Worth it I reckon, we are members, the benefits are well worth while especially if you plan on inter-island trips. The NZMCA parks are also very good.
seadogdaisy,
Feb 16, 4:57am
Depends. There are factions in the motorhome community as in all things.
NZMCA is financially very useful in terms of fuel cards, insurance, exclusive parking areas, lobbying in the freedom camper arena for self contained vehicles, motorhome friendly towns initiative etc., various discounts, social activities etc. It also provides information on camping areas with some exclusive NZMCA sites, trains self containment officers, gives technical advice etc.
The behaviour of some members can cause strife, usually involving parking, alcohol and hogging of popular sites. Common complaints of officiousness on behalf of some people occur. Downside is people can identify you as members of the same organisation. These people would behave that way whether they were members or not. It does give you access to a very large, mostly caring community which tend to look out for one another.
saxman99,
Feb 16, 5:19am
What they said. ^^^ We belong and find the discounts/deals/info etc pretty good, I've used the card a bunch of times in Noel Leeming for instance and got decent discounts.
Some of the executive have got some pretty elitist values to do with keeping smaller, cheaper vehicles out of the club.
rambler_man,
Feb 16, 7:16am
You mean they look down their nose at non English vans ?
tfc3,
Feb 16, 7:19am
For me, discounts on petrol, great discounts at Noel Leeming. $5.00 at NZMCA sites compared to $36 - $45 at camping grounds, great friendship among members and stacks of advise/ help. Have not come across any issues with restricting membership to various sized vehicles.
mojo49,
Feb 16, 8:54am
Not quite true. Euro vans are okay. latest NZ flash ones are passable. Aussie vans, well let's not even go there. -
franc123,
Feb 16, 9:09am
Agree with #3 their behaviour is indeed strange, they're too tight to cough up 30 odd dollars a night to use a normal camping ground and want old fogey discounts here there and everywhere yet they have no problem whatsoever with sinking six figure sums into flash self contained motorhomes or caravans so they can look down on and whinge on talkback radio about the allegedly dirty riff raff in their L300's and Estimas or even conventional old Kiwi caravans doing the same thing for a fraction of the capital outlay.
tamarillo,
Feb 16, 6:05pm
As above, worth being in and there's some great folk there. But also some right nasty bigoted old barstards who will openly tell your wife women shouldn't work and then Wonder why shit hits fan. Some tribalism in their camps and if you don't join in their camp circle . Oh dear. But they'll also be kind useful friendly people without the need to give their vans stupid names.
tfc3,
Feb 16, 7:22pm
30 a night and the rest. Top10 $45 with member discount.$38 to 40 most camping grounds. I certainly don't have a six figure caravan, I started with a old Kiwi caravan and have no issues with L300s etc. Never been looked down on for not joining " the circle" and enjoy being able to stop here and there.
tfc3,
Feb 16, 7:29pm
Complete rubbish
rambler_man,
Feb 16, 11:52pm
thanks for that I remember the days of old when my family had caravans and stopped in AA caravan parks with rules SO things have changed in 2018
taipapaki,
Feb 17, 7:18am
My grump is, they have pushed their self containment standard on councils.
While I LOVE the principle of self containment, the standard is deliberately written to exclude those using tents or similar, even if they have exactly the same level of toilet, water, waste and rubbish containment.
It should be about protecting the environment, not about limiting freedom camping to flash camper vehicles.
And they get really really grumpy, if they have "marked" a nice freedom camping spot with a plastic chair or table, then buggared off for the day, and return to find a maori family in a tent on the site.
tony9,
Feb 17, 9:27am
We found it poor value. For what we paid per year, we did not get value back.
We did use the caravan a lot.
brouser3,
Aug 18, 1:13am
Yeah - they sure are the wriggly worm when it comes to the 'freedom camping' thing. People balk at 30-40 a night at a campground? Lucky they aren't using motels at $100 plus a night for a pretty skanky one. Then have to pay for every coffee and meal on top of it. At least in a caravan or camper you can self cater a lot of the time at a far more reasonable cost.
mojo49,
Aug 18, 2:38am
Been a member for 20 years. never found any "cons" yet.
rose-murray,
Aug 18, 2:49am
We belong but have a Hiace pop top camper (one of the dreaded sliders). We are certified self contained for now but from what I have heard they are just itching to outlaw any camper/caravan that does not have a built in toilet. We have a portapotty and a toilet tent but apparently that's not going to be good enough. One old gentleman told me that if one couldn't afford to have all the built in facilities then one shouldn't be camping. The only advantage for us was the good discount on the ferry, but I think there are other avenues for a discount so we may not rejoin.
kazbanz,
Aug 18, 2:52am
I agree totally with your post except for one word --so I removed it.
franc123,
Aug 18, 4:41am
x1
Like I said, a pack of well heeled elitist old fogeys stomping about coating the countryside in diesel soot and demanding discounts everywhere. They'll scream daylight robbery at motor camp proprietors for changing $38 a night that they think is only worth $5 the very day after they've driven off a RV lot having forked over $109,995 in cash for the latest Euro self contained camper with digital this and slide out that and solar heated toilet seats. The NZMCA is the New Zealand Miserable Complainers Association, I'm buggered if I'd want any asociation with them, and I've been an active caravanner for thirty years now.
daves,
Aug 18, 5:04am
There are in the vicinity of 80 thousand members in the NZMCA, in your 30 years of being a caravanner have you ever been a member?
poppy62,
Aug 18, 5:24am
Mate! Towing this around for 30+ years and expecting NZMCA membership is a bit of a stretch. You could at least pump the tyres up and tend the hanging garden.
"I'm buggered if I'd want any association with them, and I've been an active caravanner for thirty years now." (Fixed your asociation btw)
But the following had me wondering -
"The NZMCA is the New Zealand Miserable Complainers Association,"
Considering your entire post, it sounded like you could have fitted right at home as a member.
So on the basis that you have never been a member, what makes you think that you know enough about it's membership to think that your comments apply to more than just a limited number of NZMCA members?
franc123,
Aug 18, 10:38pm
A limited number being 80% instead of 100%? Tell us how many watts you solar heated toilet seat draws and we'll discuss further. I notice there wasn't any actual disagreement with #19.
horses7,
Aug 19, 2:02am
In response to original regarding NZMCA good or bad our experience has only been good,many benefits including ferry discounts,fuel cards access to NZMCA parks and many others,you will also get to meet some wonderful people from all walks of life enjoying the same things and always willing to help each other in times of need and offer good advice.Obviously franc 123 is not speaking from experience as I have never read a bigger load of ill informed garbage as he or she has written,must be a long time since you last stayed at a camping ground as a bit out of touch with current camp fees,also the main benefit of being self contained is the freedom it provides to stay at low cost NZMCA parks,which members have paid for,park over properties and many other fantastic places you couldn't otherwise stay,we are not all rich as you claim with motorhomes & caravans from the very modest to very expensive but all sharing the same passion,i have yet to meet a fellow camper with a solar heated toilet seat,interesting concept might be worth investigating.
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