Buying an out of state bus. What documentation do I need

RickB · April 25, 2013, 07:53:48 AM

Hey all,

I'm buying a bus from a private party in California and I live in Wisconsin. All the seats are removed and it is currently registered as a an RV but it is currently in a non-operable status. Anyone that has dealt with this got any advice?

I appreciate all advice but having seen discussions about licensing a bus in the past turn into "crazyland" discussions on this blog, how about let's not turn this into a flame fest of us against the government or cops or DMV conjecture okay? Thanks in advance for that.

I wanna do this right so I'm not white knuckling it the whole way home,

Rick

luvrbus · April 25, 2013, 08:08:04 AM

If it has Ca plates just take the proof of insurance to a DMV and have the plates reinstated if they are not current buy a 30 day temporary plate not a one way trip permit then you need to buy those in every state to be legal a temporary plate with proof insurance and the bill of sale will get you home if CA will sell the temporary to you and some times that is a big IF in that state

The easiest is have the seller take care of the plating and change nothing till you get back home or stop here and buy cheap AZ plates

bs4104 · April 25, 2013, 08:20:30 AM

What part of Calif. are you to picking it up at? Bruce

Rick: Sean has my # if you need help in AG picking it up. It's a small world! Bruce

Seayfam · April 25, 2013, 08:43:48 AM

If you can, can you have the seller send you the paperwork? That is what I have done and then I title and register the vehicle in my own state and bring the plates with me. I guess that only works if you send the money for the vehicle first.

Sent from my GT-I9300

belfert · April 25, 2013, 08:43:56 AM

I bought my bus in Virginia. I simply had the title and the bill of sale with me on the way home. I had contacted my insurance company with the VIN beforehand so I had my proof of insurance. The dealer was able to get me a temporary permit from the state of Virginia for the trip home.

There is a lot of variation between the different states. Some states won't issue a temporary permit unless you live in the state.

Tikvah · April 25, 2013, 08:59:53 AM

I bought mine in Denver CO. and drove it to Michigan without the plate. I had a bill of sale and insurance and it was perfectly legal to anyone who would ask.
The fun part was driving past the tolls in Chicago... the cameras couldn't pick up a plate

luvrbus · April 25, 2013, 09:04:31 AM

Some states do honor trip permits from other states as long as it is not commercial AZ will not honor other states trip permit but any weight station here will sell you one last one I bought was 5 bucks for 96 hrs

Bringing a bus from Idaho I had to buy Idaho, Utah,Nev and AZ trip permits that was when a guy in Utah point of entry said all states honor a temporary plate, all states will issue a trip permit I know of regardless of where you live

Tikvah you must not have stopped at the point of entry in CO or it would have cost you 40 bucks to leave the state

Like Rick I try and keep my ducks in a row from state to state as I am not much on bologna sandwiches for breakfast,lunch or dinner

Dreamscape · April 26, 2013, 03:05:28 AM

I bought ours in Ohio, got a 30 day permit and insurance to drive it to Burbank, CA. It took about 30 minutes in a small town. No problems at all, except for the drive home..........and that's another story in itself.

scanzel · April 26, 2013, 03:36:33 AM

I picked up my coach in Reno,Nevada with a 3 day California permit with sales slip and title and drove all the way back to Connecticut with no marker plate on the back except the permit in the front windshield. The only plate on the back said "Nevada Bus Tours". Took I80 all across, pulled through a weigh station just before Salt Lake and just got waved past. Once in Iowa had a state trooper right behind me. I thought for sure he was going to stop me but he pulled out and went on his merry way. I must have been really lucky going 2800 miled with no authority problems except we lost the power steering pump in Wyoming.

belfert · April 26, 2013, 08:07:52 AM

The suggestion about registering the vehicle at home and bringing the plate with is a good one if you want to take the risk. I personally wouldn't want to pay for a vehicle and get the title without ever seeing the vehicle in person.

treeplanter · April 26, 2013, 09:51:26 AM

We bought our bus in Oregon on way to Idaho, we registered her in Oregon with special plates which is a one time fee as long as we own her, if we go somewhere we print out an event destination in case we are pulled over and all is legal.

B_K · April 26, 2013, 11:56:00 AM

My dad an I drove 2 buses 1716 miles from Rexbug, ID to Union City, TN with NO PLATES and no titles, just a bill of sale. That's all the seller could provide as MCI in Anaheim had them as there was still a lien on them!

Then after we got home and spent a week an a half getting one of them ready to put in service we still had no titles. I had a trip to do and called about the titles because I still didn't have it and they told me they needed an address to "mail" it to.

I gave them the address and told them I didn't have time to wait.
And I went down to the shop, loaded my stuff and told dad I'd see him later.

Dad was like "Hey what about plates?"
I told him "They are just now sending the titles, so I have the bill of sale here. And it still has their name an DOT #'s, so I'm as good to go as we were coming home from Idaho!"

Dad immediately went to the office and called them and told them "Hey y'all need to get us some titles for these buses! My son just rolled out of here in the one bus with no plates." And told me "Don't worry dad I have the bill of sale, it has their name and DOT #'s, and that's what they told us was all we needed to drive it from ID to TN!"

They told him "hey he can't be running all over the country with our name and #'s on it!
Dad told him I already was and we would be leaving it that way until we got a title!

Strangely enough the next day we received the titles by FedEx from MCI in Anaheim.
Which meant they hadn't paid the lien off until they found out I was driving around using their name and DOT #'s!

So while I suggest you do all YOU CAN, to male it legal before rolling with it. I also want to point out most likely you'll be fine with it being an RV, having dated, & notarized title and bill of sale and some kind of plate registered to YOU!

BK

Kevinmc5 · April 26, 2013, 03:11:00 PM

Got our bus in S.C. Drove it back to ID. We had a temp. bill of sale and prof of ins. No problems. Only the blower went.

Kevin

belfert · April 26, 2013, 04:42:24 PM

I have never been pulled over by a cop in my bus (not in my car either). I have had state police stop when I was at the side of the road fixing an issue. Another time I called 911 due to a trailer axle in the road and a state police officer showed up. In none of those cases was I ever asked for my driver's license, registration, or proof of insurance. They simply checked to make sure I was okay and were on their way.

Over at RV.net I've read posts from police officers who state they don't like to pull over motorhomes. They most often can't see in the windows due to height so they can't see any danger signs. For all they know a passenger could have a gun ready to blast them when the door opens. I have personally almost never seen a motorhome pulled over by an officer.

luvrbus · April 26, 2013, 04:57:00 PM

In high drug traffic area you see buses and RV's pulled over I just read where they busted a 80 year old in a RV for over 200 lbs of wacky weed

At the age of 80 you would have thought the guy knew better or maybe he just likes the stuff who knows but here it is common to see a rv or bus stopped

I saw 3 today it is the bikers River Run this weekend and the officers are out in force stopping people

Me I would just have my ducks in a row and never worry about