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Old 05-21-2012, 06:43 PM   #1
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PLEASE HELP Registering a Chevy G30 Short Bus in Michigan

Hey guys. I'm new here.

I manage a band and we just purchased a short bus for our first tour. We're having some trouble getting our bus registered. The body type on the titled is a MH (Motor Home). Thus, the Secretary of State is saying that we need to get our bus weighed and inspected before I can even register it. I guess this is the typical process for these types of vehicles. Is that fair to assume?

So before doing any of this, we took out all the seats, because we were planning on putting some van seats or couches in there. Should we put in these seats before we get it inspected? What is the proper way to do this?

A big question I have is also concerning the proper, legal way to install custom seating, i.e., van seats or couches. Are there any resources anyone here can recommend for this sort of thing?

Obviously, I'm very green when it comes to anything related to school bus conversion. Hopefully these are issues that some of you have seen before and you can give some helpful advice.

Thanks a lot!

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Old 05-24-2012, 02:15 AM   #2
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Re: PLEASE HELP Registering a Chevy G30 Short Bus in Michiga

in practically all states, a vehicle that is licensed as a motor home has to have one or more of the following: permanent cooking facilities, sleeping facilities or lav.
i don't think seats will matter, but i haven't checked the internet to see what michigan says, but i am pretty sure it wont be too far off if this. it doesnt mean that they have to be actually permanent.... if an inside inspection is required there, all they will look at is to see if there is a bed, or a stove and maybe a tiny apt frig... i have licensed conversions in 5 diff states, and never have i had anyone check inside.

what you gotta do is call up or send someone over to a dmv that you are not going to take it to and ask them what the rules are, but they are probably online as well.

most all inspections will be for mechanical... ie headlights, muffler, wipers, and stuff like tires, although most motorhomes do not have the same level scrutiny on the tires that your over the road ones get.. cause here in oregon we now only get 3 blemishes on our tractors... where as on my bus half the tires wouldn't pass.

and, its a short bus, so maybe they go by regular car standards instead of the heavy truck ones.

as far as seating.. i dont imagine there is a problem as long as they are bolted down, and the seat belt mounts are in the proper positions..

i think you have less to worry about than you think...
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Old 05-25-2012, 09:52 PM   #3
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Re: PLEASE HELP Registering a Chevy G30 Short Bus in Michiga

Are you trying to keep the Motor home designation? or are you looking to just get it registered as something.

I have a GMC 3500 short bus (same as chevy G30) that I registered a couple of years ago in Wisconsin. The options I had here were
1)if I kept over half of the seating capacity in the bus and it was under 10,000lbs, it would be considered similar to a 15 passenger van/ car and would get auto plates.
2) if I took all of the seats out I could title it as a 1 ton cargo van and put 10k plates on it.
car plates are about half the yearly fee so I went that way.

Each option required stating over and over that it would not be used commercially!

Your state might have similar options.

When I had my initial inspection to prove lights removed / color was not school yellow, I left the seats in until I had my plates and then I rearranged seats later to what I wanted.

Good luck!
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Old 03-02-2013, 09:32 PM   #4
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Re: PLEASE HELP Registering a Chevy G30 Short Bus in Michiga

I have a Chevy G30 short school bus, walked into the DMV and handed the lady the title, walked out $129.00 later with a title for a van.

This was in the state of Tennessee, county of Obion, about two months ago.
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Old 03-03-2013, 10:36 AM   #5
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Re: PLEASE HELP Registering a Chevy G30 Short Bus in Michiga

Search for the user "lapeer20m" on this forum. He is well known for his jacuzzi buses. He is from Michigan and I recall him talking about his titling process numerous times. I don't believe he went the MH route with his.
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