VA registration options

[dgorila1]

Originally Posted by Winter-Vale

We registered our bus as a private vehicle and even transferred plates from our car to the bus. This allowed us to have liability insurance (Allstate) to knock around while we did our build. Easy and cheap. We also got Travelers protection- Roadside assist. Now that we have built in thousands of dollars of equipment, we will register it as an RV. Two reasons: full coverage insurance to protect our systems if damaged, and also because many campgrounds do not accept Skoolies unless they are titled as an RV. Sad discrimination, we know, but that is the reality. We can't take the bus even to our local KOA yet since it is not titled as an RV. We are full-timers so for us the RV title and insurance makes sense and thebexpense of that is a forbearance. Good luck to you.

My insurance agent searched all kinds of underwriters and none would insure a former school bus in Va. As soon as they run the VIN it will show as being a school bus from the factory, no matter what the title is changed to. From what I’ve found after years of looking into insuring s skoolie in Va, insurers won’t do it because of liabilities or something specific to this state. I’ve passed on a bunch of local auctions because of the lack of ability to insure a former school bus.
Va DMV doesn’t have a specific RV title if it didn’t come from the factory. They will issue a “modified vehicle “ title, but there’s no benefit to that . Might as well leave it as a private vehicle if you’re registering in Va.

[Salmon]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I was under the impression many campgrounds do not accept skoolies period. ...

I can offer some anecdotal information that might or might not be useful about this. A few years ago I spent a year living in and driving an RV to events as part of a corporate promotion thing. It was a 43ft class A with a very bright full vinyl wrap and definitely did not fit the image of most of the RV parks I stayed at (I think it was something like 120 different parks that year). It was also sort of a weird setup where the vehicle was an RV but it was in no way being operated for recreational purposes. Many of the parks explicitly stated a "no commercial vehicles" policy, which my clearly was. For the first few parks I called ahead to describe my vehicle and was promptly turned away. I quickly adapted to just calling to reserve a spot giving the length and if required the height/make/model. I always figured that worst case scenario they could always refuse me when I arrived, and then I'd deal with that if it happened. Once I got to the park I'd be quiet and respectful and never once did I have a problem. There was one time a park manager came asking some questions and clearly had some reservations, but in the end me let me stay. Another time a park owner asked if I wouldn't mind moving to a spot less visible from the access road. I also regularly used age-restricted RV parks (like 55-and-up only) (I was in my early 30s), and similarly never had an issue.

Of course YMMV, but in my opinion I think those RV park rules are generally there so they preemptively have grounds to do something if there's a perceived problem. If your rig looks classy and quality-built (to the park manager's standards, which might not match your/my standards), unless they are already 100% full, I can't imagine that most parks would have a problem accommodating a skoolie based solely on the original title type. Dognose, still-yellow, school bus windows, etc. might have a harder time than a repainted flatnose bus with a few RV-type windows in place of the originals.

[Busventure]

Hi Winter-Vale,
I am about to start my dmv registration process. Can we chat about your recent experience?

[Jaden G]

Originally Posted by superdave

it cost about 50 bucks + sales tax+ 10 bucks for title transfer for me to register as a private bus. i got my insurance thru progressive, it was 700 the first year and droped to about 350 the second year.i put private recreational vehicle not for hire on the drivers side to get the cheap toll rate.

Did you have to show pics of conversion?