Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Is Good Sam Club worth it?


RV people ask all sorts of questions when they first set out, such as what RV Park discount cards are worth it.  Well, today proved (as has happened before) that Good Sam is a good card to have.   It only costs $25 per year and gives you money off at the fuel pump if you go to the Pilot or Flying J stations, you also get a discount at Camping World stores.  It gives you 10% off on some campgrounds - usually the expensive ones.  10% is not much money, but it helps. 

Today, I took off from Lake Mead Recreation Area where I'd been camping for 2 weeks.  Nice place, pretty area.  Before I got out of the park, I realized the brake controlled for the trailer was not working.  Not a good thing in this area, lots of hills!  I stopped at the visitor center and called around trying to find a mobile RV repair guy in Boulder City, Nevada.  I had to make about 3 phone calls before I got the number of one.  I called him and he told me to meet him in town and he would take a look at it.  Not bad, town was close and the only hills there were going up. 

He showed up and did some checking and found nothing that was obvious, but he had a previous appointment with an insurance adjuster that couldn't be delayed.  He suggested I go to an RV park and he would see me later in the day.  He said there was one up the road a bit and told me to call him with my site number.  His schedule didn't allow for me going back to Lake Mead campgrounds, unfortunately.

When I pulled in, I found that the nightly rate was $40 (over my usual limit!).  They did take the Good Sam card, so that knocked $4 off for the night.  There are some towns that just have high rates because they are in a tourist area and this happens to be one of them, just because Hoover Dam is close and Las Vegas isn't that far away.  It's not that the park is extraordinarily nice, or that I could get the wifi at my site (instead of sitting at their book swap room) - but I guess they figure if they have a pool, that justifies the cost. 

So, if anyone is wondering about the Good Sam card, it's cheap enough to renew each year and if you use the right fuel stations and purchase anything at Camping World or happen to need one of their RV Parks one day, it will come in handy.  You'll probably make your membership fee back within a year.  I have not kept track, but I think it justifies the cost.

2 comments:

  1. We have Good Sam's and are lifetime members of Passport America. We are KOA members also. But, then, we are fulltimers.

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    1. I have Passport America and Escapees as well as Good Sam, but I don't have KOA. I am a full timer also as of a year ago.

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