RV Parks w/older RV restrictions

[tklohman]

I've just purchased a 1990 Class A Bounder. When I tried to make reservations in a couple of parks (Las Vegas and Flagstaff) I was informed that my RV is too old. I'm sure the owners of the parks have their reasons, but am I going to have this problem across the country?

Is it better to go to national parks and campgrounds?

Sort of confused because I'm old and get confused easy.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[paulcardoza]

If the CG is somewhere I have a strong desire to stay at, I would provide a good quality photo of my RV, showing the condition. I'm guessing that 99% of the time, that will get you in, assuming of course that the RV looks well kept.

While lying may well work, you risk the chance of being challenged at check-in, being outed as a scumbag and having nowhere to stay.... 😉

[mowermech]

Yepper, you merely suggested that I tell a deliberate LIE!
I make no claim of being totally honest at all times, but that is beyond the pale, IMO.
Yes, I would rather go on down the road than LIE about the age of my coach!

[4X4Dodger]

mowermech wrote:

4X4Dodger wrote:

mowermech wrote:
Their property, their rules to make. They don't want my 2002 coach, I don't want to give them my money. That means we are both happy.
I have been lucky, I guess, I have never encountered such an RV park. But then, I only go to places that identify themselves as a "campground" or "RV park". If it says it is a "resort" or "gated community", I figure they aren't my kind of people. I try to stay with the sirloin steak, baked potato, and Budweiser crowd, and avoid the Filet Mignon, caviar, and champagne bunch.

Well, not quite. They are still bound by non discrimination laws and this is the real reason for the age limit. They cannot legally pick and choose individuals for preemptory refusal. This could be construed or actually used to discriminate on the basis of Race, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Disability etc. But what they can do is say...everything over TEN years. This is non-discriminatory and applies to all equally. So instead of considering each vehicle on it's own merits (which opens the door to discrimination towards it's occupants) they have to have a general rule like age of the vehicle.

It seems to me that if your TT or motorhome is somewhat modern looking, just lie to them and tell them its 9 years old. I bet they dont know the difference.

So, telling a LIE is preferable to just going on down the road?
No, sorry, I just can't see it that way!
The park owner made the rule. I will be glad to assist them in enforcing THEIR rule! THEY don't want rigs older than 10 years, that is fine, I will not ask them to break the rule that THEY made! I do not CARE why they made the rule, nor do I care what their criteria is for ignoring the rule. The fact that they have it is all that matters to me. I will happily take my 14 year old coach and 15 year old truck and 10 year old ATVs and my old money elsewhere!

I was only suggesting that in the future you just tell people your rig is newer and avoid the entire issue. I never made a judgement about one or the other. But if you prefer to leave that is certainly your prerogative and I never said you shouldnt do that. I was only trying to give background. It certainly wasnt meant to get you all riled up.

[mowermech]

4X4Dodger wrote:

mowermech wrote:
Their property, their rules to make. They don't want my 2002 coach, I don't want to give them my money. That means we are both happy.
I have been lucky, I guess, I have never encountered such an RV park. But then, I only go to places that identify themselves as a "campground" or "RV park". If it says it is a "resort" or "gated community", I figure they aren't my kind of people. I try to stay with the sirloin steak, baked potato, and Budweiser crowd, and avoid the Filet Mignon, caviar, and champagne bunch.

Well, not quite. They are still bound by non discrimination laws and this is the real reason for the age limit. They cannot legally pick and choose individuals for preemptory refusal. This could be construed or actually used to discriminate on the basis of Race, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Disability etc. But what they can do is say...everything over TEN years. This is non-discriminatory and applies to all equally. So instead of considering each vehicle on it's own merits (which opens the door to discrimination towards it's occupants) they have to have a general rule like age of the vehicle.

It seems to me that if your TT or motorhome is somewhat modern looking, just lie to them and tell them its 9 years old. I bet they dont know the difference.

So, telling a LIE is preferable to just going on down the road?
No, sorry, I just can't see it that way!
The park owner made the rule. I will be glad to assist them in enforcing THEIR rule! THEY don't want rigs older than 10 years, that is fine, I will not ask them to break the rule that THEY made! I do not CARE why they made the rule, nor do I care what their criteria is for ignoring the rule. The fact that they have it is all that matters to me. I will happily take my 14 year old coach and 15 year old truck and 10 year old ATVs and my old money elsewhere!

[4X4Dodger]

mowermech wrote:
Their property, their rules to make. They don't want my 2002 coach, I don't want to give them my money. That means we are both happy.
I have been lucky, I guess, I have never encountered such an RV park. But then, I only go to places that identify themselves as a "campground" or "RV park". If it says it is a "resort" or "gated community", I figure they aren't my kind of people. I try to stay with the sirloin steak, baked potato, and Budweiser crowd, and avoid the Filet Mignon, caviar, and champagne bunch.

Well, not quite. They are still bound by non discrimination laws and this is the real reason for the age limit. They cannot legally pick and choose individuals for preemptory refusal. This could be construed or actually used to discriminate on the basis of Race, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Disability etc. But what they can do is say...everything over TEN years. This is non-discriminatory and applies to all equally. So instead of considering each vehicle on it's own merits (which opens the door to discrimination towards it's occupants) they have to have a general rule like age of the vehicle.

It seems to me that if your TT or motorhome is somewhat modern looking, just lie to them and tell them its 9 years old. I bet they dont know the difference.

