California Motor Home

[Bill R]

My 1999 Volvo 610 is now - Officially, a CALIFORNIA motorhome. It did take two hours. It appeared straightforward to me. A Volvo registered as a motorhome in another state comes into California. The two states have full faith and credit...(supposed to trust each other) , but the hang-up was that COMMERCIAL looking 5th wheel on the back of the motorhome. They see this on zillions of commercial trucks so they see TRUCK instead of motorhome. The clerk's supervisor was going to send me to the CHP, but I insisted on showing him the applicable code sections. His hang-up was that I could go out and pull a commercial trailer illegally. He was actually not accepting the Ca vehicle code definition of a motor home based on his prediction of criminal behavior. He called the CHP and was told that if I acted illegally (commercial activity), they would catch me at the scales. ( Ihave an 8" x 21" magnetic sign on each side that says PRIVATE RV NOT FOR HIRE on each side). Then it slowly became a motorhome. In his defense, he had to sign his name as decision maker, so he had to get his decision reinforced (good career move, I guess). The next step is the insurance, the vin# will say one thing and the DMV (state of Calif.) will be saying another......challenges are merely opportunities to prevail.

99 Volvo 610 Motorhome
2001 Alpha Gold 39'10"

[Warpath]

Glad to here they registered your rig as a motorhome. Now if you can get that insurance all straightened away you'll be set.

My situation was just as taxing (literally) I checked with the Ohio State Patrol when I picked up my truck and asked what was required. I also mentioned I was building a motorhome out of the truck. There was no way I could get motorhome status, but there is a provision in the code that states if the truck will be used non commercially than at least I did not need to get a CDL. My problem was the license bureau would not recognize the truck as anything other than a commercial truck. So for at least this year it cost me $600 for plates (ouch!) I also have "Not for hire" on the side of the truck, though convincing the Ohio Patrol will be easier since I removed my fifth wheel hitch. Insurance was no problem even with my unique situation of going from truck to a motorhome.

Bill

1995 FL FLD120, M11, custom interior.

[Bill R]

You know, I had this premonition.....If it looks like a truck/ has a big truck part, they are accustomed to seeing a TRUCK. That's why I considered taking off the 5th wheel temporarily for the registration process. A bed type platform for water skis etc. would add to the non-truck desired image. I decided to do this as a back-up measure. Luckily I didn't need to....

99 Volvo 610 Motorhome
2001 Alpha Gold 39'10"

[sono]

Hi Bill,

Hope some of the information I gave you helped.

Love it when a plan comes together.

Hope to see you down the road.

Steve and Nancy O'Bosky
1998 Peterbilt 330 400hp 1028 torque
1995 collins two slides
(AKA Pete and Pete's draggin')

[onezman]

Bill did his registration the right way. He was
totally prepared for all contingencies. When he went to the Californina DMV he took all the WRITTEN requirements with him. He was thouroughly familiar with all the material.

The first thing to do is go the the DMV in your State and get the WRITTEN requirements for registering a vehicle as a motorhome. You can probably just find your DMVs URL, locate "motorhome," and download the reqirements.

Do not ask ASK ask govt employee DMV, DOT, Highway Patrol) if you can register a truck as a motorhome. The answer will always be a resouding, NO!

Each State has different WRITTEN requirements.
Most of the State employees don't have a clue as to what these requirements are. If it was manufactured as a motorhome its obviously no problem to register. However, if it's a converted tractor, that's a different story.

Most states do not speficially define their own requirements. For example, Oregon just requires:
"Sleeping and Cooking Facilities." These "Facilities" are not specifically defined.
The First Volvo I registered as a motorhome had a bed in it. (They all do if they have a sleeper) I simply sat a crock pot (with no power source) on top of the cabinet and registered it as a motorhome.

I did have some problems with DMV people. They
will try to make up equirements. Ask for it in WRITING. (they didn't have it.)

Some States have requirements such as "Shore power" (extension cord you can put out the window) "Running water" (cooler with spigot) "Holding tank" (plastic jug) "Commode"
(chamber pot) "Refrigerator"(small model from Walmart)"Cooking facilites" (anything you can cook on, see above)

These are examples of different requiremnts and
ways to be in legal and technical compliance. Lay out the written requirements, and you MUST be prepared to argue your case if necessary, (it will be)

None of the requirements say any of the required items must be in working order. Most everything in life in life is negotable. Prepare to negotiate and if you meet the legal requirements, don't take "NO" for an answer.

Request a supervisor if necessary. I alway got it
done. I have registered four Volvos as motorhomes so far.

Bill gets more credit than I do, because he did it in California, one of the toughest States there is. The factory Holland hitch was on Bill's Volvo when he registered it. Note! Missouri is a very tough state. They do define their requirements. Meeting these requirements involves considerable work and expense.

As a last resort, full ime RVers can sometimes move to States that are easier to comply with.

Larry

[KZX11]

After 6 months of Bull here in Pa. I went to Ny Not a whole lot easier, But I'm on my way tranfered the pa title today to NY MOTORHOME Now if it is not rejected at a higher level in albany which I'll keep my fingers crossed it will be GREAT. 92 volvo WIA64TES NOW FOR (INS.) where do you all have it?

[Warpath]

I will also keep the fingers crossed. I was lucky with my insurance company, they have insured as a bobtailed truck to start and as my conversion process goes they will keep rolling it up to meet the increased value.

My agent had another customer do the samething.

Bill

1995 FL FLD120, M11, custom interior.

[onezman]

I have had all 4 of my Volvos insured with GMAC Insurance Company out of St louis Mo..(Good Sam.)

I have a safe driver rating, full coverge with $500 deductable. It cost me about $800 per Year. Bill R. insured the 99 Volvo I sold him with Progressive Ins. for about $680 per year in California!

I hear Miller insurance Company also insures these vehicles. Let us know what you find out.

larry

[KZX11]

Hi
Just as Larry said GMAC Mine a 1992 Volvo titled as a Motor Home. My Ins. Card says semi volvo Because volvo never made a Motor Home. Its old and paid for so I dont have full coverage. $143.00 every 6 months I just got the policy 9/24/2002 With no problem at all Paid by CC and had my I.D. card faxed to me all in about 10 Min.

[Comdac]

I bought one of Larry's (onezman) Volvos and had no trouble registering it as a motorhome in Virginia. They don't require a visual inspection. If the old title says motorhome, then that is how it is registered.

GMAC provided full insurance for $615 a year. It helped that Larry and I use the same insurance company. There was some initial hesitation about what kind of vehicle this was. I finally said, "It's the same vehicle that Larry had insured with you." She checked, the VIN matched, end of problem.

I found an RV service center that will perform the state inspection. After that, it just a matter of learning how to drive the monster.