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Old 10-16-2019, 08:09 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by o1marc View Post
My $303 was based on an agreed value of $25k.
Sweet, Georgia may be one of the states I look at for a residency when I start traveling. Would love 3 to 5 acres of some Georgia northern mountain property.

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Old 10-16-2019, 11:48 AM   #22
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Originally Posted by MacC View Post
Sweet, Georgia may be one of the states I look at for a residency when I start traveling. Would love 3 to 5 acres of some Georgia northern mountain property.
Got a nice house with 5.5 acres for sale backed up to Dawson Forest at the base of the Appalachian Trail.
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Old 10-19-2019, 03:28 PM   #23
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Insurance

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Originally Posted by john61ct View Post
Every state is different.

Where the vehicle is legally "garaged" determines your jurisdiction.

Best to find an agent experienced with DIY conversions vans trailers etc.

Just calling into the insurance companies yourself is unlikely to get an optimum result.

Do **not** mention fulltiming, look / sound / act like a regular wage-slave citizen as much as possible, not a dropout expecting bureaucracy to accommodate a nomadic lifestyle.

Find the "looking for insurance" thread that mentions your state, otherwise start your own

"Looking for insurance agent in NY New York"

Specify what type you are looking for, comprehensive, agreed-value vs market value

vs liability only, actual protection or just state minimum

plus any other relevant details.
In Florida we have our 27 ft listed as a bus RV conversion on our Progressive commercial policy
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Old 10-19-2019, 05:38 PM   #24
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Insurance Problems in Florida

I bought a Mid-Bus from the church next door to me and have ran into a lot of red tape in getting the title transferred, insurance and tag. The only insurance company willing to insure the bus has been National General, with an Agent in Oregon. I haven't been able to find a local agent in Sebring Fl that will work with me on this issue. Progressive said they do not insure bus conversions, nor GEICO. I would prefer to work with an agent in Florida, so if anyone knows of one here in Florida that has some experience with bus conversions please let me know. Thanks PS also if they give discounts to disabled veterans.
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Old 10-19-2019, 06:01 PM   #25
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Did Allstate request the VIN number. That has been my problem with getting insurance in Florida. The VIN tells the insurance company that my vehicle is a commercial Bus.
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Old 10-19-2019, 06:22 PM   #26
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Please let's not let the thread devolve into a general "looking for".
Quote:
Originally Posted by john61ct View Post
Every state is different.

Find the "looking for insurance" thread that mentions your state, otherwise start your own

"Looking for insurance agent in NY New York"

Specify what type you are looking for, comprehensive, agreed-value vs market value

vs liability only, actual protection or just state minimum

plus any other relevant details.
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Old 10-19-2019, 07:58 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dtoddaube View Post
Did Allstate request the VIN number. That has been my problem with getting insurance in Florida. The VIN tells the insurance company that my vehicle is a commercial Bus.
Every auto insurance company I have dealt with in the last 39 years has required the VIN#.

I don't think that you will any find that dont.
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Old 10-19-2019, 09:22 PM   #28
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I think that is bad thing to get into, what if something happens, and you really need that insurance? And then they find out it is in fact a bus conversion and they drop the ball on the claim because you did not tell them truly what it is.

I decided I wanted full coverage on mine (comp and collision), Like you, they said either no way or had to be a pro conversion. So I ended up calling Farm Bureau Insurance, and they said no problem on full coverage for an agreed value of 25K. Oddly the hang up they had was making sure I did not a have gas (fire) based cook top, thankfully I chose to use induction. They also wanted photos of the sides front and inside to add to the file. Total cost was 300 something dollars for an entire year.



Quote:
Originally Posted by cofrari View Post
I just got my insurance last week with Allstate. I got turned down by Sams, Progressive (knew I would but tried anyways), Safeco and State Farm as soon as I mentioned it was a conversion. State Farm actually told me they would only cover conversions if they were "Professionally converted" (not sure who defines "professional"). For Allstate, I talked to a local agent. I just mentioned I am insuring a vehicle titled as a "Motor Home". Then when he asked for the make and model, I said it was an International CE (I didn't mention it was a conversion). So 15 minutes, and $281 later, I have a year's insurance on a 2008 International Motor Home. The only thing Allstate did was limit my coverage to $300,000 saying that was the standard Motor Home max (which is fine with me).
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Old 10-21-2019, 05:45 AM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dtoddaube View Post
I bought a Mid-Bus from the church next door to me and have ran into a lot of red tape in getting the title transferred, insurance and tag. The only insurance company willing to insure the bus has been National General, with an Agent in Oregon. I haven't been able to find a local agent in Sebring Fl that will work with me on this issue. Progressive said they do not insure bus conversions, nor GEICO. I would prefer to work with an agent in Florida, so if anyone knows of one here in Florida that has some experience with bus conversions please let me know. Thanks PS also if they give discounts to disabled veterans.



