If you're thinking ofJOINING a motorhome club, WATCH THIS first

Motorhome clubs. Should you join one? Is it worth being a member? What do you get out of joining? Today we are going to discuss the biggest motorhome clubs in the UK and share some thoughts and ideas on whether they're worth joining or not. Hey guys I'm Kat from Motorhome Travel website Wandering Bird where we share tips and tricks for touring the UK and Europe by motorhome and camper. Today we are answering a question from one of our readers Pippa who asked us whether or not it was worth joining a motorhome club. She and her partner or husband are new to motorhoming and they want to know whether or not it's worth joining a club and it's a really good question. It's one that we asked in our Facebook group recently this week and there was a lot of mixed responses. It's obviously something people are quite opinionated on which is great and people have got a lot of different opinions on which always leads to a really fun discussion. If you're not in our Facebook group by all means you can join I'll leave the link in the notes below. Also if you're new to our channel hi! Whether you're new to motorhoming or you've been around the block a time or two if you'd like to get some more tips and tricks for motorhoming then by all means subscribe to our channel and hit the little bell to be notified when a new video comes out. If you are new to motorhoming and you'd like some helpful tips to get you started including a step-by-step guide on what to do for your first trip out in the camper and how to use a campsite and all of those things that everyone seems to know about but no one seems to teach. So we've got some step-by-step advice for you because I know it can be a bit daunting when you're first getting started and if you want to head into the notes and there's a link in there that you can sign up and we'll send you some emails with some useful tips. Totally free and hopefully you'll find them useful to get you going. Right back to Pippa's question on motorhome clubs and whether or not they are worth joining. Now I'm going to say in the outset there are loads of motorhome clubs. There are different specialist type of clubs if you have a BW or if you have a SWIFT, SWIFT have got an owners group. There are loads for every type of motorhome, for camper vans, for antique vans, for modern vans, for specialist vans. There's no way I can cover all those partly because we don't have experience with all those and partly because we'd be here for three hours. What we're going to talk about mostly today are the big two. Now in my opinion there are probably big three in the UK however most people when they're getting started know of the two main ones which are the caravan and motorhome club and the camping and caravanning club. The third one on the list and if you look in the notes I've got a link to the blog post that I've written about motorhome club and there you can find out details about each specific club but the third one on the list is a motor caravanners club which we're going to touch on briefly at the end because there I've got a lot of advantages for anyone who likes to be sociable and go touring and things but let's work through these in order so hopefully we can help answer Pippa's question. So the big two as I like to call them are the caravan and motorhome club which used to be called the caravan club. It's the same thing and their website is still either the caravan club or just caravan club. Again that's all in the link that I will leave for you so you can find their website easily but it's the same thing. So the caravan club became the caravan and motorhome club and they have a range of club sites all over the UK and they have an awful lot of benefits for joining things like discounts on your breakdown, on your insurance, terms and conditions apply. You can also get access to a range of smaller campsites we're going to touch on those shortly and they also offer discounts on practical things for your van like some brands on motorhome TVs, sometimes on tyres. The benefits and the discount offer do change so I'm reluctant to give exact benefits right now in case they've changed perhaps between when I'm filming this and when you're watching it. One thing that they are offering which is really useful in this time of uncertainty they are giving free cancellation and zero deposit bookings if you come I believe it's 72 hours before you're due to come you don't have to pay any charges which is great because if suddenly the world goes into lockdown and you can't visit then you can cancel your trip without any comeback which is really really useful. So that is the caravan and motorhome club. To join as a member it currently costs in 2021 £54 for the year and that includes you, your partner or spouse as long as they live at the same address with you and any children who are under 18. You can add on a second person or extra people onto your bookings for I think it's £8 extra for the year and with that you get a club magazine which actually comes out quite regularly and that's got all sorts of useful stuff in it and also a guide on the sites all around the UK which is really useful. They do also have affiliates with sites overseas and that's also included so you can get discounts when you visit their affiliated sites overseas so if and when we can travel overseas that's very useful too. One thing to note is that if you don't choose to pay by direct debit which means it renews annually every year, annually every year is the same thing but you know what I mean, there is an extra £10 joining fee so that's up to you whether you want to do it or not so it could be £64 a year if you chose to pay by some other method other than by direct debit. Okay on to the second of the big two is the Camping and Caravanning Club. Now the Camping and Caravanning Club is dubbed either by themselves or by the media I'm not sure is the UK's friendliest camping club and they have got very very similar range of facilities and discounts and benefits as the Caravan and Motoing Club. The two are in direct competition with each other so you can get discounted bookings on sites, you get access to exclusive sites that are run by the Camping and Caravanning Club, you get access to discounts on breakdown insurance, your actual motorhome insurance, useful kit, perhaps electronics for your vehicle, you've got ferry crossings, I don't