Registering your bus as a (motorhome) Anyone have a gun. (joke)

[onemule]

Gentleman I need your help !!  I recently purchased an 84 mci and was under the (impression) that I was  able to register it as a motorhome ? my bus is in Boulder City NV.
but i was going to register it in calif. My only resenable explanation for that is i thought that since i purchased the bus here i (thought) it would be easier , was i wrong !! I had the bus inspected by some outside source and they listed it as a motorhome but when i went to the D.M.V. i was informed that my inspection was invalid and that i had to take the bus in for an inspection because it is a (three) axel vehicle . and they dont register them as motorhomes, was i duped. Can anyone out there give me some insight to my problem ? Would it be better to register my bus in Neveda or Arizona for the sake of ease and lower tag fees, plus i really need my bus registerd as a motor-
home for insurance purposes, tollroads and what ever else may come up .  If any of you NUTS have experienced this or have some good imput i will be forever greatfull.
thank you all for your previous help. you guys are GREAT.   Randall /  onemule    //

[Danny]

I just registered my MCI 102A3 as a motorhome in Tennessee.  It couldn't have been easier.  I went to the county court clerk's office and completed the paper work and that was it.  I contacted the state folks before this and they said it would have to have a bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen to do this.  I don't have these as of yet - but it worked out ok.

What can I say - move to Tennessee 

Danny

[plyons]

I believe I've also heard many times on this board that a porta-potty, air mattress and coleman stove will suffice for the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen are concerned for inspection purposes.

Hopefully, others with experience will chime in on this one as well.  Just in case moving to Tennessee is not an option.

Bet Regards, Phil

[chris4905]

I, and many others, have registered our buses in CA as motorhomes.  It is not a common occurrence in a CA DMV to have a busnut register a commercial type bus as a motorhome, so every once in a while a DMV employee makes a mistake and says they can't register a "commercial" bus as a motorhome.

And I didn't have to put a portapotty, air mattress, etc., inside the bus to go to DMV.  Matter of fact, I didn't even have to take the bus to into DMV.  I had a law enforcement officer do the VIN verification paperwork, took the paperwork to DMV, told them I had all the seats out, and had just started to conversion process.  No problem, they registered it as a motorhome.

Ask to speak to a supervisor, or continue to address the issue, until you get en employee who understands how to register a bus that is being built as a motorhome.

The CA Vehicle Codes uses section 18010 of the CA Health & Safety code, as the definition of a motor........as pasted below.

18010.  "Recreational vehicle" means both of the following:
   (a) A motor home, travel trailer, truck camper, or camping
trailer, with or without motive power, designed for human habitation
for recreational, emergency, or other occupancy, that meets all of
the following criteria:
   (1) It contains less than 320 square feet of internal living room
area, excluding built-in equipment, including, but not limited to,
wardrobe, closets, cabinets, kitchen units or fixtures, and bath or
toilet rooms.
   (2) It contains 400 square feet or less of gross area measured at
maximum horizontal projections.
   (3) It is built on a single chassis.
   (4) It is either self-propelled, truck-mounted, or permanently
towable on the highways without a permit.
   (b) A park trailer, as defined in Section 18009.3.

Home this helps.

Chris Christensen
1974 GMC 4905....which has been previously registered in CA as a motorhome, and now in Idaho as a motorhome.
Eagle, ID

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Randall,

Sometimes it's only a matter of the person you deal with at DMV!
For instance- My local dmv told me to take my issue to Trenton, [New Jersey] The main DMV office! When I arrived and waited 1 hr and 15 min they told me
I was only able to get a reconstruction title and needed pics of the interior with a kitchen, a bed and no bus seats! Well ,you can imagine what mood i was in!
With my thoughts that I wouldn't be able to title until many, many, months of work, I got angry! So on my way home from Trenton, after wasting a whole day,
I found another DMV office about 35 mi's from home. I stopped and went in, it was 5 min to closing time and WHAT DO YOU KNOW, no one even questioned
the bus issue. The nice lady just put it through like I was just changing ownership!! I was out of there in 5min.

