set up. That is the real challenge !!!

Desertfox1023

Depends if you want it to be an official club with by laws and stuff. If it's just a group of guys with a common interest in 4wheeling with a sheet of paper with rules and regulations that aren't legally binging then no.

prerunner1982

Check with other clubs around the country and your state to see what that had to do. If you are going to have club dues there maybe some legal stuff there as far as being a "not for profit organization".

okcjeeper

Yeah definitely check with some other clubs in your state..If you collect dues you will have to chose to be either be a non profit or a for profit organization. Also there are tax issues surrounding member dues as well. So check with other clubs in your state and get info on what all you need to do to cover your ****..

xj4life2

Very true but in most cases/ states there is a $ amount before you have to declare anything . this will vary from state to state. I've been in and started many clubs we NEVER had dues. It causes to many issues ,it was / is all "pay as you go" If you can't afford it many people will do "scholorships" to help out the one who can't.

jcherokee94

thats the thing, its just a group of people that share the same interest, the only thing we will have them pay for is stickers that we might get made up

Desertfox1023

Then no you really don't need state approval, thats kind of like asking for state approval to meet your friends at the mall. But if there is an incident that may occur on a ride, say a roll over and someone finds another member of the club at fault and wants to take legal action against them... Thats is something you should think about. Of course it is a worse case scenario however, it's best to think about some "what if" factors now then find yourself in a position with no answer later.

As for my own experience, I used to be apart of a group of guys till we disbanded due to a lot of us moving away to different places. But we never had any problems with the setup we had. There were no dues and everyone payed there own way. Of course some of us would pay a little extra sometimes to help others. Also we had a no pressure rule. If someone didn't want to take on an obstacle say a hill climb, rock garden, or a different line on the trail we would not discriminate. Are goal was to just have fun and do whatever everyone else was comfortable with doing with there rig. Which was good for me cause I started wheeling my rig when it was bone stock back when we first started the club.

So basically if you know the guys and ya'll all agree on a set of rules and guidelines then great. Or if you feel that you want some club member insurance policy so that if someone in the club gets hurt on a ride and a lawyer tells them they can get big money if they sue. It really comes down to how big you want the club to be and how selective you plan on being with your members.

Our club was great and we never had any major incidents. Just a recommendation that if you want to run it as a group of friends then just make sure you know the people your riding with. Otherwise you could have problems. I'm not trying to discourage anyone cause I love no member ship dues, pay your own way, lend a wrenching hand clubs. Just merely mentioning that there can be problems with them if not thought about especially if your the one who started it.