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Old 04-10-2018, 11:57 PM   #401
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UPDATE: Per the moderator of this forum, this thread will be kept updated with the most recent information based on member experiences. Registration costs increase by a few dollars every now and then so check for yourself before sending out your money.
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I've used this method frequently for old abandoned motorcycles I bought that had no title.

Many states have hoops that they'll make you jump through before they'll designate your skoolie as an RV. "Meet four out of seven requirements" or such nonsense. New York, where I reside, is one of those states. They are a PITA with everything vehicle related, and I know many states are following in the same suit.

Vermont, on the other hand, is not one of these states. As of the date I'm writing this, all they requested from me was that I remove the school insignia and repaint the bus. They didn't require an inspection or proof of conversion. It should be noted, however, that I have a bus with hydraulic brakes -- although, under motor home classification they don't even ask about air brakes. Check with your state to see if you need anything extra to drive with air brakes.

Vermont will offer a transferrable registration for any vehicle over 15 years old. They won't give you a title -- but fear not, you can use this registration to then title your bus in your resident state if it's really that big of an issue. Realistically, it shouldn't be. I have been using out of state plates in NY for years without issue. If your bus is newer than 15 years you will receive a bonafide Vermont title.

- First and foremost, for transferable registrations (<15yrs), make sure you include a copy of your title. If you are expecting to receive a title (>15yrs) be sure to include your ORIGINAL title. If your bus has no title, make sure you have a bill of sale and a vin verification, verifying it's not stolen. As of now (01/01/17), it seems that a vin verification is only necessary if you have no ownership papers.

Vermont's application is named VD119. It is the appplication used for title, registration, renewal, transfer, tax, et cetera. Listed below are the steps I used to complete the form:

- Fill out Section 1 with your basic personal information.

- You can skip Sections 2 and 3A. To be safe, I completed 3B with the sellers info.

- Under Section 4, check "new registration". Skip the bit about plate # and expiration, as this is a new registration. When it asks for your registration/plate type, manually write in "Motor Home" followed by 19. I believe this is the code they use in the system to designate personal use.

- Fill out Section 5 with the relevant info from your title. If you do not have a title, fill it out as best you can. Beneath that, just to be safe, I listed the amount of axles, empty weight, and gross weight of my bus under "trucks".

- Under Section 6, write in the price you purchased the bus for. Vermont uses the purchase value -- or the listed NADA value -- whichever is greater, to calculate sales tax. Most buses are not listed in NADA. In this case, simply use 6 percent of what you paid for the bus. In my case, 2550 x .06(%) = $153. Write your total under "Net Taxable".

- Leave Section 7 blank unless you are tax exempt or purchasing a vehicle over 25 yrs old. I do not know how that works if your vehicle is older.

Add up your fees in Section 9 and figure out the total. For most of us, this should just be the registration fee for a Motor Home (As of now, $76 for one year or $140 for two years) and the tax calculated previously in Section 6.

If, however, your bus is newer than 15 years, and you are expecting a title back, include an extra $35 title fee. Check should be issued to "Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles" for the total combined amount. For added comfort, add an ADDITIONAL handwritten page outlining what you would like to accomplish and itemizing the fees you are paying.

So just to be repetitive:

Transferable registrations: Buses 15 years or older, include COPY of title + bill of sale + completed application + registration fee ($76/1yr or $140/2yrs) + 6% VT tax (or proof that tax has already been paid) + handwritten note itemizing your costs

Titles: Buses newer than 15 years old, include ORIGINAL title + bill of sale + completed application + registration fee ($76 or $140) + title fee ($35) + 6% VT tax (or proof it's paid) + handwritten note itemizing your costs

**If you do not have a transferable registration or title from the previous owner, include a vin verification.**

Sign your application at the bottom and mail all that stuff in to the Vermont DMV at:

Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles
120 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05603-0001

Wait 2 weeks and call to check the status of your application. If there are no problems turnaround a generally 2-3 weeks. Your bus is now legally registered as an RV regardless of your geographic location and the title or transferable registration that was issued will make it possible to retitle your bus in your home state with (hopefully) no issues, should you so choose. For most of us full timers it doesn't really matter as we're all over the place geographically.

Hope this helps everyone else struggling in the more difficult states. Leave a comment and tell me about your experiences.

Example:

Hi I'm thinking about making a skoolie from a short bus and I have a question that I don't even know if there's an answer to besides don't get caught. So basically my dad is active duty in Florida right now(where we live right now) but since he's active duty we didn't have to change r Alaskan residence. I want to get my bus registered for Alaska if I can but if I cannot I'll probably try to do the Vermont loophole you have talked about. So how would that work cus I would have a Alaskan drivers license in Florida with Vermont plates so if I get pulled over that would be kind of awkward.

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Old 04-11-2018, 08:07 AM   #402
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Yes, I would get the DL to match the registration, and maintain a "just passing through" cover story, not get work or enroll in school.
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Old 04-11-2018, 10:30 AM   #403
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It's not awkward at all and I wouldn't change a thing. You'd just explain your dad is active duty. It doesn't affect the VT application at all. I believe active duty military is exempt from the types of problems you're referring to anyway, otherwise you'd have to renew your registration every 6 months.
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Old 04-11-2018, 08:54 PM   #404
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Yes, I would get the DL to match the registration, and maintain a "just passing through" cover story, not get work or enroll in school.
To late already work 😂😂😂
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Old 04-11-2018, 08:56 PM   #405
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Thx man looking forward to hopefully making my skoolie this summer ur post has been super helpful for planning on how this is going to work cus I'm kind of new to the idea of this
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Old 04-13-2018, 01:33 PM   #406
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I'm new to the US, so please excuse me for dumb follow-up questions:

What's the process of retitling in my home state (CA)? Purchasing a bus. I register it in Vermont with the pink slip I get from the seller of the bus? Is that the title, the bill of sale? Then Vermont gives me a transferrable registration and I take both to the DMV in CA to register it there? Won't they ask silly questions about the Vermont thing? How do I explain that?

I will have to have all the RV requirements anyway to get insurance from Good Sam, seems to be the only option here. So I might just take it to the CA DMV... Vermont sounds a lot less stressful though.
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Old 04-13-2018, 05:12 PM   #407
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I'm new to the US, so please excuse me for dumb follow-up questions:

What's the process of retitling in my home state (CA)? Purchasing a bus. I register it in Vermont with the pink slip I get from the seller of the bus? Is that the title, the bill of sale? Then Vermont gives me a transferrable registration and I take both to the DMV in CA to register it there? Won't they ask silly questions about the Vermont thing? How do I explain that?

I will have to have all the RV requirements anyway to get insurance from Good Sam, seems to be the only option here. So I might just take it to the CA DMV... Vermont sounds a lot less stressful though.
I currently reside temporarily in California. I home base in Texas. My bus was purchased in Colorado and then licensed in Vermont through the aforementioned process. I don't intend to transfer it to California, Texas, or ????. Too many hoops to jump through. When you live on the road, it doesn't matter.

Tim
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Old 04-13-2018, 05:57 PM   #408
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[QUOTE=a_wandering_muse;263808 When you live on the road, it doesn't matter.

Tim[/QUOTE]

Yeah you're right, but we don't. We will be traveling around in it, but for the most part we will be in the same are, even in the same place, if we find a good one.
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Old 04-13-2018, 08:02 PM   #409
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Wait 'til then.

Local cops getting to know you, getting work etc may be the trigger.

Some states give six months?

CA in particular is tighter on this.
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Old 04-15-2018, 10:47 PM   #410
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Wait 'til then.

Local cops getting to know you, getting work etc may be the trigger.

Some states give six months?

