With the purchase of your RV behind you and the prospect of life on the road ahead of you now may be the time to consider joining an RV Club. Whether your idea of a perfect vacation includes friends or other like-minded travelers or not, the benefits of club membership cannot be denied. At the very least clubs offer a forum for meeting new people, asking for or giving advice and exchanging ideas. Larger clubs, often referred to as “mega clubs” such as the Good Sam Club offer it’s members deals on everything from insurance and fuel to parts and coach repairs, discounts on camping, free trip routing and the Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service (akin to the AAA club).
Other perks of club membership regardless of club size can include a mail forwarding service, monthly or quarterly magazines, luncheons or weekend retreats. Some clubs even hold group rallies a dozen plus times a year at interesting and ever changing locations. All of these perks are over and above the camaraderie of people with similar interests.
Belonging to one club does not exclude you from other memberships. In fact, it is often to your benefit to belong to more than one club. The services offered by one club may not be offered by another. Hence the services offered by individual clubs may well supercede the camaraderie inherent in club membership. Unlike car clubs, it is wrong to assume that rv clubs are model specific/loyal and therefore demand loyalty to a specific brand or model of rv. More often than not an rv club’s focus is related to region or interests. However, there are national clubs that are specific to your trailer or coachbuilder, their chassis and even the engines of motorhomes.
The Cap Codders club for example, is loosely based on residing within 50 miles of Fall River, MA whilst the hook for the Tin Can Tourists is vintage rvs. Southern California Campers focus is boondocking excursions and putting likeminded campers together.
RV manufacturers also offer clubs to owners of their brand of rv. They recognize the value of such an offering and may include perks unavailable to non-members, like factory tours, discounts on replacements parts and apparel and free limited service at rallies. Aside from that, it is far easier to sell a new motorhome and potentially get another in trade for resale to someone who is loyal to and familiar with their brand.
There are even clubs catering to just a portion of your motorhome. These clubs are referred to as “component clubs”. The Cat RV Engine club is one of these. It was formed to provide a fellowship to the owners of Caterpillar-powered motorhomes.
The popularity of rvs and rving vacations is growing. The number of rv clubs is growing right along with it. Whatever your focus may be, there is at least one club out there that will help you enhance your rv experience, even if it is only for the camaraderie.
