RV clubs and saving money

[luvmydogs]

Well as we get ready to take off for the road soon, I'm torm on what memberships to buy that would actually save money. Last year I have to say I joined KOA to save money on there parks but found consistantly that the KOA's were much more than anything else, therefore joining was money down the tubes. We did have Good Sams and I think it saved money, but sceptical now. So I ask all you RV'ers, if I want to save money on nightly rates which club or clubs are worth the bang for your buck?

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

luvmydogs wrote:
Sorry to say, well not sorry really, we are not 60 something yet.

The America the Beautiful Pass is $80. It is a day use pass, but it won't take more than four or five visits to popular US national parks before your savings on park entrance fees will pay for that pass.

[tpi]

I have KOA, Passport America, AAA, and the America the Beautiful senior pass. I've used them all extensively.

1. KOA I'd recommend shopping for the back in water electric site which is usually cheaper than the full hookup site. Skip the keep on adding stuff. I generally enjoy their parks..

2. Passport America is great. There are some nice campgrounds on the list and there are others which are good for overnight. I used it four times in the last couple of weeks. Just look over campground list in advance with the "notes" and see if anything is useful to the tune of more than $50 per year.

3. Best of all is the US geezer pass.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

FWIW luvmydogs, we are just extended timers right now and have been for many years. At this juncture we have not purchased any passes other than a Washington Pass that saved us considerably last Sept, and the America the Beautiful Pass (we are in our fifties and Canadian). FWIW, as we start FTing, we don't intend to purchase any passes until we are maybe in a situation where it might save us more than the cost of a couple of nights at that juncture (ie; Passport America). We will for sure join Escapees as we feel we want to support that overall membership for how much it's done for us and other RVers over the years anyway and at less than $40 = why not? We likely will try to use at least one of their parks, and the Days End Directory for us will likely be most useful.

We Boondock/dry camp extensively by choice, and our first go to resource is www.freecampsites.net. When we eventually get to New Mexico we for sure will plan around being able to take the maximum advantage we can of the State pass at $225 to enjoy that state.

When we drove from southern Alberta up through to Yukon, NWT and Alaska, coming back down through BC towards just south of Calgary, we found plenty of options for boon docking and some $10/night areas watching Stellar Seals & Otters tossing salmon at 2am and 3am in the morning through our windscreen. As well easy walks from these for hubby to get his salmon fishing (think snagging here!) and bear fix!

Everyone has a different way of RVing, comfort levels and to each their own, but this is what works for us being quite free spirits in our travels, and hopefully something here might be of use to you.

We decided against joining any of the more expensive bigger memberships until we are actually out there FT, due to tying ourselves to just those parks which we might not like to use = think having an annual skiing pass most years living an hour from Banff forced us to ski more than we might have to get our monies worth, so lesson learned on buying term memberships/passes. Also have read of so very many folks that ordered several to start with and eventually 3 or 4 years later are down to maybe one or two.

Enjoy your trip and Happy Travels.

[luvmydogs]

Thanks for the info Gypsie. We wont be in NM long enough to save on that deal, but nice to know for the future. On the Yukon, we've been there, but we flew to Alaska and rented an rv, we never drove from US/Canada yet. I totally agree, its gorgeous.

[2gypsies1]

It depends how much time you'll be spending in New Mexico but they offer a 12-month camping pass for non-resident for $225 - any state park. It's an awesome deal if you spend a chunk of time in New Mexico.

http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/SPD/FeesPermits.html

Also....I hope you'll re-consider and take your trip to the Yukon. It really is not 'no man's land'. Many, many people go there. You'll find all facilities there that you'll find in the lower 48. 🙂 It's beautiful country.

[luvmydogs]

Thank you all for the info. Sorry to say, well not sorry really, we are not 60 something yet. Soon, but not this year. We joing the national parks but that saves on getting into national parks not sure it saves on camping as we found last year alot more people are camping now. Used to be we could just drive til we wanted to stop and pull in to a park, not so in 2015. Places are full anymore. As I said, KOA's although we had the club card were more expensive than any others so I dont think we even used our moneys worth. We were Good Sams and its only 25 for the year. Passport and Escapees I'll have to check out. We dont usually stay for a week or weeks. We will be in the west this year. From New Mexico and headed up to Banff and Jasper. Now thinking about headed to the Yukon, but being out in no mans land always makes me a little tense. Either way, last year finding a place to stay was hard enough without worrying about price. This year I'm worried about both. 🙂

[Dutch_12078]

As said, it depends on your style of RV'ing. As very long termers, we have Passport America, Escapees, Good Sam, and KOA memberships, and all of them more than pay for themselves each year. With our Escapees membership, for instance, we stayed for five weeks in a club owned park in central FL from late January to early March for an average daily rate of $14.50 for a full hookup site that was spacious, shaded, and next to a small pond. Last week we spent four days at a nice KOA in southern GA just over the FL line at no cost, just using our accumulated points from other KOA stays. Check the requirements and and discounts for each card membership, and if it appears to fit your RV'ing style, go for it. If it doesn't work after a year, drop it.

