Having a bit of trouble with licensing in Southern Illinois

Justinb.jackson903

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Joined
Mar 9, 2022
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47
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Illinois outside st louis Missouri
Well, my situation has become aggrevating here in Belleville, Illinois just outside St Louis Missouri. My bus is in no condition to use for a road test. It needs a new starter some lights and either a speed sensor or a new speedometer. Tracking down parts has become an issue. on the legal side of things because of my bus (37ft 2000 Thomas Saf t liner mvp er) I have to get my class b non cdl license. Passed the written test and have my learner's permit and no real way to get behind the wheel and noone around me somehow that has the right kind of vehicle nor the inclination to help me out. The other bit of legal paperwork to get it road test worthy is actually held up by getting 3 more forms signed off on. So literally at the moment i have an oversized novelty insured paperweight in storage and it keeps tripping me up when i try to get anything done. lol any advice or help would be appreciated.
 
Illinois is a pain for all things automotive. Have you looked into using Vermont to get registration? Not sure if that'll cause you more insurance headaches or not, but would skip the whole inspection thing.

I have a full CDL so can't speak to the legality of what license is required to drive a bus for non-commerical use before its full conversion to RV. It's the subject of great debate anyway :)
 
Illinois is a pain in the rear for everything not just automotive lol....but I don't have residency in Vermont can I still do that? I keep hearing Vermont method and all but never any details on it.

Yeah the licensing side in general for personal use if a state has a law about it is that you have to have a class b non CDL...and yeah it's a subject of debate....I did entertain the idea of getting a full CDL however now with the new course that you have to take and pay for it all it's even more money and a lot of the schools around here want a minimum of 5k for 8 weeks and I just don't have it in my budget.
 
There's a thread on the Vermont method here (quite long, its been updated a lot)
https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f18/...ur-bus-as-an-rv-without-conversion-15292.html
But yes, the beauty of it is anyone in the US can register a vehicle there without being a resident. Your local laws are probably going to require registration where you store it, so the idea is you can then simply transfer the now-RV status registration to your home state and avoid the rigamarole.

The new CDL training requirements definitely suck. I set myself up as an authorized federal training provider for guys I hire for my party bus business that have had a Class A or B for a decade but require new "training" just for a simple passenger endorsement (which ironically enough the Pass CLP has a restriction on it that they can't drive with passengers). The non-cdl class b makes sense for you but as you say, gotta have a vehicle to test in....
 
Yeah got to have something....I've looked into renting a similar vehicle for testing purposes and they all want me to already have the license...and I've checked outdoorsy site (like Airbnb but rvs) to see if I can rent one from a private owner and they all pretty much want a minimum 500 dollar deposit on top of it n the low end about 200 for a day....but there also still exists the issue of not having someone licensed that could at least ride with me to the site to say yes they drove there kind of thing.....the hoops we all have to jump through are all always on fire right lol
 
I got trained for my CDL by the school district I work for now as a school bus driver. I didn't pay anything (some districts around here even pay you a reduced wage for your training time, although mine doesn't do that) and it only amounted to something like six hours of learning to name the bus parts and six hours of driving. Then it was just four multiple-choice tests (took about 30 minutes total) and the driving test (plus a grueling 14-hour class for the "S" endorsement). Maybe you could get a gig as a school bus driver and get your CDL that way - it seems like every district in the country needs drivers right now.
 
That is an idea but typically those places want you to work there for a while afterwards so that they basically get their money's worth out of it.....you wouldn't happen to know if a school would be willing to let me rent a bus and driver from them for a day if I'm insured 2would you???....either way though this is an idea to at least consider.
 
you wouldn't happen to know if a school would be willing to let me rent a bus and driver from them for a day if I'm insured 2would you???

Never say never, but unless you find an employee who has an axe to grind w/ the district and wants to go out in a blaze of glory, that isn't happening. The legal liability would be enormous.
 
Well, my situation has become aggrevating here in Belleville, Illinois just outside St Louis Missouri. My bus is in no condition to use for a road test. It needs a new starter some lights and either a speed sensor or a new speedometer. Tracking down parts has become an issue. on the legal side of things because of my bus (37ft 2000 Thomas Saf t liner mvp er) I have to get my class b non cdl license. Passed the written test and have my learner's permit and no real way to get behind the wheel and noone around me somehow that has the right kind of vehicle nor the inclination to help me out. The other bit of legal paperwork to get it road test worthy is actually held up by getting 3 more forms signed off on. So literally at the moment i have an oversized novelty insured paperweight in storage and it keeps tripping me up when i try to get anything done. lol any advice or help would be appreciated.

