Street Machine Association of South Australia

Who Are Street Machine Association of South Australia?

Street Machine Association of South Australia, or SMASA, is an enthusiast car club based in Adelaide, SA. SMASA was founded in 1980 by volunteers to promote the modification, restoration and enjoyment of vehicles in South Australia. 

SMASA is a non-profit organisation that encourages and supports automotive pursuits, social events, and vehicle ownership in South Australia. In 2019, SMASA signed up with Member Jungle to help them manage their club. 

SMASA has successfully lobbied for changes in transport policies and regulations, resulting in a more favourable environment in South Australia for car clubs and all petrolheads.  Some of these changes to the conditional historic, left-hand drive and street rod vehicles classification have included a rolling 25-year cut-off for years of manufacture, legal modifications for vehicles, and reducing red tape to free up club representatives. These changes have helped to grow SMASA’s membership from 400 to over 6000, making it one of the largest car clubs in Australia. 

What Problems Were Street Machine Association of South Australia Trying To Solve?

In 2016 SMASA had 400 members and was managing their club the old-fashioned way with a basic website and the classic pen and paper. However, that didn’t matter. The club was doing great; it had been going strong for over 35 years, and its members loved the club. 

Then, in 2017, after years of lobbying by SMASA, the South Australian State Government passed several changes to laws that made the state a lot friendlier to car enthusiasts and car clubs. These changes included: 

• Rolling 30 year cut-off for year of vehicle manufacture (further reduced to 25 year cut-off in 2022)
• Allowing left-hand drive and right-hand drive modified vehicles to be registered 

These changes were great for SMASA, who soon saw their member numbers shoot through the roof. Greg Cunnigham, the Technology Officer of SMASA, had this to say on their growth, “We grew very, very rapidly after the change (to the law), almost exponentially,”. 

He isn’t exaggerating there. SMASA went from 400 members to over 4,000 in just two years. It was this rapid growth that put them under a lot of pressure. Their systems and volunteers were able to manage when it was only 400 members, but now cracks in the systems were beginning to show. 

Greg had this to say about why SMASA started looking for alternative ways to manage their club, “We used to stand in line for two to three hours every year to get a car registered. People in the rain and people getting quite upset, and that was happening year after year, so there had to be a better way.

“There had to be a better way to do it. Better processes and better uses of technology. We are essentially running a business particularly at this size, as we were growing at such a great rate. So, we needed to have the right people in the right spots at the right time, with everything we do,”. 

So, because they were having increasing trouble managing their ever-growing membership, SMASA started to look for a membership management system to help run their club. 

 

Why Street Machine Association of South Australia Chose Member Jungle

After identifying their problems, SMASA spent a long time searching for a way to address them. They looked into developing their own system and weighed up American and Australian companies before settling on Member Jungle.

Greg said that one of the things that stood out about Member Jungle was the app. Many of the other companies they were weighing up didn’t offer an integrated app like Member Jungle did.  

SMASA eventually settled on Member Jungle, saying that “the key for us is the cost, the functionality, stability and ongoing support and being Australian based.

“Its simplicity is what I really like about Member Jungle. For the level of service Member Jungle provides, dollar for dollar, for the monthly fees you guys charge, I couldn’t get out of bed and do it for that. So, that’s why we moved into Member Jungle and leveraged the system,”.

What Changed After Street Machine Association of South Australia Joined Member Jungle 

In 2019, SMASA decided to join Member Jungle to manage its expansive membership of over 4000 individuals. This change allowed them to properly manage all of their members without the long wait times and the crazy amount of manual work. This change has not only made SMASA’s initial growth sustainable, but it has also allowed it to continue growing as a club. In the years since they joined Member Jungle, their member numbers have grown from over 4,000 to over 6,000. They have also been able to expand the number and type of events they offer and are even in the early stages of buying a property so the club can have a permanent home.  

SMASA has been able to save time and streamline its operations across the board. Specifically, the platform enabled them to easily handle membership renewals, signups, and communication. Greg commented on how user-friendly the Member Jungle system is and that it has been easy for admins and members alike. 

The changes to the South Australian conditional vehicle laws enabled many more young people to get involved. SMASA’s new Member Jungle system and accompanying app made them a more tech-savvy and technologically advanced club than many other car clubs. This enabled them to capture a significant part of the new, younger, more tech-oriented market. 

Another benefit of Member Jungle was its search engine optimisation capabilities. SMASA was able to use this to improve its visibility online and reach a wider audience. This helped further increase membership and establish the club as a prominent presence in the conditional vehicle community of South Australia. 

Final Thoughts

Greg Cunningham, “For any club, particularly when you’re a not-for-profit, to be successful, you have to focus on your volunteers. It’s a small group of people that do the lion’s share of the work. So supporting them, making sure that they’re trained well, they have the right system, the right processes in place, to minimise their effort and make it enjoyable for them at the same time, is critical. One of those ways is having a system with the level of functionality that Member Jungle has.”