think I mentioned that Caravan and Motorhome Club but same thing so a lot of people who live on the Isle of Wight or travel to the Isle of Wight regularly, if you live there you get huge discounts on the ferry so that's well worth doing. Also if you're over 60 you can get a discount of up to 25% and there are lots of other benefits to be had for being a member of this club. Now to join the Camping and Caravanning Club they've actually got a two-tier membership option if you want to join as a purely digital online member which means that you don't receive anything in the mail you can join for just £41 a year and I believe that again includes a partner or spouse who lives at your same address and children under 18. If you want to get the magazines and the guide which on really useful because you can flick through to the area that you're choosing to tour in and you can actually see where the club sites are and you can get the details so if you don't happen to have internet or if you're in a dead spot then that can be really useful to find out where the sites are so I would always recommend getting the physical guide and if you did choose through that I believe it's currently £47 in 2021 so they are a little bit cheaper than the Caravan and Motorhome Club but only, she says doing maths in her head, £7 so there's not a huge difference between the two. When the two of them are so similar and they have such similar benefits and they do it can be really difficult to know which one to pick. First of all there is nothing stopping you being a member of both. We were a member of both for a very long time and the reason that we were was because we travelled so much there was always a site from one or other of the clubs somewhere Now as our motor homing evolved and we learned how to stay off grid more so we wild camp where we could or we would use airs and things in Europe we tend to use campsites a lot less although we do tend to stay at least once a week if we can't use or get facilities elsewhere so we would stay at campsites to do laundry or to get fresh water or to empty our waste especially in the UK where it's really hard to find these facilities in Europe it's easy you don't actually need to stay in a campsite in Europe because they have the ability for you to use those facilities and things like service stations but in the UK we're not as well set up for that so we tend to go into a campsite probably once every three or four days to get fresh water and to empty your waste and stuff and it's really useful to be a part of the club A because it saves you so much money but also then because you know where the sites are especially if you don't have internet. If you're not a member of the club sites you can use them you can book up but it will only obviously if there's availability and also you will pay more I believe it's somewhere between 10 and 12 pounds depending on the club as a non-member you pay that extra so if you're going to stay for a week in a club site it's well worth you joining whichever club you choose whichever club that is it's well worth you joining we actually joined the Caravan and Motorhome Club when we were up in Scotland and we stayed in this incredible campsite right up near John O'Groats and it's beautiful right on the coast absolutely stunning and we stayed there for three nights and we realised that that was pretty much a year's worth membership so it was worth us joining so we did and we've continued to stay members ever since even though we spend most of our time when we can in Europe and touring Europe when we do go to the UK we tend to use the Caravan and Motorhome sites more and the main reason that we kept up that membership and we let the other one lapse was purely because the sites that we tended to use most so near us where we're based in Portsmouth near my parents in Devon tended to be Caravan and Motorhome Club sites and that was sheer fluke also from a very personal point of view we tend to find that there are more children younger kids and there are more kids play areas and more facilities set up for kids on the Camping and Caravan Club sites now Caravan and Motorhome Club sites do have facilities for kids and because our daughter's older I'll be honest I don't pay as much attention to them as perhaps somebody with younger kids might both campsite or both clubs have facilities for children but we tended to find that there was more kids running around and causing carnage on the Camping and Caravan and Club site so if you've got younger kids those are definitely the clubs for you because your kids will love it they'll meet people they'll make friends they'll go off and do stuff it's great if you don't have kids and you want a slightly more peaceful site we tend to say the Caravan and Motorhome Club sites as a generality are slightly calmer now it was interesting so I voiced this opinion in the Facebook group because that's just our opinion that's just from what we've seen from all the traveling that we've done and I wanted to know what other people thought and what their reasons were for joining or not joining clubs I'm going to read what they've said so I can get it right these are people out of our Facebook group they joined the Caravan and Motorhome Club they don't use the site but they like getting access to the CLs which we're going to go into very shortly an Isle of Wight resident saved more on one return trip on Whitelink they booked through either club and then it covers the cost of their membership so they're actually members of both clubs because of the ferries another member again joined for the CL and Siesta site somebody joined and then found it was a waste of money because they didn't use them fine another one said yep they paid for themselves in three weekends somebody else said they use the Camping and Caravanning Club because of the temporary holiday site so they don't have to book and the different DAs run these temporary holiday sites and they like having access to those it makes their life easier and somebody else has said that they use the Camping Caravanning Club site with their young family and they allowed to have a tent nearby and they can have extended family join them and they like the prices because they are slightly cheaper it's more affordable for them for their holiday so as you can see it's a total mix of opinions and that's the whole point there's a reason that both of these motorhome clubs