Hunting for Bus or Commuter Bus

[MrSabatini]

Hi, I had a previous account and had a hassle getting a recovery password so I hope you all miss me, hahaa. 

First, I'm an older single male and a multi-instrumentalist. After dreaming of buying a huge 40ft bus to convert it into a recording studio (a real one, not a laptop with a microphone). I have been very upset watching these You Tube videos bragging how wonderful their lives are on a "schoolie" and how neat they put their batteries for solar blah blah blah..  Almost all these videos are the same and lack much information but NEVER slack to ask you to hit [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]"LIKE" or "SUBSCRIBE" button!  [/font]

I called AAA and other insurance companies to get an idea how much it would cost to get insurance and ran into a wall. The dream of buying a 40ft bus is over and have to narrow it down to a much smaller one. If you have a commercial drivers license then you can buy any size bus! Just in case your interested in buying a 40ft bus (like I was) you need to understand the hassle to register them, type of drivers license you need, the weight to register it as a commercial or RV, the cost of tires, parking issues and driving them not just anywhere (avoid a ticket), and other issues. Bottom line, you cannot buy a bus and drive it with a Class C drivers license! 2-It will not register as an RV unless you have some sort of RV requirements, you really need to look at the restrictions on buying one compared to a limit length and weight to drive it with a standard drivers license or your going to waste your time and money. 
 
I'm on the hunt for a small school bus or some sort of commuter bus and all under 21ft give or take a few. If your going to buy anything longer then that and plan to once in a while go to the city, forget it! The weight has to be under (if I'm correct, under 2600 GVWR lbs) or it will be considered a "commerical" vehicle and you will need a "Commercial drivers license." I got a headache talking to insurance companies and never got to the DMV because I was afraid I'd have a heart attack! Your vehicle (bus) has to be weighed also but the question is do you weigh it before you register it and if the weight is 2600 lbs and then you add the furnishings and goes over 2600 are stuck registering it as a commercial? You gotta think of all these things and if you have the time, energy, and deal with the BS headaches then go for it. I think I can build my recording studio with a wide enough small bus or commuter van/bus/cargo bus/van/commuter vehicle and simply use every inch there is and that includes anything that may include a blank spot at eye level, build up, sideways, behind. 

If anyone has a lead on a 21 -/+ a foot please help me out, send me a link or... Sometime before the end of December 2019 I will reach the $3000.00 mark and growing $500.00 every month. 

Thanks.

 

[bullfrog]

I believe that is 26,000 pounds GVW to make it a commercial vehicle and in most states anything that can haul 16 people including the driver so anything other than an RV longer than a van will be most likely considered commercial . You may be able to register it in a different state by changing residences. I would check on the school bus forums to see in which states it is easiest to convert a commercial vehicle to an RV. You could just get a big travel trailer or 5th wheel RV and avoid the problem altogether.

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Mr. Sabatini to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

Bullfrog is right it's 26,000 pounds. aside from that there are a lot of converted buses out there so it can be done. do your homework.

highdesertranger

 

[MrSabatini]

You could just get a big travel trailer or 5th wheel RV and avoid the problem altogether.

Hi , 

I'd go that rout but I dont even have anything to  pull a trailer. However, if  a nice 4x4 pickup that is manual (stick) then I'd get that and focus on a big trailer later and have to save up again (which would not be a problem either). 

Mr S.

 

[Firebuild]

I called AAA and other insurance companies to get an idea how much it would cost to get insurance and ran into a wall. The dream of buying a 40ft bus is over and have to narrow it down to a much smaller one. If you have a commercial drivers license then you can buy any size bus! Just in case your interested in buying a 40ft bus (like I was) you need to understand the hassle to register them, type of drivers license you need, the weight to register it as a commercial or RV, the cost of tires, parking issues and driving them not just anywhere (avoid a ticket), and other issues. Bottom line, you cannot buy a bus and drive it with a Class C drivers license! 2-It will not register as an RV unless you have some sort of RV requirements, you really need to look at the restrictions on buying one compared to a limit length and weight to drive it with a standard drivers license or your going to waste your time and money. 
 
