[hot rod]

I think an important issue that just came up in another thread is the wildly different requirements of motorhome licensing from state to state. I've seen a few mentions in various threads in the past, but it would be very useful to have a tread dedicated to this issue with state by state info.

On this forum most of us are starting with what was last used and licensed as a commercial truck, and are converting into some form or another of a full fledged motorhome. Obviously leaving the truck titled a commercial truck is very expensive for licensing and insurance, and is a nightmare to comply with dot regulations, cdl, scales, logbooks, etc., so it will be everybody's goal to title and license as a motorhome, rv, house vehicle, or whatever it is your particular home state.

We would all appreciate your input on what you had to go through in your particular state, any accurate information you have on the subject, and please the exact terms and phrases that your state uses. In my experience most of the DMV and courthouse staff are pretty poorly educated in this matter so going there armed with the proper terminology for your state really helps. Also if you have any driver licensing quirks in your state. Any info on the specific requirements of the motorhome title.

Lastly, any reports from your state as to how the local D.O.T. officers conduct business in your state. For example, are there fixed or portable scales, does the dot only inspect at scales, or do the do randon roadside stops and rest area inspections, etc., and I have also heard of states specifically targeting race type rigs as an easy mark who are usually out of compliance. I know many of you are legitimately full time rv use only, but a bunch of us are using a motorhome or toterhome to pull a race car or mobile business trailer and are using the "rv" tag to skirt the dot regs and make life easier, and what used to fly just a few years ago is not working so much anymore. A lot of states are automatically considering you commercial if you are towing a race car because that is a "racing business" and they don't care that you are towing with a licensed RV, they still want to force you to run full commercial and will write fines as such. Any experiences in that regard would be helpful.

Also, please distinguish between bona fide accurate information, and the "my buddy heard of a guy who..." stories, those are useful too, but should not be considered accurate enough to be relied upon on their own.

I will start the thread with Ohio information.

Thanks in advance! Dave