are still going one is not better than the other it's purely down to what's best for you so there are two more things I want to touch on one are the CLs and CSs that I have been mentioning throughout and then the other one is the Motor Caravanning Club let's touch on that briefly now the Motor Caravanning Club is a non-profit organization that mainly specializes in rallies and get-togethers and social events now despite its name you cannot join if you have a caravan it is a motor caravan club and your motorhome or your campervan has to be up to a certain standard for hygiene and facilities that you carry on board your van so I believe if you have a mattress and stick it in the back of a van you can't actually use their sites they have to be purpose-built motorhomes or campervans but not caravans so don't get sucked in by the name and what they run which is brilliant if you do want to meet other people who enjoy the motorhome life they run a lot of rallies and events all over the country I believe they also offer some overseas now I don't know what their plans are going to be for 2021 in the current situation but generally on a normal year there's loads going on especially during the summer so there's loads that you can pick and choose from and find the ones that work for you the other thing that they have are a couple of specialized groups one of which does actually specialize in touring Europe and the other one they have is a motorcycle rally group so motorhomers with motorcycles which sounds really fun and I really would like to join in one of those at some point so yeah that's definitely an option if you want to get a more social club in the Motor Caravanning Club and their membership cost in 2021 are £36.75 for the year a bit of a random figure I'll admit but that's what it costs and again that covers you, somebody else who lives at Tim Dress for you and all kids under 18 so they're all really similar right let's talk about these CL's and CS's which is the main reason that we still stay a member of the club especially given that we're in Europe most of the time and also a lot of people that we spoke to their main reason that they have joined these motorhome so CL's and CS's are basically small campsites they're up to a maximum of five pitches they're privately run so they tend to be found on things like farms where they have a spare field so the farmers will run and maintain it you have got CL's are certified locations and those are affiliated to the Caravan and Motorhome Club also the Motor Caravanners Club have access to the CL site the CS are the certified sites and those are affiliated to the Camping and Caravan Club so depending on which club you join or again if you join both you get access to both sites you will find ways through your membership of being able to book those sites and they are like I said they're very small they have up to five pitches so booking in advance is recommended especially on the more popular areas don't expect huge facilities you won't get a clubhouse you won't even get reception you probably won't get a local shop you should get electric she says although I do know of some that don't have electric and it does say when you book what the facilities are so you can know in advance you might well be able to fill up your fresh water and some of them have got access for you to dispose of your waste whether it's grey or even black on some of them they've got somewhere that you can dispose of your toilet safely and properly some of the locations for these sites are breathtaking there's a couple that we've stayed at in Scotland right on the coast absolutely gorgeous scenery thanks doc absolutely gorgeous scenery and because you've only got five maximum five vans there lovely then you can be assured that you're going to have a quiet stay really really so again you book those you book the cs or the cls through your the club will tell you exactly how I know that the caravan and motorhome club you can get the details online we often phone in advance there are also a couple of facebook groups which are dedicated to sharing details about the cl and cs site so those are the cl and cs sites and I think they're a fantastic option given that the uk given that the uk doesn't have airs the cl and cs are the closest that we have to airs and I think they're a brilliant thing we transport them as much as we possibly possibly can you're laughing stop it so in answer to Pippa's question and to summarize which motorhome club should you join if any if you're going to do a lot of motorhoming or campervanning in the uk and you tend to prefer to use campsites or you're going to need to use the campsites for the facilities for water or waste or whatever then yes I think it's definitely definitely worth using and definitely worth joining if you're not if you're planning to go to europe most of the time and you're not planning to be in the uk that much and you don't want to do one of these uk staycations that I know so many people are talking about this year then I would definitely join there's no downside to joining except for the cost but if you're going to use the site or you're going to use any of the discounts or benefits that they offer you'll get that cost so I hope that helps summarize some of the facts for you and then you can make your own mind up on what's best for you if you've got any other thoughts or comments by all means leave them below this video I'd love to hear what your opinion are whether you're a member of a motorhome club or not don't forget don't forget if you are new to motorhoming and you want those free tips and advice then the link is in the show notes below and also if you're new to this channel if you enjoyed our video and you'd like to get more motorhome tips then by all means click subscribe this is Mac by the way if you're new to our channel this is our cocker spaniel who is just being pathetic because I'm daring to talk to you and not talking to him but if you'd like to see more of us and our adventures and Mac being Mac then by all means hit subscribe and the little bell and you'll be notified when our next video comes out right I think that's all for me I hope you are all safe and well if you've got any questions that you'd like to ask us and by all means either ask them in the facebook group or join our email list and send us an email and we'll do our very best to answer them I'll see you soon take care bye you