Registering in GA?

Jkirk1122 · February 05, 2021, 06:06:54 PM

I recently bought a 83' Eagle in Iowa....I'm a GA resident. The title says "Motorhome Class A" and "Style: MHA", however, when I went to my local tag office in GA to register it they are saying it's a bus, even though bus is nowhere on the title. Apparently this comes to the tune of a $875 tag fee and a $100 road wear fee. Is this a normal issue that anyone has had? Do I have any options or am I stuck paying almost $1000 every year? Curious particularly in regards to GA. Thanks for the help

Josh

1983 Eagle 10S

richard5933 · February 05, 2021, 06:20:33 PM

Check out this thread: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/registration-worries-in-georgia-7234.html

My guess is that you need to do a bit of research, go to the tag office armed with the facts, and see if you can speak to the office manager or someone with more information.

Most likely what happened is they brought up your VIN and the computer showed them it was a bus, likely since that is what the VIN belonged to when first issued. There are ways to fix this.

Mike in GA · February 06, 2021, 09:30:58 AM

As a Georgia resident I can tell you from owning two bus conversions that the larger number you quoted is a one-time excise tax fee. Then you will have to pay a $25 to $30 annual plate fee and an annual road impact fee, but the big money will have been spent only once.
Good luck.
Mike in GA

Jkirk1122 · February 06, 2021, 09:45:15 AM

Thanks, is your bus titled as a bus or motorhome? On the printout they gave me it was just confusing because next to "plate fee" it says $875 and then a $100 road impact fee. But, you are saying that's high because it's the 1st time excise tax included?

Utahclaimjumper · February 06, 2021, 11:46:05 AM

The word "Excise" in legislation language means "we can get away with what ever we want to call it fee" >>>Dan

richard5933 · February 06, 2021, 12:15:33 PM

Every state and every jurisdiction is going to get the tax revenue they deem necessary to run the business of the state. Some call it personal property tax, some ad valorem tax, others annual registration fee. Other states have a fairly low registration fee and no PP tax, but be sure they get their money in some way.

The real subject of this thread, I thought, was what the OP needed to do to get his bus titled and registered as a motor home instead of as a bus. Has there been any progress on that front?

Jkirk1122 · February 06, 2021, 12:41:20 PM

In regards to the last comment, it currently IS titled as a motorhome, but the tag office in my GA county is refusing to register it as one because "it's still a bus regardless of what's been done to it". I'm just trying to figure out if that's accurate or not before I pay.

richard5933 · February 06, 2021, 12:50:55 PM

Quote from: Jkirk1122 on February 06, 2021, 12:41:20 PM
In regards to the last comment, it currently IS titled as a motorhome, but the tag office in my GA county is refusing to register it as one because "it's still a bus regardless of what's been done to it". I'm just trying to figure out if that's accurate or not before I pay.

I seriously doubt that it's true - if it was then every motor home built on a Prevost chassis would be registered as a bus and not a motor home but I'm sure that's not the case.

I ran into a similar thing the first time I tried to register our 4106 in Wisconsin. The DMV clerk pulled up the VIN and said that it came back as a bus. I showed the title from MN showing it to be a motor home, and then it took them having a high-level pow wow behind the counter with a manager to figure out how to override the system. They must pull VIN numbers against a database which is configured with the OEM designation.

Things change all the time - for example a person can buy a semi tractor and then convert it into a straight truck by extending the chassis. All sorts of modifications can be made to vehicles which change the vehicle type. Imagine someone took an old school bus chassis and converted it into a dump truck by changing the body mounted to the chassis - are they going to still call it a bus? Would be really confusing every time a cop pulled the records and it showed to be a different vehicle type than what was in front of him.

Talk to someone at the mother ship on this one and get the correct story. At the main office for the division that handles titles you're going to be able to get the correct answer on this.