Pay extra for towing a car
I know that some traditionalists won't like this discussion but we have a motorhome and regularly tow a car in the UK.
We recently tried to book a CL at £15.00 per night but when I said that we towed a car the price was increased to £20.00 as our Polo was considered to be an additional car.
We queried the additional cost as a car towing a caravan takes up the same amount of space as a motorhome but were told that the count is by engines and that other people on the site would complain about us getting an additional facility at no extra cost. We don't understand!
Has any one else encountered this problem?
Comments
-
It’s entirely up to CL owners how they charge. They don’t have to follow the club's own pricing structure where toads are accommodated foc.
The answer is probably to ask when you book and go elsewhere if the answer doesn’t please you.
I don’t understand your opening comment.
2 -
Not sure why "traditionalists" wouldn't like it. The simple answer is that what CL owners charge for is entirely up to them. We recently stayed a couple of nights at a lovely CL and were surprised when the quoted price was £2 more than that shown on the website.We discovered that secreted away in the latest handbook is a charge of £1 a night for dogs although it doesn't show up on the website. We chose to pay it because it was a good site where we wanted to be. At the end of the day you just have to decide if it's good value or not for yourself - if it is, fine, if not, there are always alternatives.
0 -
I have never understood why sites charge for dogs but in France, for example, it seems to be universal. So, if you pay extra for a dog then I suppose paying extra for a car makes sense. I believe some CLs charge for an awning. Same thing.
Frankly, you wonder why CLs exist at all; the income from 5 vans for a few weeks is negligible and hardly worth the effort. Long may they continue though.
0 -
Hi Cliz, I actually think the tradionalists will be rather pleased.
2 -
I understand where the OP is coming from on this point.
We are just on the point of going back to a caravan after 6 years owning a MH.
Like the OP we have at times been told that we will have to pay for the the car we towed. Our view was the same as the OP WHY! we were taking up less space, by using the car and not moving the MH we were doing far less damage to the grass.
Even on Acsi it states that the price is for car/caravan/awning or car/tent or MH/awning if a car is to used then a charge could be made, Again WHY! we have in 6 years only been charged twice for doing so once in Holland and once in Germany. When we moved to a scooter on a trailer the same thing happened at 2 sites France and Spain, again WHY! still less space than a car/caravan/awning.
The ferry companies are no different, car/caravan goes cheaper than a single MH (much smaller) on some routes and much much cheaper than a MH towing a 3 mtr trailer again still less length than a car and caravan.
To the OP I understand and sympathise with you its not right, not fair but as the others have said regards a site be it a CL or full blown singing and dancing 5* place, can do whatever they like
the only thing you can do is state that you disagree with the charge and choose to go somewhere else. Each time we were told there was a charge we would challenge it, sometimes we won sometimes not, but we would only stay the one night if we had to pay and only then if it was to late to find somewhere else.
2 -
David - why is £20 "ludicrous" for a CL with serviced pitches and toilet/shower facilities (and in some cases wifi) included equivalent to a club or commercial site charging maybe double that but everything on a smaller more relaxed scale? (Please remember we are comparing CLs to other UK Sites. )
4 -
Extra charges are fine if they are made clear at the time of booking as they seem to have been. As customers we all have the option to refuse. At the end of the day it depends how much you particularly wanted to be on that site. As to justification for such charges that is a more difficult one to explain. £5 extra seems an excessive amount, an extra third on the base price of the CL. Just goes to show how straightforward the pricing structure is on a normal Club site!
David
1 -
I agree IF the CL has got all that but if its just a normal CL, grass, water and ehu then £15 + £5 is too much IMO.
By using the car and not the MH would be doing the owner a favour.
How the other members would know what he paid is beyond me, do the owners go round telling them
1 -
CL owners can and should be free to charge what they like. This however is a new one on us. Would we pay an extra £5 based upon the criteria given? No. Those terms and conditions wouldn't suit us. A lot of CLs have space where you can park a car alongside or away from MH, but don't charge for the privilege. We use one not far from home on a regular basis, always ask if it's ok to park a second vehicle alongside, never a problem. If the price is worth it to you then do it, but there are a lot of CLs that wouldn't charge you. It's your choice if the CL owners terms and conditions suit.
1 -
The price of CLs varies greatly, much like the locations, the facilities available. Two things are the deciding factors, how much the owner wants to charge, how desirable the location and facilities are to visitors. Some CLs don't always get it right and may not get a lot of bookings. Others know their intended customer base very well and hit their income targets. A few CLs probably aren't about making money primarily, again this is up to the owners and the visitors. We have paid for CLs in the range of £3 per night, right up to £20 per night. All have suited us, for a variety of reasons.
0 -
I'm not trying to censor your posts, David - why on earth would you say that? Why are you trying to prevent me from questioning what you have posted?
This thread is specifically about CLS and you used the word "ludicrous" - am I not allowed to dispute that, particularly since my recent experience of CLs appears to be more extensive than yours.
One thing I do agree with you on is that I wouldn'the want to pay £15 for a site without at least toilet facilities.
2 -
Yes you're right TG - last year we stayed at Drake House Farm CL near Clitheroe and the £20 included all that plus awning and dogs and breathtaking views across the valley to Pendle Hill. Recently we have stayed at 3 CLs all with HS, toilets and showers, one with serviced pitches, for between £14 and £17 a night, less than half what we would have paid for club or commercial sites in the same areas.
0 -
I will state first of all that I have a caravan which is 7.5 metres long.
I was looking this week at a CL that stated that their price for a caravan was £14-00 but for a motorhome over 6 metres long was an extra £2-00
I appreciate that the owner of the CL can charge what they like but I could not understand why the extra for a motorhome that was shorter than my caravan!
0 -
How the charging criteria is reached is entirely up to the CL owner! Some might actively discourage certain visitors using price as a deterrent! Could be in your example they have had someone in a MH wreck the grass, in which case repairing it has a cost, who knows?
0 -
As a caravanner I'm not affected, but out of interest I wonder if the sites referred to make any difference between towing a trailer and towing a car on an A-frame. If, as the OP says, it's the engine that counts, I can understand why a car on an A-frame is charged because it's still a car with an engine, but a trailer doesn't have an engine and the car on the trailer is only payload. The trailer could just as well have a load of bricks. It doesn't change the purpose of the trailer in any way. What the trailer is loaded with is none of the campsite's business. If the trailer were closed, one wouldn't even see that it's got a car inside.
2 -
Yes I have encountered the problem of trying to charge for a towed car 4 times and 4 times I have had the charge waived following a complaint/discussion with the owners or managers. One of the sites even changed his charging structure as a result. It makes no sense to charge for a towed car while not charging for one towing a caravan. just tell the owner/manager you will tow the motorhome onto site with the car!
On a well known motorhome forum we used to name and shame such sites so motorhome owners could avoid them.
peedee
0 -
Lutz, we were charged in Spain , Burgos site for our very small 3m trailer and scooter. The scooter never came off the trailer as we used cycles but still charged. In France we were also charged but on challenge refunded. Some folk do seem to have a downer on MHs towing something. I would have thought most CL owners would welcome a little car being used rather than a bit MH coming and going.
1 -
+1 exactly
0