CA in particular is tighter on this.
Wait with registration til converaion is done? Did you mean that?
Might not be possible because I have to drive it from home/parking to the place where I'll be working on it. First thing needs to be making it street legal.
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Old 04-20-2018, 06:45 PM   #411
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Just chiming in but I wouldn't do this if you plan to full time in California. They have a program that rewards you for ratting out your neighbor for having out of state plates. I wouldnt risk it if I was in CA.
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Old 04-20-2018, 07:59 PM   #412
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Wait with registration til converaion is done? Did you mean that?
No, I mean keep yourself presented as a traveller that started out in Vermont, until you find a place you want to stick around for a while.

Only when you've been in the same place for a while, register for school, work etc or local cops get to know you, do you need to switch the registration over.
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Old 04-29-2018, 07:13 PM   #413
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Hi All,

I am about to attempt to register a newly purchased bus in VT as a MH.

My questions are these:

The GVWR on this bus is 35,180 lbs, unladen weight is 20,960 lbs. When filling out form VD119 do I declare the GVWR above 26,001 or will that kill the transaction? or does it matter? I'm trying to avoid a CDL.

Also this bus has Air brakes. Do I need to check that off or can I leave it blank?

My goal is to register it in VT get the Bus to MA on those VT plates and then complete the conversion, then transfer over to MA plates..


The bus is a 1986 Crown..

Thanks..
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Old 04-29-2018, 08:36 PM   #414
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Originally Posted by tdbb3828 View Post
Hi All,



I am about to attempt to register a newly purchased bus in VT as a MH.



My questions are these:



The GVWR on this bus is 35,180 lbs, unladen weight is 20,960 lbs. When filling out form VD119 do I declare the GVWR above 26,001 or will that kill the transaction? or does it matter? I'm trying to avoid a CDL.



Also this bus has Air brakes. Do I need to check that off or can I leave it blank?



My goal is to register it in VT get the Bus to MA on those VT plates and then complete the conversion, then transfer over to MA plates..





The bus is a 1986 Crown..



Thanks..

I will neither confirm nor deny that my gvwr sticker in the bus says 30,000 and my VT registration says 26,000.
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Old 04-29-2018, 08:49 PM   #415
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a vin search would pull the factory gvwr, so id be careful
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Old 04-29-2018, 09:24 PM   #416
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I thought paper de-rating is no problem, as long as you never actually load more than you declare?
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Old 04-29-2018, 09:39 PM   #417
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Can anyone chime in on that? That would save the hassle of getting my non cdl class b
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Old 04-30-2018, 10:13 AM   #418
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Couple questions regarding the form...

At the very top, the shaded area with old #1, new #1, new #2, and everything to the right....do i need to fill out this area?

Under number 1 - off the the right it asks for Vermont License #. Do i need my TX DL anywhere on this form?

Number 9 - It appears this is a price breakdown? Is there where i itemize the charges to explain money order amount?
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Old 05-06-2018, 10:45 PM   #419
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Yeah! Finally got titled as motor home in my home state. I did a one year registration with Vermont. Before that expired I brought in my Vermont title and registration to my local title office and said "I need to get this titled and registered in Louisiana now." It is not insured yet so I can't get it licensed yet, but I sure am glad I was able to get it titled as a motor home with out all the mess Louisiana wants you to go through. I did have to pay taxes again in Louisiana but I knew that was coming. Click image for larger version

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Old 05-07-2018, 08:43 PM   #420
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Yeah! Finally got titled as motor home in my home state. I did a one year registration with Vermont. Before that expired I brought in my Vermont title and registration to my local title office and said "I need to get this titled and registered in Louisiana now." It is not insured yet so I can't get it licensed yet, but I sure am glad I was able to get it titled as a motor home with out all the mess Louisiana wants you to go through. I did have to pay taxes again in Louisiana but I knew that was coming. Attachment 21768
That's great news! Did Louisiana ask you why the bus was registered in Vermont under your name if you were a resident of Louisiana?

That's my big question. Will my state (Arizona) ask me how I got my skoolie registered in Vermont if I wasn't a citizen there?
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