Florida registration for new conversion

[cadillackid]

progressive will write COMMERCIAL policies for school busses for personal use.. now maybe they go back and see the titlae has been changed to an RV and assume its a converted skoolie which they claim to not insure..

I dont know if you guys are getting cancelled from COMMERCIAL progressive policies or RV policies?? be nice to know what policy type you had that they canned you on..

-Christopher

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

progressive will write COMMERCIAL policies for school busses for personal use.. now maybe they go back and see the titlae has been changed to an RV and assume its a converted skoolie which they claim to not insure..

I dont know if you guys are getting cancelled from COMMERCIAL progressive policies or RV policies?? be nice to know what policy type you had that they canned you on..

-Christopher

Mine was a regular RV policy....what got me even more fuming was that the ID10T i was talking to when i called them to b1tch at them said "no, we won't be able to do a commercial for personal use on your vehicle" which i know to be a lie because many of you did it that way with Progressive.

At that point, i just told her to have a good day (i was hoping she would fall off her chair, minimum...) and hung up.

Too bad you can't really slam down a cell phone...unless you want to buy a new one

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by skoolie_n00bie

Mine was a regular RV policy....what got me even more fuming was that the ID10T i was talking to when i called them to b1tch at them said "no, we won't be able to do a commercial for personal use on your vehicle" which i know to be a lie because many of you did it that way with Progressive.

At that point, i just told her to have a good day (i was hoping she would fall off her chair, minimum...) and hung up.

Too bad you can't really slam down a cell phone...unless you want to buy a new one

my guess is once you get fully cancelled if you played dumb and called back and asked for a commercial policy they would write it....
-Christopher

[Dana]

Specifically my title states it is a "MH" Motor Home. I know there is a different designation for a Private Motor Coach, and I think a RV.

I do not know if it will make any difference when it comes to insurance.

I have been calling around and I have found a few companies that say they "can" insure a private conversion but they want pictures of the finished bus. Mine is far from finished at this point.

I have been trying to make clear I want just Liability insurance, figuring they will be more inclined to insure me if they know they are not on the hook if the thing burns down. At least not for replacement value.

Having it titled as a MH did clear me of my Code Violation. Its all about the paperwork. If the title has a BUS in the box, it has to be moved. Change that title to say MH in that little box and I can leave it where its parked. Amazing.

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

my guess is once you get fully cancelled if you played dumb and called back and asked for a commercial policy they would write it....
-Christopher

That's the plan....

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[skoolie_n00bie]

Originally Posted by Dana

Specifically my title states it is a "MH" Motor Home. I know there is a different designation for a Private Motor Coach, and I think a RV.

I do not know if it will make any difference when it comes to insurance.

I have been calling around and I have found a few companies that say they "can" insure a private conversion but they want pictures of the finished bus. Mine is far from finished at this point.

I have been trying to make clear I want just Liability insurance, figuring they will be more inclined to insure me if they know they are not on the hook if the thing burns down. At least not for replacement value.

Having it titled as a MH did clear me of my Code Violation. Its all about the paperwork. If the title has a BUS in the box, it has to be moved. Change that title to say MH in that little box and I can leave it where its parked. Amazing.

Exactly. Once paperwork is all in order, "da man" can go suck a rotten egg....

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Robin97396]

If you don't get the right answer, keep trying with different agents, or...

What underwriters told me to do was contact a local insurance agent. That's the little guy in a house converted to an office, sometimes. They usually have about 13 companies that they deal with and they hook you up with the... well, Progressive commercial for private use because it's the only one. They did take a couple pictures of the left and right quarter angles of the front exterior. Gotta love those tinted windows. The insurance agent said I taught her something new that day. That's a first for me, but it didn't get me any discounts. And the difference between our rigs is I am actually registered as a van. A huge van, but like a Chevy van. Skooby doo.

[Buzzard]

This will reiterate the info kindly provided at the beginning of this thread.

I went to the tax office in Lake Wales (Polk County) a week ago with paperwork in-hand. The clerk was friendly and seemed to indicate that everything should go smoothly. She gave me a temporary tag so I could drive to a scale and get a weight certificate and told me to come back with it.

