RV CLUBS
Good Sam can be good, but keep in mind that it is mostly a vehicle for sales of products from the other companies that are owned by the parent of GS, Affinity Enterprises. They do give a 10% discount at the affiliated RV parks.
Passport America is an outstanding value and probably is the very best for the price. You pay $44 per year and you save 50% on a night at the affiliated parks. Keep in mind that some of those parks are older and others are a bit off the main road, which is the reason that they join, but it is very easy to save the price of a membership, and if you don't feel that it was worth the price, just don't renew!
Coast to Coast can be very expensive and their member parks are usually not near the major tourist attractions. They are generally considered to be destination parks where you might spend a week to just "hand out."
Escapees is an excellent club, but it is mostly oriented toward the extended travel or fulltime RVer. They have affiliated RV parks that give members a 15% discount, but not nearly as many as GS. They also own 18 parks around the country where members can stay for much less than at commercial parks. But they also have a lot of services like mail forwarding and such for fulltime RVers. We are members so visit them at
www.escapees.com and see what you think.
FMCA is an excellent RV club, but it is for motorhome owners, only. It is the only one of the RV clubs that is still just a club and is not a for profit company.
Happy Camper Club is another half price club and is much like Passport Am. but I don't have any first hand knowledge about them.
With the exception of Passport America and possibly Happy Camper, I do not recommend that you join any of the campground associations at least until you have been an RVer for a while to see what you really want to do. The others require you to buy a membership in a "home" park that can be very expensive and it can be difficult to get out of if you change your mind. So use caution!
