Rv age limit.

[bigjim]

This has been discussed before so I am just relating that today I was told that a private park  that I have stayed at for multiple months for almost every year since at least 2011 has turned me down for this winter.  The old owner sold about a month ago and the new owner has said they don't want any rv older than a 2015 and it does not matter what it looks like.  Far short of the 10 year rule most of us know of.  That is a little concerning for folks with older rigs that still look good.  I know this is just one park.  What would you do if you were traveling and ended up somewhere that had restrictions on even overnight asphalt boondocking and there were no public campgrounds near or they were full.  Makes me at least slightly nervous about traveling in an older rv.  Premature maybe but still concerning.

[agesilaus]

So Lie about the age.

[Barbaraok]

Ours is almost 20 years old.  So far we've had to send a couple of pictures, but usually we only spend 3 nights or so, in parks like that.   We do a lot of membership parks and they just want neat, well maintained RVs.    And I always book overnight stays at least 2 days ahead of time because of all of the problems with the virus and how most parks the take transient have set up to do online booking/paying, then leave envelop with receipt and site number on their board outside the office.   Works well for us.   For any long term stays, usually they know you.  So now I'd be calling all the parks in the area I wanted to go to see what they had available - it is still early enough you should be able to find something.  

[Ranger Smith]

7 hours ago, bigjim said:

This has been discussed before so I am just relating that today I was told that a private park  that I have stayed at for multiple months for almost every year since at least 2011 has turned me down for this winter.  The old owner sold about a month ago and the new owner has said they don't want any rv older than a 2015 and it does not matter what it looks like.  Far short of the 10 year rule most of us know of.  That is a little concerning for folks with older rigs that still look good.  I know this is just one park.  What would you do if you were traveling and ended up somewhere that had restrictions on even overnight asphalt boondocking and there were no public campgrounds near or they were full.  Makes me at least slightly nervous about traveling in an older rv.  Premature maybe but still concerning.

Have your wife call and it is a 2016 when she calls. I don't think they will ask for registration. The new owner is killing his business before he gets going. Cash is cash . . . As long as the rv does not look like a rolling dumpster what should he care. Our Rv is a 2010 and it looks like it is brand new.

[fpmtngal]

I’ve run across the age rule here and there, and there’s always been the caveat about sending photos of older rigs for approval.  This is the first time I’ve heard of an owner not including the caveat.  And the vast majority of places I’ve stayed at with the age rule have said 10 years before they wanted to pre-approve the rig.  Saying no rigs earlier than 2015 (6 years) is a bit short (IMHO).

If an owner doesn’t want to approve older rigs, fine - that’s his right as the owner of the property.  It’s also my right to stay somewhere else.  My first choice would be to call around to all the parks in the area and find somewhere else to stay.  If I absolutely had to stay at that location for some reason, I’d probably lie about the age.

Don’t sweat it just because a new owner is being picky.

[jamtracy]

6 year rule?? Ridiculous. The letters FO come to mind. 6 years is not even a break in period. In 4 years I wouldn't be able to stay there. That's just crazy. They still make my 2019 in 2022 so I guess I could get away with it for awhile. I would hate to have to lie to spend my money in that park. Or have them look at the sticker on it and see it is a 2019.

[docj]

9 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Ours is almost 20 years old.

Ours is now 21 years old and is in great condition.  No one has ever asked us about its age and, if they did, that would be the kind of park we probably wouldn't want to stay at anyway.

[bigjim]

Some place just have limited rv parks. In my case I have sent a picture and have references that live in the park full time.  I have anywhere from 3 months to a max of 9 months of paid receipts from there to from 2011 to 2019.  I don't know the new owner but the old one lived and ran the park. The new one has a park manager who I believe advocated for me but was denied based on new owners age restriction.  I related to her about needing to be in that area for medical care the proximity of family to assist me.  It is his park so his choice but that concept is a little worrisome if it were to become a trend. In the case of this park my feeling are not hurt but I am somewhat disappointed.  I  wonder if the new owner has any experience as it is common for workers that travel to do work at local plants come to spend months to even the occaisional year on a project. IE:They had three in for almost a year installing a major solar installation less than a mile from the park.

As far a lying about the year, I have no wife and can't lie with a straight face. Also if you know anything you can have an idea about age if you want to use that as a criteria.  (exception may be airstreams)  I will figure this out but thought it might be interesting to bring up as it is something to consider when traveling.

[Danandfreda]

We stayed at a park in Peyton Colorado this summer for a couple day   
when we made reservations they me how old trailer was we said 7 months. We got the impression that they didn’t have a lot of junkers in there. Wow what a dump. Old trailers that were not taken care of a people living in a old suburban suv. With a baby but they had a tv in there. Will never go back there. It would be nice if the campground people would put real pictures of their campground and not just the ones that look good. We don’t usually stay at campgrounds that have certain rules about camper age and type. We know a lot of people that have older trailers that have been kept up or remodeled and look better than some new ones.  

[TXiceman]

We came across one RV park that wanted to see the registration on the RV to confirm the  year.  They had a 10 year rule, but all the rigs looked decent.  We have had to send photos to a couple of places.

Ken

Edited September 8, 2021 by TXiceman

[GlennWest]

We have had to send pics a few times. Ours is a 2003. Never turned down due to age. Turned down due to size though

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

To paraphrase Groucho Marx: I refuse to stay at any campground that would have me as a member.

[RV_]

Back when we were full time for seven years (1997-2003) we never made reservations and just showed up. Several Parks had ten year rules and ours was 11 towards the end. They'd ask then look out the window and the manager would ask me to just agree to say if asked while there that it was a year or two younger.

We had what we called the "RV Roadie 2X2X2 rule. We never traveled more than 2 hundred miles a day, we always stayed two days, and we always arrived at the next area Park by 2PM.

The 200 miles allowed us to not be too road weary on arrival.

The stay at least 2 days allowed us to relax the first evening, then explore the local area the next day.

Arriving by 2 pm allowed us to beat the others for the remaining unreserved spaces. New fulltimers would, like us that first year, travel too many hours in a day as if we were not retired but would have to go back to work.

Many times we stayed from a few more days to a week or four when we found great things to see and do unexpectedly.

If the park had some asinine rule we would simply press on to tne next park without blinking. Or the next state. We detested California but my mom had moved there from Connecticut to San Diego after I moved and and joined the USAF. She had Alzheimer's from a TBI and died the year before we came off the road to care for her parents. So we committed to starting there from our winter quarters in Bossier City Louisiana, family property, rural, with a nice RV space we made with full hookups and a concrete slab.

We didn't make time to get upset or angry about the few idjits along the way. We just moved on with a smile. Somehow, the next place always turned out to be better. We loved the years we RV'd meeting America one person at a time from Mexico to Alaska and everything in between.

 

[bobsallyh]

I'm like docj said above. Our fiver is 16 years old. Never have been asked, nor would I want to stay at a joint like that.

[Dutch_12078]

The only time I've ever been asked what year our motorhome is was years ago when we had  a 1986 Toyata based Dolphin Class C. The only reason the check in clerk asked was because his sister had one like it and wondered if they were the same year. Other than that, I've never been asked for short stays, although have seen the 10 year rule mentioned for long term or seasonal stays. Now that we mostly stay in state/national park campgrounds except for some overnights, it's really a non-issue.

[hemsteadc]

It's a pretty rare occurrence to a) be refused entry for age  b) have absolutely nowhere else to go, including blacktop parking.

Learn to boondock.

[2gypsies]

What's the name of this park?

I would bet there are more parks without the age rule than with it.  Surely there are other RV parks in the area for you to stay.  Public parks? City parks? County parks?

[Kirk W]

The only time that we have run into an RV age rule has been when staying in one of the destination parks that cater to the longer term visitors. Even those usually have an area for overnight or a week or less stays where they don't ask. When we did run into the age limit and were in an RV that was over the age, all that they did was to look and see what ours looked like. What most of them really don't want is the trashy looking junkers that all of us have seen. The reason for the use of an age limit is that gives them a way to tell the owner of a junker no that won't get them into legal problems. 

IF you strongly object to that sort of rule, does that then mean that you would not mind spending several months staying where you had the trashiest RV that you have ever seen next to you? Since RV parks are a business, they usually make such rules in an effort to keep their customers coming. The only time that we have been refused spending a night in an RV park was near Naples, FL and they did allow me to pull through the gate and around the traffic circle to leave. In doing so, I don't think that we would have been comfortable with our gas powered Cruise Master parked among the Prevosts, Newells, Marathons, and such. The lowest level rig that we say was a Monaco Dynasty and it was clearly outclassed by the majority of the crowd. We were not offended at all. 

[bigjim]

I won't name it at this time as I am still trying to negotiate.  Since I have stayed there anywhere from 3mo. to 9 mo. at least every year from 2011 so I know the area well an what is avalable in the area.  It was always a great place to stay in terms of well run and the best conveince to me.  This year is more critical for location than normal. There is a SP like nearby but they have a 2 week limit.  I don't know the new owners or anything about them but I think they either have little to no experience or they want to up grade to more of a resort type. This park is not fancy but has as said been well run and to my  knowledge he only ever had to force 2 people to leave. He made it plain when you came in. I might seem a little bitchy about it because when you have had so many stays that were pleasant you hate to lose a good thing.   Ironically the original owner thought about selling maybe 10 years ago and I tried to talk one of my son in law's to buy it and let me run it.  It was smaller then not as developed.  We could have got it back then for about 500k.

Near where I am volunteering now a lot of the parks are staying full and that is creating issues for travelers wanting to stay in the area.

[bigjim]

The only place I ever dealt with this was about 1998 at San Jose, Ca.  My first trailer was I think a 1988 but looked almost new in condition but not the style.  I was green as grass in rving and they had the 10 year rule and stuck to it as far as I could tell. Who knows if a different clerk had been on duty they might have gone by the looks and not the age.  I only needed 2 weeks and offered to be put in the worst site they had and to sign a document stating I would only stay for 2weeks. Still no go.  I ended up stay near Gilroy the garlic capitol which was ok but cause me a lot more driving, time and traffic.

[Pappy Yokum]

Post the name and location of the park.

No harm in that.

I would be happy to send him a (polite) note via USPS stating we (and presumable others) will not be patronizing his park......along with the reasons why.  I have no problem to include my name, address, etc.

No harm in that either.

Maybe "stupid" can be fixed??

.

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by Pappy Yokum
Let him know !!

[Ray,IN]

Only once have I been asked the age of our MH. He asked if it was new after looking out the window, I replied "it once was". end of discussion. I filled out the card and was assigned a parking spot.

I'd be glad to follow pappy yokums lead and mail that RV park a polite letter explaining my views on a 6-yr. rule. Then they will choose their new business model.

[Dutch_12078]

If the park is staying full or nearly full with the current 6-year rule, why would they want to change it? 

[bigjim]

59 minutes ago, Dutch_12078 said:

If the park is staying full or nearly full with the current 6-year rule, why would they want to change it? 

This is a new owner.  Maybe with no real experience.  But yes if it ends up working for him why change. I am staying quiet at the moment as I hope to see if I can get some movement as the location really works for me.  The original owner had no experience and made some mistakes.  Some where comical. But he was flexible and observant.  If the new person were to get a stretch of time with low occupancy through the winter the light bulb may come on over their head.  I just don't enjoy being part of the learning curve.

[bruce t]

So a 2000 build $1000000 Prevost doesn't qualify! What about a Newel?