Which Club or No Club?

[lakebum]

So never been a member of any travel clubs, like Good Sam Club, Family Motor Coach Association, AAA, etc.

Not sure if I need to be a member or not. I always remember my Dad having the FMCA plaque on his MH, which is almost reason enough for me to join that group, but got me to thinking which is the best one to join.

We basically are just weekend warriors and don't travel too far from home, but been browsing over each site and can't really tell if any of them are worth it or not and then which one...

[gonesouth]

I did belong to FMCA and their Beaver club, plus I currently belong to CAA.I used FMCA for the magazine, which I liked and The Beaver Club were fantastically helpful on maintenance stuff. Plus, they had a Michelin discount that saved me about $1000 IIRC on a set of new shoes for the Beaver. Now that it's gone, the FMCA /CoachNet deal isn't any use, CAA does the tow thing for us when we're in the car.

[mowermech]

I was a GoodSam member for a while many years ago. Then I realized that every time I wanted to stop, there was no GS park nearby. I know of one here, and one in Great Falls. I don't patronize either place. I allowed it to expire.
I joined KOA for our trip to Ringgold, GA and back. the discounts more than paid for the membership. Again, there is one here, and one in Great Falls. I don't patronize either place. That membership has also lapsed.
The bottom line is, IF you can or will use the benefits, join a club. If you will not use the benefits enough to get your membership back, IMO don't bother to join, it is a waste of money.

Note: When in Great Falls, we normally stay in the AFB FamCamp. The rest of the time we are in Forest Service campgrounds.

[eadeal55]

We have FMCA, Good Sam's, and FCRV (since DW's Sister and Brother both have 5th wheels)

We enjoy the monthly rallies with our FMCA club, the annual Eastern Area rallies and occasional National rally, if it is east of the Mississippi.

FMCA has some great benefits included in the $40 per year cost, and still has a magazine.

Good Sam's is great for the campground discount, and we got a lifetime membership back a few years ago when they were offering a deal for Veterans.

FCRV in our area is just about defunct. We keep it up so we can join an occasional rally that my in laws go to...

[jplante4]

IMHO, even with the FMCA discount, Michelin tires are overpriced and should not be the only reason to join.

[RayChez]

We belong to FMCA, Leisure Times, Naco, TT, RPI, Passport America. Only attended two FMCA rallies. I do use Naco, LT, TT and RPI. Never did like Passport America, but I have it anyways.

[RLHAMILTON]

We belong to Good Sam, FMCA, and Passport America. It all depends upon what you want out of them. We save more with Good Sam campgrounds, and learn more from the seminars at FMCA rallies. GS rallies were great, but they have ceased the national rallies. Passport America saves you more on campgrounds, but harder to find where we travel. Good luck!

[lakebum]

RLS7201 wrote:
As a sibling, you may re-acquire you dad's old FMCA number with an additional "S" on the placard, indicating you are the son of the original owner. Keeps it in the family.

Richard

I would love to do that, will have to check into that. My Dad brought us up camping from the time I can remember unit he passed away a couple of years ago. We camped and traveled everywhere together. He sold his motorhome when he got sick, the placard may still be on it. I will check with the current owner.

Thanks for the info.

[RLS7201]

As a sibling, you may re-acquire you dad's old FMCA number with an additional "S" on the placard, indicating you are the son of the original owner. Keeps it in the family.

Richard

[malexander]

I just recently joined FMCA, only for the Michelin tire program, since I needed 6 new tires on my coach. I too found the magazine a joke. All it is is ads.

I also joined the Fleetwood Motorhome Assn too. We'll see how that goes.

We signed up for the lifetime membership with Good Sam SEVERAL years ago. I'm betting since then, we've probably saved that much at campgrounds over the years. I do sort of miss the magazine though. It seemed to have had some pretty good articles in it.

[lakebum]

Bob & Ann wrote:
Ken
I notice that your coach is around 7 years old which means your tires are between 7&8 years old. If you are close to buying new tires FMCA has a great Michelin Tire discount program. This program saved us about $550 over the best deal that I could work on my own. That was on an Allegro Bay. That kind of savings pays for many years of FMCA membership.

Thanks for the tip, however has brand new shoes all the way around. Previous owner and friend of mine but new ones on before he went on his last 5k miles cross country trip, so hopefully we should be good for a little while.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

Memberships can seem very tempting at the front end but .......

As 2gypsies says, it really depends how you travel, how often and realistically what use you will get out of any membership. We've read over the years of many at the front end getting into all sorts of memberships and then dropping them down even as FTers to maybe a couple or three. Probably best to see how you travel and then as and when join where it would maybe benefit you. We've found America the Beautiful Pass at $80 when visiting more than 4 National Parks last year (bought upon entering Glacier the first park) beneficial as well as a state pass (Washington/New Mexico) if staying in the area utilizing related items has saved us some bucks. Otherwise we generally play it by ear, pay as we go being avid dry campers/boondockers primarily by choice.

For us it will be Escapees and Passport America even as Fullimers and for towing we have for many years belonged to CAA (AAA USA equivalent), that's always worked well for us utilizing about a half dozen times in the first couple of years and once again 3 years ago with no problems at around C$170/year this renewal which also covers any other vehicle hubby is in should it break down.

That's our two cents FWIW, but YMMV.

[2gypsies1]

Since your style of RVing is just weekends and not far from home, I don't think you need to join any kind of club. However, if your 62+ and enjoy national parks, national forests or Corp of Engineers, definitely get your Senior Pass for 1/2 off on camping.

If you mainly do RV parks, Good Sam might work for you. Passport America is much better but many parks have limitations on weekends. We used it a lot but were flexible and could use it during the prime times. We didn't do KOAs - too expensive.

We tried FMCA but found we really got nothing out of it. Their campground discounts are the same as Good Sam. Their magazine is a joke - very few good articles. We got our Michilin motorhome tires cheaper by shopping around and ended up in Oregon - no sales tax.

We also belonged to Escapees RV Club which was our top choice. The magazine was packed with articles written by RVers and very little advertising.

It just depends on how you RV.

[olfarmer]

We have belonged to GS for several years. The discount is OK but the towing insurance has paid for it's self several times over as we had to get towed 2 times on the same trip for the same problem!:E I won't leave home without towing insurance. MH had less than 20K miles on it when the fuel pump went out. They towed us 70 miles and RV place miss diagnosed the problem, 2 days later it happened again and they towed us again to a Chevy dealership who fixed the problem. No problems since but will not take a chance on no insurance!:B

[dons2346]

FMCA is not a "club". It is an association made up of numerous clubs. These clubs could have a common interest such as a certain brand coach, off roading, fishing, ham radio, etc. If yo belong to one of the clubs, FMCA provides an insurance binder for that clubs activities which some campgrounds require for large groups.

In addition to the tire program (which I have used and saved in the order of $500) there is FMCAssist. This is an emergency assist program that has many benefits at no cost to the member other than the yearly dues. These are the highlights of the program:
Highlights of FMCAssist include:

emergency evacuation/repatriation
emergency medical reunion
return of mortal remains
return of dependents
RV/vehicle return (limited to North America)
pet return.