[OlderRVjim]

Ellen Tyson, It has been over a year. Is there an option now on the Campground search page to choose parks that will accept older RVs? I see a box with age restrictions, but it does not seem to be related to this topic. Please let me know what the Club has added to the search so we can tell which campgrounds accept all campers. Thank you.

Jim

[mgirardo]

We don't have an older RV, but I have seen the older RV restriction posted on some campground web sites. One time we asked one of those campgrounds about it. We were told that they have had people bring in their older RVs and then abandon them at the campground. So they no longer allow older RVs.

When we bought our first RV (while living in NJ), a 9 year old Jayco pop-up, we kept it at the house during the camping season and kept it in storage at a local campground during the winter. Their storage lot was half full of old RVs that had been abandoned by previous customers.

-Michael

[Just4fun63]

I just went through this today! The area of Ca I need to go to has few RV parks, all of them has some sort of the 10 year rule. I picked the highest rated one and called....couldn't let me in without mgt. approval. Texted a picture of my RV to the mgr, they called me back in 20 min and said see you tomorrow ! This is the highest rated park in the area, a "resort" and I got in.
Still it bothered me...........I own my RV and my cars and my toad and my.........they are all older, no payments. I felt I was being punished for being smart with my money.
I can see why the rule is there but it still hurt a bit as I waited to be "approved"
Financially I could have a new class A DP if I wanted, it's not right for me right now. The staff on the phone was very polite about the situation.

Ellen Tyson, it would be nice to have that search ability so I could not worry about parks without the rule and know to "call ahead" to those that do.

[BigDaddyHfx]

I've rejected plenty of campgrounds based on reviews or personal knowledge. I'm fine with that. Now if I rejected them based on the age of the campground alone that would be crazy. Age would not tell me what the facilities were like, management's attitudes towards guests or what activities they would allow that would disturb my peace and quiet. A blanket rule makes little sense but I'm free to reject them as well.

[kakampers]

Winged One wrote:
Some have a lot more restrictions than just 10 years:

Resort Regulations
?RV’s must be RVIA approved & a minimum of 28'
?RV’s must be 10 years or newer or pre-approved
?Vans, pop-ups, truck campers, travel trailers and Class B’s are prohibited


Linky

This is not uncommon in private RV based communities.

We own a lot in one in South Texas. Our HOA thought long and hard on what restrictions we needed to keep our community the beautiful place that it is. We went a little different direction though...these covenants apply to both lot owners and renters.

Ours are..

Vehicle must be a minimum of 24' (which may include most class B's)
Vehicle can have no canvas
Truck Campers, Pop-ups or Park models are not allowed
Vehicle must pass a visual inspection (age is not a factor only the condition of the vehicle}
Vehicle must be kept in a regularly maintained and clean condition (also the lot it sits on)
Vehicle must remain fully mobile at all times, cannot have skirting or hard plumbing, and cannot be set on blocks.

[thestoloffs]

Ellen, we'd also appreciate a "Class A only" indication, for those of us not in big rigs.

[OlderRVjim]

ETyson wrote:

OlderRVjim wrote:
Maybe there are those who would not want to camp near my rig because of it's looks and that is fine. Those people could benefit if they use the Good Sam campground search and it had a option to find the campgrounds who use this rule as a excuse. So having a search selection for age restriction would benefit all. That way, if one wanted to search the Good Sam discount parks or any other parks Good Sam knows about in a area, one could use the option and know about this restriction in advance. A person with a older RV would not waste time going into the park office and being told they can not stay. Part of the camping fun for some people is in the planning or spontaneity. Having a good search engine with the right selection options when using online tools would really make the experience more pleasant. If you do belong to the Good Sam Club, letting them know you would like this option added would benefit all and maybe even you.

Hi OlderRVJim, thank you for the insight. We understand how the information could be useful and we will look at seeing how we could incorporate this into our search tool on our websites.
Regards,

Ellen Tyson
Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory

Thank you Ellen Tyson for reading the post, member replies, and letting me know the Club can see enough value in my request to work on it. I hope the membership will grow and the additional search function's benefit will become increasingly important.

[Horizon170]

mowermech wrote:
Their property, their rules to make. They don't want my 2002 coach, I don't want to give them my money. That means we are both happy.
I have been lucky, I guess, I have never encountered such an RV park. But then, I only go to places that identify themselves as a "campground" or "RV park". If it says it is a "resort" or "gated community", I figure they aren't my kind of people. I try to stay with the sirloin steak, baked potato, and Budweiser crowd, and avoid the Filet Mignon, caviar, and champagne bunch.

AMEN to that, I have never been asked in my 1988 although it stays clean and waxed.

[ETyson]

OlderRVjim wrote:
Maybe there are those who would not want to camp near my rig because of it's looks and that is fine. Those people could benefit if they use the Good Sam campground search and it had a option to find the campgrounds who use this rule as a excuse. So having a search selection for age restriction would benefit all. That way, if one wanted to search the Good Sam discount parks or any other parks Good Sam knows about in a area, one could use the option and know about this restriction in advance. A person with a older RV would not waste time going into the park office and being told they can not stay. Part of the camping fun for some people is in the planning or spontaneity. Having a good search engine with the right selection options when using online tools would really make the experience more pleasant. If you do belong to the Good Sam Club, letting them know you would like this option added would benefit all and maybe even you.

Hi OlderRVJim, thank you for the insight. We understand how the information could be useful and we will look at seeing how we could incorporate this into our search tool on our websites.
Regards,

Ellen Tyson
Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory