Titling a Bus as Motor Home in Texas

[bapos]

Just want to throw my 2 cent here on this one......

I know in a lot of OTHER states being registered as a RV or a MH is a big deal. The cost changes a great deal from bus to a RV/MH.

I had this very question with the lady at the registration office when I was changing the title of my current bus 3 years ago... meaning is there an advantage of getting it titled as a RV/MH in TX..... Her answer was no there is not.

In Texas your registration is all based on weight. More it weighs more you pay. So unless your wanting to go through those efforts to just have something that says MH I think its personally a waste of time?

As another posted earlier.... Insurance carriers will insure it as a bus as they have to have some kind of initial spec to base your rate on. So they will insure it or not.

Maybe I am wrong but if someone knows something I dont please correct me.

 

[texastj-SKO]

I'm curious about this as well. I have an e350 but it is titled as a commercial van. My insurance is around $60 a month currently. Wondering if I would get cheaper insurance if I titled as RV.

Another question: " I have not gotten my bus inspected or registered yet (only titled). Is it legal to keep yellow in Texas ?

 

[bapos]

Some insurance companies it matters but most it does not. Tag renewal in Texas is about weight.... period end of story. I had this very discussion with the renewal office on Johnson county.

Now insurance is a diff story. I am about to move my insurance over to All-State for tge bus which was half of national generals. Only deal there is you have to move more than just your bus business as lots of people get insured then drop it just to get a card. If your interested let me know ill give you the agents name. They are in Benbrook

I'm curious about this as well. I have an e350 but it is titled as a commercial van. My insurance is around $60 a month currently. Wondering if I would get cheaper insurance if I titled as RV.

Another question: " I have not gotten my bus inspected or registered yet (only titled). Is it legal to keep yellow in Texas ?

 

[texastj-SKO]

Some insurance companies it matters but most it does not. Tag renewal in Texas is about weight.... period end of story. I had this very discussion with the renewal office on Johnson county.

Now insurance is a diff story. I am about to move my insurance over to All-State for tge bus which was half of national generals. Only deal there is you have to move more than just your bus business as lots of people get insured then drop it just to get a card. If your interested let me know ill give you the agents name. They are in Benbrook

Down the street from me. I am insured through Travelers at the moment on the bus (also do my homeowners through them). Just curious typical cost of rv insurance. If not much cheaper than $60 I'm not very tempted to go through the trouble to retitle as RV vs commercial van.

 

[bapos]

I was paying bout 43 for my bus with NG. All-State is going to be 21.

I'm moving my car and home there too. There were lower on those as well.

Fyi.... All-State just bought national general so not sure what side will change in pricing

 

[texastj-SKO]

I was paying bout 43 for my bus with NG. All-State is going to be 21.

I'm moving my car and home there too. There were lower on those as well.

Fyi.... All-State just bought national general so not sure what side will change in pricing

Is yours titled as RV? Please send over agent info. Thanks !

 

[bapos]

No my bus is still a bus. To me there's no benefit in my opinion

Matt Scheffler

817-249-1187

MSCHEFFLER@ALLSTATE.COM

 

[Phatman]

Thought I would jump in this conversation for my 2cents worth. Just got mine insured as a private bus with State Farm for $37.00 a month / full coverage. It is titled as a bus. The DMV gave me some forms to title it as a MH. Seems like a lot of hassle to change it over. I will say though that a couple of years ago the Texas DMV on their own just arbitrarily started revoking titles to our street legal Dune buggies in the state. Wanted all owners to send their titles to the state. Well you can imagine what kind of $hit storm that started. Long story short, it took two years to have a law passed to reinstate our titles to make them street legal again. A real cluster !! Do not be surprised that the state could do the same to our builds. All in the name of safety.

 

[SMMTX]

I got Benbrook Allstate for $36.00 a month. I have 31k weight which they did not care about. Or demo stage. Important to call Benbrook agent as the other Allstate agents don't know how to do it. Bus policy is now combined with my other Allstate policies without any transfer of my original agent.

 

[Fox Slider]

So i can...

1. Get insurance.
2. Get an inspection as private bus?
3. Weigh it
4. Then go transfer title and register it. (since im not converting or doing anything to bus wink wink lol)

5. Stop worrying about this.

 

[SMMTX]

Just realize that what ever you do, if you have not answered every question truthfully, when you go to file a claim you may find you get canceled and no pay out. There are ways to fudge the system, so if you just want to get road legal and drive, fine. Filing a claim is another thing...

