Community Forums

ktm500mx · 02-19-2010, 08:35 PM

I was calling some rv parks today and I ran across a park that had a rule no rv's over 10 years old. Is this a common practice?
I am new to rving this is my first winter in fl.

thx in advance Mike

**NLOVNIT** · 02-19-2010, 09:00 PM

Here's a previous thread about this very topic.

Some of the best folks I know have rv's over 10 years old. Can't judge a book by its cover! Besides, a place that snobby doesn't deserve my business & I take my money elsewhere.

Lori-

Superslif · 02-19-2010, 09:02 PM

Been camping for 20+ years with my wife and son. I have never run into a park with a 10 year old policy. I know there are some out there. We don't tend to go to many high end resort parks, so this may have kept us from what I feel is very discriminate to the middle and lower class. There are many like new / older RVing units being used by both well-to-do & budget minded RV'ers. The only time I felt put down in class was years ago when I wanted to reserve a few nights at Ceder Point Resort campground (Amusement park in Northern Ohio). At the time we were still tent camping.

TXiceman · 02-19-2010, 09:08 PM

It is mostly used to keep out bad looking rigs. Our trailer is 31 years old and so far no problems once they see a picture of it.

Ken

J.S.Eddy · 03-07-2010, 10:56 AM

Well, I know for a fact that there are several places in Florida that go by that policy, but they have their reasons. They're not just being snotty, but if you've ever had occasion to actually camp in a park that is filled with true TRAILER TRASH, I think you'd understand. I think that might just be one of the main reasons most campgrounds have you park your rig at their front door, while you register, so they can eyeball you and your rig. I know of one particular park that is really a trashy occupied place. Broken down awnings, flappin in the wind, mold and mildew covering their coach, or usually trailers.... You get the idea.
Jim

John H... · 03-07-2010, 11:05 AM

Superslif, Checked out your album. Nice pix. John H...

two2go · 03-07-2010, 07:23 PM

Just looked at an ad for a 2000 Prevost 45' for $395,000. If I bought that bad boy and then was told by some pinhead park manager that it was too old, I would be a bit ticked off. But if I could afford a Prevost, I might just buy the park and fire the pinhead. In 5 short years, we will be trailer trash. Kinda creeps up on you, don't it?

whem2fish · 03-07-2010, 07:43 PM

yes iv delt with 10 year rule if your honest no problem mine is a 1985 fleetwood one time i did email a photo never boon turned down next week its south austin then the coast for spring break
dave

Chuck 1935 · 03-07-2010, 11:06 PM

If it looks nice and clean, tell them it's nine years old. Play the game, they will never ask to see the registration.

AWMIII · 03-08-2010, 08:45 AM

My guess is if you pull up and it backfires more than once when you turn it off, and they look out at sea unit that used to be white, but now is a dinghy grey/brown, they will ask how old your coach is. If you have a perefectly restored GMC coach, they will not even ask how old it is. It is just a rule to keep out undesirables without seeming arbitrary. I bet the recession has changed how the rule is enforced. I mean there were very very few new coaches made or sold for 2 whole years.

TXiceman · 03-08-2010, 05:32 PM

As noted above, and we have played the game as well....it was forever a 9 year old trailer. Very few can tell the difference between a 2001 and a 1999 RV.

Ken

EngineerMike · 03-08-2010, 06:13 PM

We developed such a 10-year-rule park, and were owner-managers there for about 6 months; this park has own-your-own lots, and one reason a lot of buyers liked the park was the 10 year rule. Most places have both an exception for well kept rigs older than 10 years, and for own-your-own parks- an exception that allows for a notification of upkeep required. Most rigs w/full body paint age pretty gracefully, and those that have 15 different materials, all in 15 different OEM original finishes age badly. The secret for the latter is to do a facelift, after which the point is again moot for a while. I haven't run into any parks that are 10 years and then trade in your rig or don't come back.

One early buyer in our park has a Newell coach, 1996 IIRC, which met the rule by a year when we opened. I told him if I stayed on the Architectural Committee, that after he turned 10, I would ask him to get his front cap repainted. The rest of the coach looked fine, but the front was well road beaten. He said he'd been thinking of having that done anyway; he understood the rule when he bought his lot and hoped some compromise like that would be acceptable. He's now 14, and the Committee hasn't asked him to change anything; his rig is presentable enough it doesn't cause any questions.
Another guy w/a 12 year old, low end Winnie was told he would have to do some refreshing (I think his rubber roof was held together w/extra-strength mildew); he added up the cost and decided he'd be happier elsewhere.
By the same token we were hung by our own rule when a 1 year old park trailer showed up; junk and looking like it on day one. Basically the cheapest thing you can do that still comprises a habitation. His rig is on everybody's hit list for its 10th birthday. What an ugly baby. We quickly added a new codicil- no park trailers.

If you keep your rig in good shape so from the office window it looks clean and presentable, you are usually welcome. We did eject one less-than-10-year-old trailer that had been wrecked up some so that the slide room was obviously crooked and the wheel well mold was busted up. Didn't help that the head of household came out in his pajamas and did some major plummer's-crack exhibitionism with his utilities for about 30 minutes, probably dumping tanks. They were not happy campers when we told them they'd be happier elsewhere, but then the neighbors who had paid good money for their lots didn't want that show every day or three either.

We live pretty close together in RV parks. The 10-year-plus-or-minus rule helps keep the place neighborly. As more new parks are developed, I expect more 10 year rule parks. You can't discriminate against owners (wouldn't want to even start on what criteria), unless and until they constitute a genuine nuisance. But you can discriminate against vehicles, with a uniform and uniformly enforced rule. It offers a choice in parks, and some prefer a no-rule park, some prefer the look & feel of the places they buy/rent to be somewhat policed.