We live in CT, but also have a house in Lake Mary, FL. When I called Good Sam (National General), they told me that if I chose to use the FL address, that they would be able to cover the bus during it's conversion phase for 1-year, and then switch it over to an RV policy once it was converted. I would try them if I were you. We ended up going with a CT policy for now with Allstate, so I don't know how it would have all played out. But if I was in FL the majority of the year, I would have gone with them. And this was just a month ago, so this isn't old information.
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Old 10-21-2019, 05:50 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigskypc50 View Post
I think that is bad thing to get into, what if something happens, and you really need that insurance? And then they find out it is in fact a bus conversion and they drop the ball on the claim because you did not tell them truly what it is.

I decided I wanted full coverage on mine (comp and collision), Like you, they said either no way or had to be a pro conversion. So I ended up calling Farm Bureau Insurance, and they said no problem on full coverage for an agreed value of 25K. Oddly the hang up they had was making sure I did not a have gas (fire) based cook top, thankfully I chose to use induction. They also wanted photos of the sides front and inside to add to the file. Total cost was 300 something dollars for an entire year.



Trust me, the whole thing gives me anxiety as well. But I didn't lie to the Allstate agent: I just didn't mention the word "conversion". They have the VIN and the insurance card says "2008 International". I have a title and registration that says "Motor Home" on it. I would assume Allstate would have run the VIN which would show the "School Bus" origin.
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Old 10-21-2019, 10:26 AM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cofrari View Post
We live in CT, but also have a house in Lake Mary, FL. When I called Good Sam (National General), they told me that if I chose to use the FL address, that they would be able to cover the bus during it's conversion phase for 1-year, and then switch it over to an RV policy once it was converted. I would try them if I were you. We ended up going with a CT policy for now with Allstate, so I don't know how it would have all played out. But if I was in FL the majority of the year, I would have gone with them. And this was just a month ago, so this isn't old information.
Interesting

Branched off to a new thread,

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/us...ion-29088.html

specifically for using Escapees and other "legal residence / domicile address" service providers to get a "virtual garaging" address in Florida.

All discussion of that idea should take place in that thread please.
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Old 05-21-2020, 09:18 AM   #32
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Originally Posted by musigenesis View Post
I think some states (CA included?) require you to have your vehicle registered in the state you reside in. I haven't researched this because I don't want to find out my state is one of these.
All states I believe, but only enforced in a few, CA being one.

In theory where **you** reside has nothing to do with it, the question is, has **the vehicle** been in the same state for 90 days or whatever the number is.

But that's why I put the "nomad" qualifier.

If you are traveling around CA in a VT bus, with a foreign DL, letterbox address in TX whatever, no worries.

However if you are a S&B dwelling citizen, become a student or get a job in CA, then you become "a local" and the cops may notice you.

_______
Keep in mind the millions of people with homes, boats, vehicles etc scattered around registered in multiple states.

The human can only be legally domiciled in one of them.

Registration, insurance and property tax issues are similar, depend on where **the property** is located, "garaged".

Some higher-tax states make life difficult, but in the end if you know the rules, your paper trail (entries in computer databases) does not need to provably match physical reality.

Especially if you aren't spending lots of contiguous time in one location where they care about this stuff.
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Old 07-16-2020, 06:22 AM   #33
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Originally Posted by Bluesbigbus13 View Post
Is progressive still offering coverage? I'm looking for a solid insurance company. Does anyone know if you can get a price break for holding a multi vihicle policy?
Rarely can anything be said about a company, that holds true across all state lines.

It is very easy to generalize, be told what you want is not possible, but then you find an agent specializing in your edge case, and

lo and behold you have exactly what you need at a reasonable cost from the very same company everyone said was impossible

including the company itself calling in directly.