[valhalla360]

Passport America works great if you are traveling a lot.

If you are just going to the same 2-3 campgrounds on weekends, it may not provide much benefit.

There are restrictions but usually easy to get a few days and it doesn't take much to have it pay for itself.

If you will be staying more than a week, check for long term prices as weekly or monthly rates are often drastically cheaper than daily rates.

[bbaker2001]

wow, I was close to PA, but I just checked for Ca and Oregon.
so many restrictions, JULY --AUGUST out
some say must call 1 week in advanced and say you are PA, easier to say None available

[sdianel_-acct_c]

1. America the Beautiful pass for seniors or disabled. Campgrounds found on www.recreation.gov
2. Passport America - half price (with lots of restrictions but iwth planning well worth it)
3. Good Sam
4. KOA
The reason we keep the KOA card is that sometimes a KOA is the only good option in a particular area and the other reason is that you earn points for discount coupons on future camping.
We don't keep any card that doesn't pay for itself in one year.

[donkeydew]

all of them have merit but only if you use them.

[2gypsies1]

We used public parks the majority of time but if we need a hookup we used our Passport America. Two nights will pay for the yearly membership. We didn't find it inconvenient at all to go by their restrictions. We also found that if the park wasn't busy they let us stay additional time using the discount.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

luvmydogs wrote:
I'm torm on what memberships to buy that would actually save money. Last year I have to say I joined KOA to save money on there parks but found consistantly that the KOA's were much more than anything else, therefore joining was money down the tubes. We did have Good Sams and I think it saved money, but sceptical now. So I ask all you RV'ers, if I want to save money on nightly rates which club or clubs are worth the bang for your buck?

We don't know enough about how your travel, what your campground requirements are to give you solid advice. We have:

1) Good Sam Membership - almost never use it for campgrounds. It is because we get the GS price at Camping World, and we very much enjoy being part of a GS group, attending state rallies. We were at the state rallies in Maine, New Hampshire & Georgia last year. We will be at Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas in the next month.

2) Passport America - we stay at PA parks only two or three times a year. Maybe 10-15 nights at most. That pays for the membership.

3) Escapees - we belong mainly for the mail service for full-timers. But we often find a park which has a 10% Good Sam discount will have a 15% Escapees discount - and not accept Passport America.

4) We are over age 62 and have the Federal Senior Pass. Since we really like the look/ feel of COE and other federal campgrounds vice the RV park feel of most commercial campgrounds - that works for us. Of course - relatively few of those CG have sewer connections, and some will not have water at the campsite. Had to string together 125 feet of water hose to refill the TT freshwater tank at a Pennsylvania CG last October.

We bought KOA one year, but plans changed and we never stayed at a KOA park.

There are also membership camping programs. If you are going to stay mainly in one area/ region - those might work for you.

In 2015 we spent 186 nights in paid campgrounds, 179 nights as volunteers. Of those 186 nights our average cost was $19.95 per night.

We spent:
58 nights in parks where the Senior Pass gave us 1/2 price camping - avg cost $14.94 per night;
55 nights in military base campgrounds (retired Navy) avg $22.47 per night;
13 nights at State/ City/ County Parks - avg $36.60 per night (Fort Lauderdale was expensive);
8 nights in Passport America parks - avg $21.35;
8 nights camping with Good Sam chapters - avg $24.00 per night;
3 nights in an Escapees' owned park - $23.98 per night;
9 nights at State Rallies - $20.78 per night;
32 nights in commercial campgrounds with no discounts - avg $16.13 per night - however that is misleading because one month of that - 29 nights - was at a monthly rate of $450.00.

Our 2014 average of $41.88 per night for commercial campgrounds was more realistic.

garmp1 wrote:

RRinNFla wrote:
If you are over 62, you should get the Park Service All Access pass which gives you 50% on NPS and COE campsites. It is $10 for life.

I believe this should be the America the Beautiful pass which is the best deal going. Oh yeah, FREE to vets.

Note there are two separate types of passes.

The Annual Pass; the Military Annual Pass; the Fourth Grade Annual Pass and the Volunteer Pass are for DAY USE and ENTRANCE Fees only. They do not include any camping discounts.

The only two camping discounts are for the Senior Pass (age 62 and older) and Access Pass for permanently disabled persons. Both of those are only available to US citizens or permanent residents.

[garmp]

RRinNFla wrote:
If you are over 62, you should get the Park Service All Access pass which gives you 50% on NPS and COE campsites. It is $10 for life.

I believe this should be the America the Beautiful pass which is the best deal going. Oh yeah, FREE to vets.