Camping Clubs

[Orson]

Have any of you tried Passport America? or any other rv discount clubs? If so I would certainly appreciate info. and pros and cons or just your thoughts.
Thank you in advance for those who take the trouble to respond.

[RickDavis]

Many of my friends use passport america and are fairly happy with it although you have to be aware of restrictions in some areas regarding times the discounts are available.

On the other hand we belonged for 4.5 years and used it once for 3 days so we lost money on it.
We favor boondocking and government run campgrounds so the Passport people can't be blamed for that

[DEWASSINC]

I belong to Good Sam Club and Passport America.

When I joined GSC 2 years ago they had a 3 year promo price; and I fully recovered my 3 year membership fee during the first year.

Last year I joined PA, took out a 1 year membership and received more than 3 times the value back.

There is also Camp Club America, which is very similar to Passport America.

If you camp a number of times during the year, or take extended trips, I would definitely recommend any one of them. I personally will stick with Good Sam Club and Passport America. They also provide additional membership benefits; RV magazines, email forwarding services, discounted emergency road services, etc.

[moosetags]

We belong to Camp Club USA. We have belonged for several years. We always get at least our dues in discounts every year. There are a lot of restrictions and limitations, but we always come out ahead so we continue our membership.

Brian

[Lily&Me]

We have belonged to Passport America for nearly 4 years, and are very happy with it. It is inexpensive, for a club fee, and the 50% off pays for the card very quickly. It has not been uncommon for PA campgrounds in many states to be less expensive than state parks.

We have learned to look carefully at the ads for PA parks, as some are old trailer parks with no amenities but with empty sites they like to get overnighters into. Others are very nice, resort-type campgrounds that will give you the PA rate for a couple of days.

We use PA primarily for overnights, where $10-$15 a night on average is a great price.


Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Did you know that at least the East Harbor State Park (ohio state parks) on Lake Erie takes Passport America Sunday-Wednesday nights?

Yikes, what a deal!



Maggie

[Air Cruiser]

Hi Maggie.

It sounds as though you have stayed at East Harbor SP. What did you think of it? We've been thinking of going up there after school is back in.

Thanks.

Deb

[Lily&Me]

Actually, we pulled in here yesterday and will be here til Thursday morning. The place is huge.

We're in one of the dog friendly loops, C, sites are back-in, reasonably spacious with some shade. There are a fair amount of trees, but it is parking-lot-ish.

Sites and roads are paved, bathrooms/showers are clean and decent. Lots of kids on bikes and scooters, roads are very amenable to that.

We're not too hard to please, so we find it just fine. What we love most is the price!!

There are no national forest or corps sites showing up here, so this is good for us for a few days. .

Again, we have pretty simple needs and every night doesn't need to be 4 stars.



Maggie

[Air Cruiser]

Thanks Maggie for the info.

If you are going further South in Ohio, there is Wayne National Forest has a campground (Leith Run) right on the Ohio River. We camped there last year and plan to go back again. There isn't a lot to do except fishing and boating for those who like to be entertained, but we enjoy relaxing, turning off the cell phones, and just listening to silence!

Deb

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by moosetags

We belong to Camp Club USA.

The quoted post was from a year ago. Newcomers to the thread should be aware that Camp Club USA is no more; they merged with Passport America at the beginning of 2012.

I belong to both Passport America and Good Sam. Good Sam has already paid for itself, for life, just from the discount I get on my RV insurance for being a member, even if I never use the camping discounts.

Given where I camp, I've actually gotten more campground discounts— so far— with my America the Beautiful Access Pass, which gets me half-price discounts at Corps of Engineers campgrounds and Louisiana State Parks (though most other states' parks don't honor it).

[Air Cruiser]

Protagonist, this is very interesting (insurance through Good Sam).

We have ours with our auto/home agent..................do you think regular insurance might save us $$?

Thanks.

Deb

[xo1rider]

I'm on my second year of Passport American, I've gotten my dues back each year probably within a week or two. I do find some Passport America park that I don't want to stay at for any price but I also find some that I'd happily pay full price for.

What we do when looking for a park is check Passport America then check the ratings on campgroundreviews.com. If it checks out we go to the Passport park, there's nothing like half price, they do have some restrictions that vary from park to park but in general it's a great deal.

Good Sam Club should be a no brainer, I can't count the number of 10% discounts I've gotten. As a matter of fact it seems that most parks give Good Sam discounts.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Air Cruiser

Protagonist, this is very interesting (insurance through Good Sam).

We have ours with our auto/home agent..................do you think regular insurance might save us $$?

Thanks.

Deb

Not sure what you mean by "regular" insurance. There is no substitute for RV insurance. Neither a regular auto insurance policy or a homeowner's insurance policy will adequately cover a motorhome or travel trailer.

You don't have to get RV insurance through Good Sam to take advantage of Good Sam discounts. If you get it through Good Sam, you'll be insured by GMAC, and for me that came out cheapest. However, Progressive and other companies that offer RV insurance also offer discounts to Good Sam members. Although I went with GMAC due to a slightly lower permium, the hassles I went through when I filed a claim for the burglary, when someone stole the Kenwood stereo out of the dashboard, makes me think I might have been better off paying the few dollars more that Progressive would have charged.

I started shopping around for insurance even before buying my Interstate, knowing that I'd need insurance before I could even drive it off the lot. Not knowing at the time what I'd actually be paying, I compared insurance companies based on an "agreed value" policy based on MSRP. I ended up getting two quotes from Progressive, one without a Good Sam discount, and one with. To insure a $130,000 Interstate, without the discount Progressive wanted over $1500 per year. With the Good Sam discount, the price was $1175 per year. GMAC offered me an even better price of $1150 per year for the same coverage. AND after I made the purchase, the actual price for insurance was slightly less, considering that I only paid $103,000 for my Interstate, vs. the $130,000 that I used to get initial quotes.

If a $24 membership saves me over $300 per year on RV insurance, that's a no-brainer for sure! Get the Good Sam membership, even if you never use it for anything else! Your trailer will almost certainly have a lower price tag than an Interstate, and insurance will be correspondingly less, but if you save even $50 per year on insurance by getting a $24 per year membership, you've saved money by joining.

[Air Cruiser]

Protagonist, thank you for the information.

I don't know where I came up with "regular" insurance, either, but I do think I received a phone call while typing, so apparently I didn't proof my post before sending it. So sorry about that. I really meant "RV insurance".

I asked because when I read your post about saving money on insurance with a club membership, it brought to mind that some friends have told us they save money on their old car insurance (vintage autos) through certain companies who specialize in vintage auto insurance, and I thought that RV insurance might be somewhat similar. We try to keep an open mind (and ears) when others "speak" because you never what you might learn.

Thanks again.

Deb