Agents that are trusted by the internal underwriters - that we have zero access to - can get policies written that outsiders and even the normal CSRs have no idea is possible.

So, again, focus your efforts on finding good agents that work in **your state**

and ask them your questions.

Or at least post in a state-specific thread, but realize false negatives are likely to throw you off.
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Old 07-16-2020, 04:53 PM   #34
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Well said john61ct...
i wish I would have had that kind of insight into the insurance game 6 months ago. What you described was exactly my experience and it was daunting and stressful. Only to find the bus has the same coverage as my Chevy truck only cheaper....go figure.
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Old 07-17-2020, 03:33 AM   #35
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Quote:
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What you described was exactly my experience and it was daunting and stressful.
If you have fiund a good agent willing to deal with owner-converted vehicles, please make sure their contact info is posted in a thread with the name of state(s) they cover in the title.

If everybody did this and we built up an extensive knowledge-base that way, that would relieve a lot of such stress for other members googling later on.
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Old 08-27-2020, 04:12 PM   #36
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Relevant thread on "legal domicile" address issues

and on the wisdom of refraining from advertising the fact you are living full-time as a Nomad

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/avoid-admitting-you-are-a-full-time-nomad-32733.html#post402848
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Old 08-27-2020, 04:20 PM   #37
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Note that the "insurance state" for your vehicle does **not** need to be the same jurisdiction as your legal domicile residential address

nor necessarily where your vehicle is registered, cf the Vermont Option thread, https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/how-to-immediately-register-your-bus-as-an-rv-without-conversion-15292.html#post165864.

The concept of "garaged address" is what rules in the insurance industry, and just like using a trusted friend or relative to legally "host" your legal residential location, that can be in any state you want, for whatever reasons

not least getting a good "Skoolie As RV" rate, no or low annual property taxes, etc.

But of course this can make things more complicated, look shady in the event of a legal or liability disaster striking

best to keep things simple and keep all these various addresses consistent if at all possible.
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Old 08-27-2020, 05:04 PM   #38
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I'm registered in Vt. but reside and insure in Ga. I received a letter from the state stating they did not see a local registration for the vehicle I have insured. I was told at the time of coverage by my agent that it wasn't an issue to them. When I got the letter I told my agent, he advised to ignore it and see what happens. I've renewed my registration for 2 years and have not heard back from the State of Ga.
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Old 09-04-2020, 03:17 AM   #39
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Interesting thread. So my husband and I just bought a
2011 International AC bus 24 seater I think around 19,500 lbs.
We also had problems trying to find insurance after deciding on the
vehicle.

We bought the vehicle in Connecticut, currently reside in PA and are
relocating to Las Vegas. Our CSIA (triple A insurance) was a no-go
..said the VIN either wasnt recognized or commercial only and couldn't help us.
I had trouble with my State Farm insurance people in Nevada with
time change and the office not being open yet. You think that someone
at the national help line could have assisted me right? (no, on hold for 20 minutes
and then was told an agent in the not yet open Las Vegas office had to help me).
We also visited an in person Geico office...also no good, they only wanted to
deal with CT residents.

So yeah Progressive Commercial division. They couldn't have been nicer and
more efficient. After over an hour trying all our current companies and agents,
we got a policy written by Progressive in 10 mins over the phone for something like
$475 for the year basing the bus in Las Vegas.
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Old 09-04-2020, 07:12 PM   #40
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Originally Posted by cofrari View Post
I just got my insurance last week with Allstate.



I got turned down by Sams, Progressive (knew I would but tried anyways), Safeco and State Farm as soon as I mentioned it was a conversion. State Farm actually told me they would only cover conversions if they were "Professionally converted" (not sure who defines "professional").


For Allstate, I talked to a local agent. I just mentioned I am insuring a vehicle titled as a "Motor Home". Then when he asked for the make and model, I said it was an International CE (I didn't mention it was a conversion). So 15 minutes, and $281 later, I have a year's insurance on a 2008 International Motor Home.



The only thing Allstate did was limit my coverage to $300,000 saying that was the standard Motor Home max (which is fine with me).
when you bought it, was it titled as a bus...and you then needed to convert it slightly to meet state requirements for RV/mobile home...and then make the call to get the insurance changed for that of a Mobile home?
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