 

[Fox Slider]

I would just be running liability. Makes sense if you want full coverage then cant get reimbursed for etc...

I dont see why they insurance would care rather it was converted or not or partially, as far as a liability only goes? No?

 

[SMMTX]

Benbrook Allstate does not care. Other insurance does and so does State of TX. Every county at little different but for me it was:
get insurance
get drivers license - commercial non-commercial with air brake endorsement
get one trip pass to safety inspection
get inspected - if you fail you really need another one trip pass back home
go see Sherriff and get written report of MH (looks for standard signs of living)
take report to County and register
Last step transfer title.
I tried to start all this during covid so super hard, but I will say the driving test is the hardest part. Not a full commercial license, but you have to study a good part of that book for the test.
This is why some people register in Vermont. I did that for $380. You still have some work to do to get it inspected, look into that.
I am not going to drive my bus, just live. Decided not ready for repair bill possibilities.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[o1marc]

The reason for RV registration is because the RV insurance will always be cheaper. I don't know how they came up with my rate, but State Farm is charging me $4/ month for insurance on my RV, yes just $4. They tell me the RV does not qualify for multi vehicle discount, nor does my Miata as it is insured as "Historic". I pay $40 a month for liability on a 98 Dodge Dakota, $4 for the bus liability, and $38 for full coverage on the Miata.

 

[Fox Slider]

SMMTX- cool appreciate those tidbits of info. I would be under 15 passenger and 26k so no DL test for me. Ohhhh ok... Ya if each county is different. If i need a officer to inspect it, ima just go VT route. Otherwise i'll pay someone.

01marc. Wow. Lol. Thats awesome!

I dont know, im bouncing back between TX way or VT. Might just go VT for a few months as i build then transfer later if i get hassled.

 

[SMMTX]

Wow 26,001 is the cutoff. Good job lol.
It's always nice to know the fully legal pathway even if you don't follow it. The dollar amount of the policy doesn't really matter to me. It is that you can tell Matt at Allstate exactly what you are doing, and he will support that if a claim comes up. I had an insurance card when I brought mine home from Klein ISD, but it was meaningless. Only useful for traffic stop that day. Sorry Progressive.

Good idea to get Vermont and work your way in to TX in time. My build is taking a lot longer than I imagined, so you may have more time than you think!!! Plenty of help here, just search for thread answering all your questions.
Cheers.

 

[adic27]

To OP, do you remember ever having to deal with a form VTR-270? I have a pdf form of it and can't remember why I downloaded it in the first place. trying to remember if i have it because someone at the tax office said I needed it or I just stumbled upon it and figured I might need it so I downloaded it

Thanks

 

[mrpincher]

I just completed the TX Title process

Hello. I just finished this process successfully in Potter County TX. Our tax office manager is a real ball buster so if there was any grief to hand out, I would have suffered the full measure.



I handed the tax officer the existing title, the rebuild VTR-61, the VTR-130U, current prof of insurance, bill of sale, drivers license, a half dozen photocopied pictures of the bus interior. I didn't volunteer any extra info on the VTR-61. They nailed me to the wall for not registering my bus for the two years it took me to convert it. He was interested in the odometer reading photo and compared it to the original Bill Of Sale.



All went A-OK, except the hefty fine. Just received the MH title in the mail. Took about two weeks to receive that new title.


Good luck.
Mike

 

[mrpincher]

Additional info

I forgot to mention handing the tax office the current inspection.


Before I had the bus inspected I had to purchase a temporary tag in order to drive it. While purchasing the temp tag I showed the tax man all the forms described above. He went through all my paperwork and checked to see if all was in order. He made a few notes in the computer and made additional notes on my paperwork to aid the person actually registering my bus on my next visit.



The process was not really as bad as I thought it would be.

 

[Bus'n it]

The reason for RV registration is because the RV insurance will always be cheaper. I don't know how they came up with my rate, but State Farm is charging me $4/ month for insurance on my RV, yes just $4. They tell me the RV does not qualify for multi vehicle discount, nor does my Miata as it is insured as "Historic". I pay $40 a month for liability on a 98 Dodge Dakota, $4 for the bus liability, and $38 for full coverage on the Miata.

I need to move to GA...