Returned today with my certificate and everything started going south. A different clerk, two supervisors, and someone in Tallahassee were all convinced that I needed to drive the bus to Tampa for an inspection in its completed state, which mine is nowhere near, and present receipts for all of the "parts" I used to assemble the vehicle. They claimed it was the only way to change the title. The problem was that they were reading from the wrong procedure document:

TL-43 APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF TITLE FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE, MOBILE
HOME, MOTORCYCLE OR A TRAILER ASSEMBLED FROM PARTS

When I challenged this notion, stating that I certainly did not assemble anything from parts, they dug in. They claimed that adding the electrical or plumbing counted as adding parts, and that removing the seats constituted modifying the body. Ugh.

I had read this thread many months earlier and I suggested that the problem was that they were trying to apply the wrong procedure, that I was quite sure I had read a different procedure that applied.

The supervisor set aside my docs and allowed me to look up the procedures online on my phone.Ten minutes later I had located TL-13 and asked them to print it. I then read to them out loud, like some sort of evangelist, the following:

II. DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED AND SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:

F. Conversion Affidavit:
In the case of an individual converting their own vehicle and requesting to have the
identity changed on the title in order to have it registered and licensed as a recreational
vehicle, the customer must submit an affidavit to the tax collector. The affidavit must
certify that the unit has been converted to the extent to include one of the aforementioned
items to qualify it as a recreational vehicle

EXAMPLE:
This is to certify that I, ______________, owner of a (Year) __________,
(Make)_______, (VIN) ___________________, hereby request the vehicle be classified
as recreational vehicle for the following reason:
( ) Installed 110 volt electrical wiring
( ) Installed LP gas piping
( ) Installed plumbing system

This makes it clear that only one item of the three needs to be installed, and also eliminates the notion that the conversion must be completed or inspected.

After another thirty minutes or so on the phone with Tallahassee, they were unable to find a way to tell me 'no'.

Lessons:

1) This is a rare enough procedure that it seems most of the clerks/management are not familiar with it and will cling to the most restrictive procedure they know.

2) In addition to the required paperwork, print the TL-13 and bring it with you for reference. It will cut down on the confusion and delay--and the stress!

Both ladies I dealt with were pleasant and open-minded once I calmly insisted that there was another procedure that I was missing. Every time I've gone to a tax office in Florida I get the same friendly and helpful attitudes. They just didn't know what to do this time.

Additional note: If you own an old Florida tag, you can save over $200 by using it on your RV. I did not know this, but overheard something about it on my first visit. I took an old plate from a van that I sold back in 2008 off my garage wall and, sure enough, they gave me a credit for it. Who knew?

Here is the link (again) for the TL-13 procedure document pdf: http://www3.flhsmv.gov/dmv/Proc/TL/TL-13.PDF

[Dana]

Buzzard, sorry to hear of your troubles.

I was being harassed by the local code enforcement, its not allowed to have a bus, which they classify as a commercial vehicle parked in my driveway.

I created my affidavit, took it to a local ship & mail and got it notarized. I stated we had a 110 volt system, which we did, basically.

I then took the notarized affidavit along with the full TL-13 documentation printed out (all 11 pages) and gave the whole mess to the woman at the tax office.

The people there had no clue as to what to do either. But they did read the papers and with limited discussion and delay they changed my title to read MH (motor home).

The code enforcement guy was satisfied, if not a bit puzzled, with the new title. As long as the paperwork says RV, or Motor Home we are not in violation of any codes.

I have found this is typical of most things I do. You must know what the person’s job is before you start. If you count on them to know what to do, you’ll run into trouble.

We are about two-thirds way through the conversion. The bus is not on the road and we have not driven it but up and down out street, maybe 100 feet. The only insurance companies that I have found want photos of the finished RV before they will give us insurance.

Thanks Buzzard for the tip on the license plate. As luck will have it we’ve got an extra one.

If anyone has any info on insurance for an “almost” completed conversion, I’d love to know.

[milkmania]

I'm just waiting for a campground to kick me to the curb because I don't have an RVIA sticker on my bus

[tobeamiss]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Good to know...
I keep bidding on buses and no matter how high I go someone always outbids me. Every time.
When I finally do land one, I'll need someone to definitely give me a policy. Thats always been a problem in the past.
Thanks for the contact info, may just need it.

at 39 seconds left to my auction I entered my price....waited for the page to load...which then read "you have met the reserve"....and then bingobango!!! I won!!

you can do it!

