PA RV Title Conversion Help

[thestapletonsmusic]

We just bought a 1998 72 passenger bus with a DT466 engine from 422 Auto Auctions in Slippery Rock, PA. We bought it Title Only, with the plan to convert the title to RV. We know that we need an enhanced inspection in PA. Has anyone here ACTUALLY successfully done this? We've been researching the issue for months, and we keep getting conflicting information. I spoke with two different garages in the past week and the mechanics had very different ideas of what would pass. One guy insisted we had to have curtains on every window, another said he knew a church that put a fridge and a camp stove in with a bungee cord. Any recommendations for enhanced inspection mechanics are great (we're in Pittsburgh but willing to drive for this)

In your experience, what is the bare minimum I need to show with four of these requirements?

• Cooking appliance

• Refrigerator- how large

• Self-contained toilet

• Heating/Air conditioning

• Portable water supply

• Faucet and sink

• Separate 110/125 or LP gas supply

[musigenesis]

I don't personally recommend doing this, as I feel it's only possible because of an oversight on the part of PennDOT, but: a number of skoolie builders in PA have changed their title from BUS to MOTORHOME simply by mailing in the title change form with the new body type, and skipping the "modified vehicle" inspection and paperwork entirely.

My local tag and title person has actually guided three people through the skoolie process with the special inspection and separate form and everything. I mentioned to her that some people were bypassing this process by simply mailing in the title change form, and she was surprised by this and not sure how that would even be possible. She suspects that if someone did this and was ever in an accident or pulled over, the missing inspection would then be revealed and the title would be revoked.

From what I've read into the special inspection, the work needs to have been performed by a licensed mechanic, who needs to sign a form certifying that. So if you do the work yourself, it's not clear whether you could find a mechanic to sign the paperwork as that would probably make them legally liable in case of an accident.

I was originally going to go this route, but instead I'm probably just going to keep my bus registered in Vermont. The main inspection I'll be worried about is the one by my insurance company (Allstate) so that I can get full coverage instead of just the liability that I have now.

[Old Tin Legs]

Hey Musigenesis, just wanted to thank you for the info regarding getting our insurance with All State. Allowed us to drive home more reassured. The E450 made it home great barring an oil link from a blocked axel vent. Fixed that without too much hassle.

Speaking of hassle we are now on to the registration dilemma. We've already ruined one 'nimby' lady's year by parking our little stubby chubby bus on our green leafy road. She was going on about calling the police on the bus because we didn't have a title or inspection.

Thinking the Vermont registration might be a good shout in terms of giving us some breathing room to get the Conversion done. How long could we stay keeping it in Philly with a VT plate? I Read it takes quite a few weeks to get documentation back - plus what happens regarding the PA state inspection? Do you have any advice on the steps we could take to get things road legal asap? - this lady looks like she might go out of her way to cause trouble for us.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Old Tin Legs

Hey Musigenesis, just wanted to thank you for the info regarding getting our insurance with All State. Allowed us to drive home more reassured. The E450 made it home great barring an oil link from a blocked axel vent. Fixed that without too much hassle.

Speaking of hassle we are now on to the registration dilemma. We've already ruined one 'nimby' lady's year by parking our little stubby chubby bus on our green leafy road. She was going on about calling the police on the bus because we didn't have a title or inspection.

Thinking the Vermont registration might be a good shout in terms of giving us some breathing room to get the Conversion done. How long could we stay keeping it in Philly with a VT plate? I Read it takes quite a few weeks to get documentation back - plus what happens regarding the PA state inspection? Do you have any advice on the steps we could take to get things road legal asap? - this lady looks like she might go out of her way to cause trouble for us.

Ugh, the old lady could be a real problem. You should be able to keep the bus in Philly with VT plates indefinitely (and even keep your insurance with Allstate - I've had VT plates for a year and a half now). You don't need the PA state inspection (that's only needed for a PA registration) and while you do technically need a VT inspection, that would only be a legal issue if you actually drove in Vermont (Vermont will renew your registration even if you never have the inspection done).

However, I think there are laws in PA regarding how long you have before you are required to transfer a vehicle registered in another state to PA registration, so after 30 or 60 days or something like that you'd technically be in violation. It would never come up as an issue unless (unfortunately) somebody is trying to make trouble for you. Although it may not be a problem - I had a neighbor call Code Enforcement on me after I had my bus at my house for a month, and the CE guy was pretty disappointed when I showed him my valid VT motorhome registration, because it meant he couldn't give me the boot (in my town, you can store a motorhome on your own property if you like). He did not bring up the inspection issue.

VT registration might take a month or two these days (they're apparently a bit backlogged at the moment). To avoid a sudden court order giving you a day or three days or whatever, it might be good to line up a parking spot for your bus at an RV storage place or something like that. Something for $100 to $200 a month should be doable, although they may be a bit sparse where you are (Mt. Airy if I remember correctly?).

[Old Tin Legs]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Ugh, the old lady could be a real problem. You should be able to keep the bus in Philly with VT plates indefinitely (and even keep your insurance with Allstate - I've had VT plates for a year and a half now). You don't need the PA state inspection (that's only needed for a PA registration) and while you do technically need a VT inspection, that would only be a legal issue if you actually drove in Vermont (Vermont will renew your registration even if you never have the inspection done).

However, I think there are laws in PA regarding how long you have before you are required to transfer a vehicle registered in another state to PA registration, so after 30 or 60 days or something like that you'd technically be in violation. It would never come up as an issue unless (unfortunately) somebody is trying to make trouble for you. Although it may not be a problem - I had a neighbor call Code Enforcement on me after I had my bus at my house for a month, and the CE guy was pretty disappointed when I showed him my valid VT motorhome registration, because it meant he couldn't give me the boot (in my town, you can store a motorhome on your own property if you like). He did not bring up the inspection issue.

VT registration might take a month or two these days (they're apparently a bit backlogged at the moment). To avoid a sudden court order giving you a day or three days or whatever, it might be good to line up a parking spot for your bus at an RV storage place or something like that. Something for $100 to $200 a month should be doable, although they may be a bit sparse where you are (Mt. Airy if I remember correctly?).

Yeah, we're Mount Airy and you're right places off the road are in short supply but I might have a few leads should we need to do that. For now we have it on our drive but that has to be a temporary arrangement as we rent and it's a shared drive.

Vermont registration seems to be the most straightforward option - even contemplating a road trip up there to get it done plus not ventured that way before.

Other option is just to go the legit 'PA Way' proving its an RV seems to be straightforward enough according to the documentation:

If the applicant is requesting a change in the vehicle type to a motor home, additional photographs of at least four of the following components must be included with the application. These photographs must also be signed and dated by the enhanced vehicle safety inspector. If the vehicle is not equipped with at least four
of the following components, the application will be rejected when submitted to PennDOT for processing.
• Cooking appliance
• Self-contained toilet
• Portable water supply
• Separate 110/125 or LP gas supply
• Refrigerator
• Heating/Air conditioning • Faucet and sink

We already have heating and AC installed and I was wondering whether I could just fix in some of the other easier ones above just to tick the boxes.

Guessing the potential pitfalls would be the enhanced mechanical inspection which I have yet to find a detailed description of.

Was thinking I would contact someone at the DMV to find out exactly what's involved - ideally chat to an inspection mechanic. The bus is in good shape so think I'm leaning towards the PA title option as then I can officially give that old lady and her two horrendous mouse dogs zero grounds for her to hassle us.