The UMA Maintenance Interchange is now in its twenty-fifth year at the UMA Motorcoach EXPO. This valuable session allows motorcoach owners, operators, and maintenance professionals to come together in an open forum to discuss the maintenance problems they have faced and to exchange solutions and ideas. The Maintenance Interchange is designed to focus on common issues faced by today’s maintenance professionals.

Part of the interchange is the Maintenance Competition where the industry’s best test their technical knowledge and skills against the clock.  The competition is composed of a written exam and hands-on motorcoach inspections, both designed to be difficult and to require detailed knowledge of maintenance issues and safety regulations.

We are proud to announce that for the third time in five years, Darren Haines has won the competition.  Haines admits he was a little surprised he won first place this year because the written test was “really tough” this year.  “I think it’s the toughest one I’ve ever had. I didn’t think I did very well on that. But on the part where you find any defects on the bus, I did pretty good,” said Haines.

Darren is always ready to learn something new.  That’s what brings him back to the UMA Motorcoach EXPO every year to take part in the UMA Maintenance Interchange and the competition. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years, but of course, I don’t know it all. When you’re in a room where there are a thousand years of experience, you’ve got somebody that’s got 300 coaches compared to us, where we’ve only got six. They’ve had a lot more experience on that particular coach than I’ve had,” said Haines.

This year’s first runner-up was Juan Velasquez, of Windstar Lines in Carroll, Iowa; and the second runner-up was Dave Meyerhofer, with Kobussen Trailways in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. Like Haines, Meyerhofer has won the competition three times.