[cadillackid]

that bluebird shorty I got just seemed to sit there.. maybe because its a little less known auctioneer? there was mine and one other that werew nearly the same bus..

itreally seemed like there were less than 10 different names bidding on all the busses combined.. one other person bid on mine but never bid again..

govdeals, public surplus, ebay all get huge followings..and always those 2 people that use dealer prices as their gauge of "good deal" so they will bid a bus way up against each other till its like just 500 or 1000 away from a dealer price and still think they got a good deal..

maybe your trick needs to be to find less known auctioneers to go bid in where the following isnt so huge..

-Christopher

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by tobeamiss

at 39 seconds left to my auction I entered my price....waited for the page to load...which then read "you have met the reserve"....and then bingobango!!! I won!!

you can do it!

That quote of mine you made must have been from a while back. I've had a bus for a couple years+.
Or maybe I was talking about all the shorties I bid on for sport.
Fingers crossed... I may be the owner of a shorty soon.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

that bluebird shorty I got just seemed to sit there.. maybe because its a little less known auctioneer? there was mine and one other that werew nearly the same bus..

itreally seemed like there were less than 10 different names bidding on all the busses combined.. one other person bid on mine but never bid again..

govdeals, public surplus, ebay all get huge followings..and always those 2 people that use dealer prices as their gauge of "good deal" so they will bid a bus way up against each other till its like just 500 or 1000 away from a dealer price and still think they got a good deal..

maybe your trick needs to be to find less known auctioneers to go bid in where the following isnt so huge..

-Christopher

Yeah, its always worth looking around. OUr local auction is rife with exporters. Run of the mill low spec buses go for 8 grand and well on up from there!

[tobeamiss]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

That quote of mine you made must have been from a while back. I've had a bus for a couple years+.
Or maybe I was talking about all the shorties I bid on for sport.
Fingers crossed... I may be the owner of a shorty soon.

oh duh. lesson learned....remember to look at the date!!!

[National Peanut!]

Hello, fellow Floridian skoolies! If the stars align, I hope to drive a newly purchased bus back to Tallahassee next month. Does anyone have experience with acquiring a temporary/"in transit" license plate for an out-of-state bus purchased by a Florida resident? Ironically, that seems to be the only scenario not explicitly outlined on the State of Florida Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) website. Here's a link to the form that seems somewhat applicable, however, if the FLHSMV isn't the "authorized issuing agency," my extremely limited understanding of this whole process will become even shakier. : /

Application for Temporary License Plate

The bus I hope to buy does not currently have a license plate so I'll need some sort of tag for highway travel. I was also planning to hold off on insuring the bus until after I'm able to have it retitled as a Motor Home/RV (the distinction between the two being another confusing aspect to the conversion "legalization" process!) so any suggestions or information on similar scenarios would be most appreciated!

~ Leslie

[BowserJournal]

Well we just got back from our journey to the DMV. Journee (we gave her a name) is now recognized as a Motor Home. A special thanks to all those who posted in this thread. I did as suggested. I printed out Procedure TL-13, printed and notarized a Conversion Affidavit, and took pictures of the inside, outside, speedometer, and the weight sticker on the Bus...er ehem.. Motor Home.

The lady didn't know what to do when I told her I was converting a heavy truck (so I complied with 320.01 (10)). I told her I had researched it and it fell under procedure TL-13 and I had the notarized conversion affidavit. She had to consult with her supervisor because she did not have the admin rights to change the title in the system. Once the supervisor changed that it was smooth sailing. I did not need the pictures or any of the other documentation I had brought!

Now to insure her and get tags.....

[Robin97396]

National Peanut, you only need temp tags to put on your bus. Your current insurance legally covers newly purchased vehicles for a specified period of time, often 15 to 30 days in most states. Get the temp tags in either state.

Try not to smile so much as you're driving it home. After you stop smiling, try to stop white knuckling the steering wheel. I had a temp tag that wasn't visible through my tinted windows and I drove around for several weeks before receiving the plates and never got stopped. People don't look at school buses twice.

[BowserJournal]

Our experience was pretty much the same.

[Robin97396]

Hot dang, there's a lot of you folks down in FL.