I'm on the hunt for a small school bus or some sort of commuter bus and all under 21ft give or take a few. If your going to buy anything longer then that and plan to once in a while go to the city, forget it! The weight has to be under (if I'm correct, under 2600 GVWR lbs) or it will be considered a "commerical" vehicle and you will need a "Commercial drivers license." I got a headache talking to insurance companies and never got to the DMV because I was afraid I'd have a heart attack! Your vehicle (bus) has to be weighed also but the question is do you weigh it before you register it and if the weight is 2600 lbs and then you add the furnishings and goes over 2600 are stuck registering it as a commercial? You gotta think of all these things and if you have the time, energy, and deal with the BS headaches then go for it. I think I can build my recording studio with a wide enough small bus or commuter van/bus/cargo bus/van/commuter vehicle and simply use every inch there is and that includes anything that may include a blank spot at eye level, build up, sideways, behind. 

If anyone has a lead on a 21 -/+ a foot please help me out, send me a link or... Sometime before the end of December 2019 I will reach the $3000.00 mark and growing $500.00 every month. 

Thanks.

Hi! Glad to hear you're enthusiastically pursuing a skoolie. However, there are several things in this post that need to be corrected. 


#1 - You do not need a commercial drivers' license to drive any size school bus anywhere in the US. l A commercial license has nothing to do with the vehicle being driven. IT IS A LICENSE TO DRIVE COMMERCIALLY. So unless you are planning to make a business of driving your bus - I don't know how your studio plan fits into that - you do not need a commercial license. In some states, to drive a vehicle of a certain size (typically calculated by weight) , you may need additional endorsements or a different class of non-commercial license, but you will not need a commercial license UNLESS YOU ARE DRIVING COMMERCIALLY. I don't know about Canada or Mexico so if you are planning to cross either border you need to do your research..  You will see a lot of posts contradicting this (and have a lot of contradictory conversations with insurance agents, too, it sounds like) so I urge you to research it yourself with the DOT. I'd say the same to anyone who wants to jump on this thread and argue that what I'm saying is not true.

#2 - Whether or not you are required to obtain a COMMERCIAL REGISTRATION for a vehicle does not make it a commercial vehicle. In the state I used to live in, ANY open pickup truck, for any use, was required to have a commercial registration, though not required to met all requirements of true commercial vehicles. A vehicle is not a true commercial vehicle unless it is registered to a company.

#3 - Your problems getting insurance will not end when you get your conversion declared to be an RV. In some states, it might be easier, but most insurance companies refuse to insure ANY bus in private hands. I drive a 20 foot Ford e350 cutaway short bus, and I only have insurance because my title lists the vehicle as a van. I tried to do it the "right" way but could not get insurance, so I went with what the title says. I had difficult converting to an RV because the rules in my state are quite fuzzy, but all in all, it would have been harder, not easier, to get insurance with a title reading RV.  The insurance companies will tell you it's because most conversions are homemade and therefore skoolies are death traps, but in my opinion that's the RV industry lobby talking. School buses are the safest vehicles on the road, and while there are for sure some crappy conversions, most people go to great lengths to be sure their buses are safe.The insurance companies aren't interested in that (in some states). Maybe you will get lucky, but please don't believe anyone who tells you it's the size of the bus that matters. 

As for where to get a bus, I bought mine on Craigslist.

 

[bullfrog]

Firebuild did you make point #2 because a vehicle that is registered as commercial vehicle even though it is not used as one which is owned by an individual and not a company will have a hard time or not be able to get insurance from an insurance company? In other words you can't insure a vehicle registered as a commercial without a business licence showing you are a commercial business?

 

[highdesertranger]

I can't speak for FireBuild but I think she is referring to in some states like California ALL pickup trucks are registered as commercial vehicles. I have a Chevy 1 ton, when I had it registered in California I had no problems getting insurance. except that registration and insurance were expensive but that was just a California thing, everything is expensive in CA. now that it is registered in Arizona the registration and insurance are cheap. highdesertranger

 

[Firebuild]

Firebuild did you make point #2 because a vehicle that is registered as commercial vehicle even though it is not used as one which is owned by an individual and not a company will have a hard time or not be able to get insurance from an insurance company?  In other words you can't insure a vehicle registered as a commercial without a business licence showing you are a commercial business?

No, just clearing up what a commercial vehicle is and isn't. My pickup truck was registered to me as a commercial vehicle for private use, and I had no problem getting insurance.