It looks like I need a new insurance company

[o1marc]

Wow, State Farm really came through for me. When I first enquired about insuring the RV they quoted over $800. My Progressive policy expires on Fri., so I called my agent back to get the numbers to use as comparison. He got back with me and said the numbers were looking very good. $303/yr for full cover and only $95 for liability only for the whole year.

[gs1949]

That's great news. I have not completely given up on State Farm.

[eyedeal.ink]

Did you ever get insurance?

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by eyedeal.ink

Did you ever get insurance?

I still don't... =(

[gs1949]

Same here, getting closer, next month I hope.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by vintageracer

Wanna solve your problems??

MOVE!!!

At least as far as your legal residency is concerned!

Per your post you will soon be "Homeless" so why not establish a legal residence in South Dakota?

Easy to do, legal mailing address, cheaper insurance rates, register your bus there and other benefits. Afterall you gotta legally live somewhere even if you are NEVER there!

This may be a solution to your problems to your residency, vehicle registration and insurance issues.

Worth a look as there are several companies that offer these services.

https://gnomadhome.com/becoming-south-dakota-residents/

https://www.escapees.com/education/d.../south-dakota/

Come to Washington

I have insured three buses here with State Farm at reasonable rates. I have had auto, homeowners and life policies with them for 20 years and they have treated me well. I have insured buses with them in NV, AZ and WA.

When I first started out I was based in Oregon and insured my bus with Miller Insurance in lk. Oswego. That was a few years ago

Good luck.

[cofrari]

I'm not in WA, but I got turned down by State Farm because it was a conversion and not professionally converted. Although Allstate had no problem insuring me. I'm paying $280 a year with Allstate for full coverage with $500,000 liability.

[gs1949]

I am back to thinking very seriously about South Dakota. But now looking once again at some of the links on this thread I see there's one video that discusses then current laws affecting residence in a list of states, and Nevada is on that list. Nevada is in top spot on my personal list of states I might like to move to, so I am getting ready to do some comparing.

But I still have not gotten my WA schoolbus title converted to an OR motorhome title. They want a lot of money for that, so I have been stalling.

But now I am thinking that maybe I should make a point of doing the title conversion before I try to register the bus in South Dakota.

Does anyone have any experience with title conversion in either South Dakota or Nevada?

[cofrari]

Many of us (including me) have done Vermont registration despite not living in Vermont. Registration including converting from bus to motor home was $73. If you want them to send you a physical title (which you don't need if your bus is over 15-years old), it is $38 more. So $111 total for registration, plates and title. And Vermont had no problem mailing it all to CT in my case.

[gs1949]

I am a very long way from Vermont, which may not be too relevant. My main question is what can one do for insurance when they live in one state and drive a bus registered in another state?

I can't see the local State Farm Agency here in this small town being very enthusiastic about writing a policy for me in that case. And I'm picking on State Farm here because I have experience with them over the years, and for the majority of the questions I have asked them the answer has been no.

I guess I will search for forum threads on retitling in Vermont. I have seen quite a few of those, but never read any because Vermont is so far from Oregon. Thanks for the suggestion. I will do some research on this too.

[Lissaft]

Originally Posted by cofrari

Many of us (including me) have done Vermont registration despite not living in Vermont. Registration including converting from bus to motor home was $73. If you want them to send you a physical title (which you don't need if your bus is over 15-years old), it is $38 more. So $111 total for registration, plates and title. And Vermont had no problem mailing it all to CT in my case.

@Corfrari
Mind if I ask who you're insured with? I DO live in Vermont (although I'm still a Washington DC resident - waiting to change over residency until I sell my house in DC this spring/summer).
Anyways, I just called up my State Farm agent (who I've got my car and renters insurance with), and they were baffled at the idea of insuring a bus-rv-thing

Conversation:
Agent "so whats the make and model again???"
Me "it's probably going to be a Crown Supercoach, either a 1988 or a 1990"
....silence. *clicking of his keyboard* re-asks make and model (x3)
Agent "....is it a buuussss??" (pitch getting high and uncertain)
Me *sighs. It was. Now it's a Rec Vehicle.
Agent "...I've honestly never dealt with this before, um...can I call our underwriting team and get back to you?"

[sutphinins]

Originally Posted by Lissaft

Anyways, I just called up my State Farm agent (who I've got my car and renters insurance with), and they were baffled at the idea of insuring a bus-rv-thing

Conversation:
Agent "so whats the make and model again???"
Me "it's probably going to be a Crown Supercoach, either a 1988 or a 1990"
....silence. *clicking of his keyboard* re-asks make and model (x3)
Agent "....is it a buuussss??" (pitch getting high and uncertain)
Me *sighs. It was. Now it's a Rec Vehicle.
Agent "...I've honestly never dealt with this before, um...can I call our underwriting team and get back to you?"

That's actually a good thing. The agent didn't say no, they said let me check with underwriters and let you know.

My introduction to bus rv conversions was a forum member randomly calling and asking if I could insure a bus rv. I told him I didn't know and let me make some calls. Turned out at the time I could if it was already converted.

He shared my info here, I joined the forum and now have a handful of VA conversions insured.

