10 Year Rule

[Velos]

 We have visited several parks that have 10 year rules but curious if anyone has seen written guidelines for RV Park employees inspecting a rig that is over 10 years old?

[Mr. Camper]

I've seen this in several locations but nothing was ever said about an inspection.  I always thought it was more of a visual look type of thing and not an inspection of anything mechanical or whatever.  We are halfway to the 10-year mark and no plans on changing RV's.  If we should run into one we will stay elsewhere.  We can always send them a photo but beyond that, we would take our business elsewhere.

[Barbaraok]

Our winter park has such a rule.  It is appearance based, ie no blue tarp covering holes in the roof, etc.  we just have a recent photo on file with them.  

[Kirk W]

If there were a written guide for inspecting a 10+-year-old RV, it would be done on a park by park basis or possibly by a park chain like Encore. I have never seen that rule applied to an RV that was clean and attractive but there are plenty of really ratty RVs around as well. I suspect that very few of those ever spend much time in the nicer parks or snowbird parks, which is usually where that rule crops up.

[Twotoes]

I have been asked when making a reservation the age of my RV. Mine is only a few years old so it has never been a problem. However when checking in no one has ever verified the age of my rig. If my rig was over 10 years but still in good condition I would just tell them it is 9 years old. They never ask for documentation.

[richfaa]

We have never seen such a rule but we have been in a few C.G's around the country on overnight stops that had RV's way over 10 years old.  

[bigjim]

About 2 yrs into my full time adventure I was turned down by a park near San Jose, CA even though my 22 yr old rig looked good it was obviouly pretty old by the look.  I offered to sign a contract not to stay longer than 14 days and  would be happy with the worst spot in the park as I just wanted to see the area and visit friends.  They would not let me stay.  That is the only time I have dealt with that. It happened about 1998.

[packnrat]

i have never been asked about age of the rv. but i mostly boondock.

my rv was on the rd in 2001.

still looks great. in a coupke years i can say it is brand new retro style rv. 😜

[bigjim]

4 hours ago, packnrat said:

in a coupke years i can say it is brand new retro style rv. 😜

I thought about that when the retro styles came out. I believe that was the issue with mine. The way things work the outcome might have been different with a different employee.

[TXiceman]

There are a lot of very well preserved and restored older RVs on the road.  As long as the RV is in good shape, lie about the year.  Make it 9 years old.  Most park employees do not have a clue about the age of an RV.

Ken

 

[Barbaraok]

Hard to lie about the year when the manufacturer went belly-up 10 years ago! 

[Velos]

We stayed in a park this summer that appeared not to want "Tiny Homes" in their park so required an RVIA sticker when you checked in then later adopted the 10 year rule. As the "Tiny Home" movement seems to have grown more of their manufactures are obtaining the RVIA sticker.   It seems like most parks have the rule to give them a way to prevent unkempt RV's from entering or more importantly from staying indefinitely in their park.

[Kirk W]

8 hours ago, TXiceman said:

As long as the RV is in good shape, lie about the year.

That isn't something that some of us find easy to do. But I have never been in a park that would not waive the 10-year rule if your RV has an acceptable appearance. I have also seen more than one RV of fewer than 10 years age that looked horrible. 

6 hours ago, Velos said:

required an RVIA sticker when you checked in

While I have seen that in a park's rules, I can't remember ever seeing anyone check for that sticker. To me, that RVIA requirement is something that the manufacturers have cooked up to protect themselves since RIVA is just an organization that most RV manufacturers belong to whose main purpose it to protect their members from federal regulations.

[dblr]

We are in a RV Park in Danville Mo and a gentleman is here with a early 70's Newell coach and is in better shape then some newer units we have seen.

[Kirk W]

We were campground hosts once in a park where a group of GM coach owners spent a few days and you should have seen those! All of them had been restored and upgraded and most looked like new. They were only made from 1972-78 and that was about 2007. I doubt that many parks with the 10-year rule would exclude them. 

[Dmitche4]

I was looking at parking my camper at campground that had a ten year rule, but there facilities have not been upgraded in more than 10 years...

David

[bobsallyh]

Dmitche4, really a great post! We have never been questioned about our rig, it is now 14 years old. But long before it became 10 years old, we had already decided that if we were asked when we pulled into a park, that park would become another on our list of "drive-thru" parks. I really don't need to be there. 

[Barbaraok]

You might miss some really nice parks that you would enjoy if you drive away when the rule is mentioned.   The '10 year rule' really is more about giving them a way of saying 'no' to a rig that they aren't sure would every start/move again.  A quick glance out of the window (or having you send a picture ahead of time) is usually all that is needed.   

[kb0zke]

A few years ago we were checking out some of the snowbird parks in the Corpus Christi area. Of course, they all asked about what sort of coach we had. One park, upon hearing that ours was a 1993 Foretravel, said that there was no way we would be allowed in. Of course, that park also told us that in order to get the monthly rate we had to rent our spot for at least October to March. We thanked them for their time, drove around a bit to see the tiny lots, and went on to the next place on our list.

[fly2low]

agree with Barbaraok on this.  We have an 11 or 12 year old coach (depending how you count fy vs my), have not had a problem getting in and have enjoyed our stays.

Have a hard time with them denying a Foretravel in good condition regardless of year.  Probably employee dependent, but sounds like the type of place I would choose to not go to.

[Ray,IN]

Two weeks ago a man asked me if our MH was brand new. I said "it once was"  and that conversation ended. I would make a EWAG that 99.9% of people working in an RV park office don't have a clue about which make/model was made in which years. That type interaction motivates me to keep our MH looking new,  gotta find a paint touch-up pen to match the colors of paint now.

[docj]

52 minutes ago, Ray,IN said:

Two weeks ago a man asked me if our MH was brand new. I said "it once was"  and that conversation ended.

I definitely plan to steal that line one of these days!

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

I am curious to know when did the 10 year rule come into place and the most important question, who came up with the rule. Sounds like the RV manufactures had a big part of this rule. Just my thoughts.

Al

[Kirk W]

12 minutes ago, alan0043 said:

I am curious to know when did the 10 year rule come into place and the most important question, who came up with the rule

I think that you misunderstand the rule issue. Each RV park makes their own rules and it just happens that some have chosen to not accept RVs more than 10 years old and others want to look at any that are more than 10 years old before allowing them in. It is a business decision by the park owners and is most common in the parks that cater to long-term visitors who stay for months. The reasoning is that their customers will not want a junky looking RV next door and I suspect that they are right. Many of them also do not accept home built RVs without inspecting them for appearance. As far as I know, it has nothing at all to do with the RV manufacturers. 

[Barbaraok]

A lot of the RV parks in California started using the rule because of the problem of evicting long term stays under California rental laws. In addition to 'looks' there is the problem of rigs that won't start again.