Trailer Ageism

[Tracy & Gaenor Howe]

So we are trying to book our 2 Boler mega road trip, and we noticed some campgrounds in Las Vegas insist that your trailer be no more than 10 years old. We thought that this was because it meant you were rich and would gamble more. Then we were booking a place in Salt Lake City, got through the whole process, then the lady asked how old the trailer was. When we told her, she said they weren't allowed trailers more than 10 years old, because of city zoning laws. Has anyone else run into this? Is it common? Is this going to dog us during our holiday? We need electricity for our a/c, so in hot places, most municipal/park type campsites won't work. Any suggestions?

[Chester Taje]

I have heard of this before. It has never happened to me . Lets see what others say.

[Pete Dumbleton]

First I've heard there was a zoning base -- I'm skeptical about that, however, Utah can be strange at times.

RV Park owner I know in Florida has rule like that so he can turn away anyone he thinks might be a problem. When I told him my trailer was more than 13 at the time, he was surprised. Hard to tell with Fiberglass and Airstreams. I've know of a lady friend turned away at a Florida park because she is a single female. Private CG can pretty much make there own rules -- Transient people are not likely to stick around and make a federal case about something like that.

I suspect that RV park owners won't be too fast to enforce that rule if fuel prices cut traveling.

One can always fudge the answer by saying "We got it new in XXXX" where your intention is 'new to us'. If they get down to the point of asking for proof, you might not have wanted to stay there anyway. They are shooting themselves in the foot and you don't want to be around people silly enough to do something like that!

If the practice has become really widespread, there should be some note in Woodall's or Trailer Life CG Directories (print or on-line).

[Sharon Herman]

Wow, I've never heard of that and it is disheartening to hear. I like Pete's idea.

[Phil Underwood]

just lie about the age of your egg.. They wont be able to tell anyway, and worry about were your going to be having fun that week while your in it...

[Greg A]

My egg quit having birthdays when she was nine....

[Gina D.]

Mine really IS 9. I guess I had better hit the road and stay at all those RV Parks while I still can.

[Joy A]

I've heard of this happening as I was told "they" are trying to keep the rif raf out.
I hate to tell them but I've seen rif raf and nasty looking RV's that are less than 10 years old.

These are usually RV parks and quite often the ones that also would give the best spots to the Big Rigs even though we all pay the same price.

My attitude is that it is their loss not mine. I wouldn't want to stay in a snobby place any way.

Give me those Down Home people any day.

[Frederick L. Simson]

The December, 2005 issue of Trailer Life magazine has an article that reminded me of this previous post.
The article's title is "Not in MY Campground"

The magazine interviewed the owner of The San Diego RV Resort who revealed that he has a [b]10 year age limit on
RV's permitted to camp there.

I no longer have a current subscription to [b]Trailer Life. If you have a current subscription, you can go to their website's archives and look up the [b]December 2005 issue, article titled: [b]"Not In MY Campground", and read all about it.

[CarolnJim]

I just Googled and found the Trailer Life article December 2005 Not in My Campground .. (I don't have a subscription)

I found it with a title of Article 14 listed on the web page.
1 December 2005. Trailer Life. 45. Volume 65; Issue 12

Here's two paragraphs:

"You have to do it," said Reza Paydar, president and CEO of La Jolla, California-based Sunland RV Resorts, which owns and operates seven RV resorts throughout Southern California. "If you allow these older vehicles to come into your park, it's like having a neighbor with a run-down house, and it impacts the desirability of the sites nearby."

"Think about it," he said. "If there are really old vehicles with torn-down awnings or paint that's not maintained, why would you want to park next to them?"

[Robin G]

Well, May I try and answer from a former park owners view point. Basically the rule is a way to prevent the rif raf from taking over. We had the rule, I only enforced when I found it nessacary. As stated in previous post, there can be new/newer rif raf................... But the rule of no rigs over 10 years just comes in handy in certain cases. I have seen places that only go by this rule,( that's not how we worked). But I think most are like me, and will make exceptions. I would certainally ask if they would consider an expection. Or ask them for recomendations of nice places that don't have the rule.


In Montana, the rule came in handy a few times, when they would pull in with their jalopy with duct tape and tie wire holding it together, as did our prices. Good Luck, I hope they will reconsider their policy for you. Robin

[Bigfoot Mike]

My experiance has been that when they look out the office window, they evaluate your rig. If it is shiny and purty, they don't even ask. We always say before we're asked, "We just got our new (to us) trailer". Then we are never asked how old it is.

Keep your TV and trailers shiny and they can't tell how old it is. They just don't want their RV park to look trashy and run down. I don't blaim the owners. They have a lot invested in their business.

[Doug Mager]

Had a similar but different experience back in 1999. We were headed south along the OR/Calif coast with our Model T Touring and color matched tent trailer and 'discovered' a gorgeous campground along the coast. Price was right, so we booked in for two nights. had a lovely time. Making a return trip in 2001, I called and made reservations at the same 'resort'. Got there late in the afternoon (with pre-paid reservations), went and checked in, paid our money and get back into the car to go through the 'secure' gates. L'il man in uniform firmly but politely informed us we can't camp there. Back inside we go, find someone over 12 years of age that LOOKS like they may know something and ask, 'Why for/How come' we are being refused entry AFTER paying for our site??

Response:
"Well Sir, it is because you are too S M A L L!!!!! Your trailer is too small to be parked in here."
After a lot of discussion, our money was refunded and we were forced to find ulterrior accomodations (which, BTW, turned out to be every bit as nice and cheaper too!!) We drove PASSED the park again in 2003 only to see that the park had been converted into some sort of 'Time Share' complex and LOADED with hugenormous trailers and motor coaches!!

[CarolnJim]

November of 2001 we picked up our brand new 2002 17' Casita Liberty Deluxe. Very happy and looking forward to camping on the way back to California and with no reservations, we called ahead for campgrounds. At one point, I phoned ahead to a camp ground - asked if there was space available.

I was then asked: "What RV do you have?".. Travel Trailer was my answer - then "What year is your trailer?" 2002, I said. That was apparently OK too. The next question was "How big is the trailer?" I said 17 foot ... WOW! that did it. I was told "We do not accept small trailers in our park - and she hung up.

My only regret ... I didn't keep track of what campground that was - I certainly would have posted the info so no one else would need to be rudely spoken to - And, who would want to stay there anyway. We have never had a problem since then, but we always wonder if it will happen again.

[BOBSMITH]

That sucks. Especially when you're talking about molded fiberglass rvs. They just don't run down like stickies. At any rate, it's not very cool.

[Sandra Lair]

I've never run into the "too old" rule but have seen the size restriction and also the "must be self-contained" rule. The funny thing is, they had a bath house. Go figure!

How sad that people associate small campers with riff-raff. I wish they could have met the group at the Eggscursion in Townsend TN last month. The nicest people you could find anywhere!

Sandra

[Dan Meyer]

Google is your friend...

Here is a link to the Trailer Life article: http://media.rptia.com/pdfs/RPTIA%20Traile...201%202005).doc

-- Dan Meyer