Hang your government, then do what you were going to do anyway.

If you don't harm anyone physically or financially, I don't see how doing what you want to do is any kind of crime, or any business of anyone else's--particularly the government's.
 
Lmao yeah I've been having those thoughts here lately....until the revolution and collapse of it all I cqn just play their game for a bit

Well, the real revolution happens when you tell them to piss off.

Having been to war, peaceful revolution is the best kind.

What are they going to do, send the cops/military after you because you refuse to pay them a $200 toll for doing much of nothing other than "allow" you to do something that the Founding Fathers did for free?
 
Well, the real revolution happens when you tell them to piss off.

What are they going to do, send the cops/military after you because you refuse to pay them a $200 toll for doing much of nothing other than "allow" you to do something that the Founding Fathers did for free?

You can't comply your way out of tyranny.

So your suggestion is for the OP is to tell the state police & DMV to piss off?

Do you personally refuse to comply with your state's vehicle licensing / registration / insurance requirements? If the former, how has that worked out for you? Around here that would get your bus impounded and you saddled with citations / fines.

Note I'm not arguing the right or wrong of it all. Just the practicality. Seems like this is the sort of strategy that only really works if everyone else is doing it.
 
So your suggestion is for the OP is to tell the state police & DMV to piss off?

Do you personally refuse to comply with your state's vehicle licensing / registration / insurance requirements? If the former, how has that worked out for you? Around here that would get your bus impounded and you saddled with citations / fines.

Note I'm not arguing the right or wrong of it all. Just the practicality. Seems like this is the sort of strategy that only really works if everyone else is doing it.

I actually do, and have, since somewhere around 2015 or so.

To do it effectively, you need to understand a little bit of "law", but there's nothing actively 'illegal' with it. It is all malum prohibitum (Bad/Wrong because (we) say so) (government incorporated) policy/code, which is different from actual "law".

A license is something that is issued (by competent authority) the grants permission to do something that, without which, would be illegal, unlawful, or a tort. Since SCOTUS has already ruled numerous times that travel upon the public roadways and highways is well within a private person's ability to do so by any conveyance they choose, traveling upon the public roadways by use of a privately-owned means of conveyance is perfectly lawful. It only becomes a question of law if you utilize the public roadways to transport people or property for payment, as in the case of some kind of a business. Then it would fall under the "Interstate Commerce Clause" of the Constitution.

Registration is a bit harder to find a clearer definition for, but that is by design; registration is effectively requesting permission to own and use something from the government, which has real or actual no powers to do so. The only exemptions from this would be in the case of a Legal Fiction such as a business, because they are not real (living) "people". The Federal Government has attempted to confuzzle things so that people believe they are required to act like business and incorporated entities for basically everything, which is why people basically think they need to seek out permission to do anything and they need to register everything, as well as obtain licenses to do anything as well.

Provided that a person does not harm or otherwise infringe upon the rights of others, then no such permission is necessary of required. And everything that is registered under any government essentially becomes 'property' of the government, and the Federal government actually uses the 'property' it 'possesses' to take out loans from other incorporated entities (such as the Federal Reserve and other private financial institutions) to do things that most of us might object to.

And yes, this is a topic that I am passionate about as I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and to protect and shield the People of the United States, and they don't really teach civics anymore. I want people to learn and know and understand their actual rights so we can take back control from the ****ed up governments we've had basically my whole life. If everyone, everywhere knew what I know, and operated on the same principles and manners, we could actually stop most of the government corruption and the rest of the nonsense without having to fire a shot or kill anyone. Peaceful revolution is the best kind.
 
Doesn't have to be a bus, just something that requires a CDL license for the CDL test. And yes, it's going to cost. Those truck aren't cheap, those instructor drivers are making a living, and diesel ain't cheap. But, you can get your license. Considering you're getting a rather expensive truck to use as well as an instructor to go with you, the price really isn't that bad.

https://www.cdlrentals.com/cdl-truck-rentals
 
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