Reg as motor home $20
annual reg. $67.50

Hope this helps-
Nick-

[TomC]

A couple of things I do know about Calif- you can drive up to a 3 axle "house car" on a standard class C license so long as it is 40ft or under AND pull up to a 10,000lb trailer behind it.  Second- you have to have the basics installed in the bus to convert it from the commercial bus to motorhome statis.  Go back to one of the DMV's that know RV licensing, you shouldn't have problems.  I run into the same problem on the commercial side of trucking.  Not everyone at the DMV knows what they are doing (big surprise!).  Good Luck, TomC

[TomC]

A couple of things I do know about Calif- you can drive up to a 3 axle "house car" on a standard class C license so long as it is 40ft or under AND pull up to a 10,000lb trailer behind it.  Second- you have to have the basics installed in the bus to convert it from the commercial bus to motorhome statis.  Go back to one of the DMV's that know RV licensing, you shouldn't have problems.  I run into the same problem on the commercial side of trucking.  Not everyone at the DMV knows what they are doing (big surprise!).  Good Luck, TomC

[Dale MC8]

I'm in central California.

My MC8 was gutted, windows out and covered, etc. No cabinets, potty, galley, just a shell.

Called the local DMV who sent me the proper forms.

Called the CHP who sent an officer out to my location and inspected it.

We talked about the 'conversion-in-progress', he filled out the form, I took the form to the DMV.

They took my money and the old license plate, gave me new plates and a new registration for my motorhome.

Lot less fuss than I planned on.

HTH, Dale MC8

[ceieio]

It seems that RV dealers are usually clustered in an area.  Find where a few are near each other and go to the closest DMV office.  They should be up on processing RV paperwork!

Craig - MC7 Oregon

[Don/TX]

I vote for Nevada.  I and a friend had identical 4905 conversions, he with Nevada plates, me with Kansas.  When insuring, I called his company (Progressive) since I thought his rate was reasonable.  They quoted me over twice the price for same bus, same age, same driving records, both with CDL, etc, etc.
After following up with demands for why, they compared his policy number with my request, and the answer was simple:  Nevada registration!  We were talking nearly $700 a year difference, based SOLELY ON THE STATE it was registered in.  Just one more thing to think about, many people don't realize that an insurance company has an entirely different policy, price, and coverage in each state.  I just happen to know Nevada is one of the cheaper ones.

[kyle4501]

Here in South Carolina, The DMV said I could register it however I wanted to & they did not care about the pictures I had brought with me. The biggest problem thev had was with the mileage, I told them it probably had over 4 million  

It took about 15 minutes & I had a tag & was legal. (I went in at 15 till closing, it is surprising how fast they can move at that time of day.)

I later noticed that the vin # on the title was PD4105xxx, should be PD4501xxx. When I tried to tell them, things went from dumb to stupid real fast. They sent some old guy out to look at the coach. He said that the plate on the dash wasn't the correct place for the vin plate & that he needed the # off the engine block. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him about the twin 4-71's & the repowering in the 60's.

I hope to correct the vin on the registration one day, but it has a motorhome tag on it now & the property tax, registration & tag fees run ~$130 per year.

Kyle4501

[NJT5047]

Here in South Carolina,
I hope to correct the vin on the registration one day, but it has a motorhome tag on it now & the property tax, registration & tag fees run ~$130 per year.

Kyle4501

$130 bucks....dosen't that make your day?! 
That's about what it costs to own an MC9 here in NC.   Friend has a late Itasca motorhome...believe he gets to pay his and my share! 
The beauty of converted buses is that the property tax is based on the value of the unconverted coach....at least this is so in NC.  'Course mine may not be worth much more than an unconverted bus...I tell my wife that this is my "practice" bus.  Once retired I'll do it right....maybe.   
Kyle, where you at in SC?  I'm just across the SC/NC line near Charlotte.   Are you using your bus yet?  Using mine in a half  finished (maybe a llittle better than half?) condition and about quit working on it...enjoying it!!  Just maintaining the thing takes an enormous amount of time. 
Here in North Carolina, the DMV asks what you're going to do with the coach.  They title it as an RV if that's what you ask for...  However, I've already been pulled over by NCDMV to find out why the name of my "bus company" was not on the rear of the bus.  This happened before it looked like a motorhome. 
Cheers, JR 

[kyle4501]

Hey JR,
I'm in Greer. I'm still in the 'planning' stage..... I keep running into road blocks in getting the 'honney-do' list done. Now that the days are a little longer, I hope to change that.

When the old fart from the highway dept looked at my coach, I didnot know about the number under the driver. RJ Long was nice enough to tell me where to look. When I feel like another battle with the DMV, I'll try to straighten this out, again. I am waiting for the old fart to retire or forget me.

kyle4501

[Eagle]

The biggest problem is most people use the phrase BUS always use Motor Home or Coach.  When you say Bus everyone goes DUMB.

[kingfa39]

I did mine in NC, no problem just told em what i wanted, the bus had 41 seats in it but they didnt look at it, had my paper work done and inspection in 1 hr,
Frank Allen
4106