[NavyVet]

Currently reside in Florida.
Yeah, State Farm insures mine. The agent had delt with many before so he knew what to do.
There are alot of Schoolies in Florida

[Bodhisava]

Originally Posted by NavyVet

Currently reside in Florida.
Yeah, State Farm insures mine. The agent had delt with many before so he knew what to do.
There are alot of Schoolies in Florida

Just bought a Turtle Box Transit. Haven't convert it yet. My State Farm agent can only insure it as commercial.

Need your agent's number to see if they can help.

Kin

[flattracker]

I have my Crowns insured by State farm, in Oregon. Before you go to insure it and then go to Oregon DMV, remove the seats (maybe keep one or two), install a bed, and a cook stove (not a hot plate). State farm required a picture of the inside of my second Crown showing no seats before insuring. DMV measured the length of the bus, examined the cook stove and the bed. They registered it as an RV. Insurance isn't super cheap, but doable. Oregon does not do vehicle inspection (like brakes, tires, lights, etc) but good brakes steering, etc are common sense.
In my case, the three burner cook stove was mounted securely to a bathroom vanity, which was mounted to the floor of the bus. My bed was my own design, similar to a waterbed, but with a conventional mattress. Since I had the bus insured before I picked it up, I was able to go to DMV and get a trip permit with the title and insurance policy number. Oregon bases the fees on the length of the RV, hence the reason to measure it.


I hope this helps.

[Bodhisava]

Just checked with my insurance agent. In the state of Florida, vehicle weight over 10,001 lbs and up have to be insured as commercial.

There is a wheel chair lift on my bus so if I take it out, it will be under 10K lbs and can be insured as personal vehicle. As a personal vehicle, I can use it for camping, traveling etc. As long as I don't plan to live in it. My plan is to use it for traveling 365 days per year!

[ewo1]

Originally Posted by Bodhisava

Just checked with my insurance agent. In the state of Florida, vehicle weight over 10,001 lbs and up have to be insured as commercial.

There is a wheel chair lift on my bus so if I take it out, it will be under 10K lbs and can be insured as personal vehicle. As a personal vehicle, I can use it for camping, traveling etc. As long as I don't plan to live in it. My plan is to use it for traveling 365 days per year!

Sounds easy-Peasy, register it at 9800 lbs, dot will probably never ever weigh it so as you’ll never have to pull into a weigh station… I’d go for it!

[taw9]

The short bus I have my eye on is in Washington and is licensed as a bus. All but two of the seats are out. So, I just learned that Oregon law will not permit it to be insured as an RV until the conversion is done, so it is technically an incomplete conversion. This means I cannot insure it even to drive it home to Oregon.
National General wanted a photo, and perhaps I was too honest in revealing the situation; it is licensed as a bus, but it is neither a bus nor a completed conversion, so it is nada. Many pieces of the puzzle need to fit together to make this work. Any creative solutions to get through this maze of restrictions? How many seats constitute the definition of a bus?

[Mountain Gnome]

Originally Posted by taw9

The short bus I have my eye on is in Washington and is licensed as a bus. All but two of the seats are out. So, I just learned that Oregon law will not permit it to be insured as an RV until the conversion is done, so it is technically an incomplete conversion. This means I cannot insure it even to drive it home to Oregon.
National General wanted a photo, and perhaps I was too honest in revealing the situation; it is licensed as a bus, but it is neither a bus nor a completed conversion, so it is nada. Many pieces of the puzzle need to fit together to make this work. Any creative solutions to get through this maze of restrictions? How many seats constitute the definition of a bus?

I bought a $35 bunk bed off craigslist, a wire shelf from Home Depot, and a 2 burner propane stove. Mounted the stove on the shelf, tied the shelf to the wall with utility cord, and stuck the bed in the middle. That qualified for Oregon to give me an RV title change. In fact, they never even looked. "If you want it titled as an RV, we will title it as an RV" is what they told me when I asked if the bed needed to be bolted down. From there I started on the final build, ditched the bunk bed, and framed a better bed with storage underneath that I could actually sit up in. Still have the wire shelf (bolted to the wall now), but need to ditch the Wally-world stove for a real Coleman 2-burner propane. Oregon is easy.

[flattracker]

My experience when I brought my "new Crown" to the DMV in Lakeview was:


He measured it for length at 39'


He went inside and inspected the bed, which is constructed from wood and has a queen size mattress installed. The bed was secured to the floor at the rear of the bus.



He inspected the cooking facilities. It was a 3 burner propane stove secured to a cheap countertop that was secured to a bathroom vanity. The vanity was secured to the floor of the bus. I assured him one could cook a meal on that stove. He agreed. He also stated that items like a hot plate wouldn't have passed musteMr. My propane tank was connected through a regulator and the tank was in the vanity.


He was happy, and I was happy.

In eastern Oregon there aren't many govment officials. Lake county has one DMV office with one employee. If he can't make it on a given day a substitute from Klamath falls fills in and they have a 180 mile commute that day. Lake county is larger than the state of Connecticut plus Rhode island.

Both of my Crowns are registered as motor homes.
My insurance policy is rated as commercial and State Farm may change that when the conversion is finished. They charge me more to insure the Crown than they do for my house. Today and yesterday was mostly lost to do any work as going outside is like standing on the wrong side of a campfire. We are about 12 miles from the Bootleg Fire and waiting on possible evacuation orders. Currently it is not elevated where I am at but part of Bly is on level II notice. The Bootleg fire has burned over 150,000 acres so far. I will pass on the word. At least I am insured.