One of the biggest obstacles in skoolie ownership is easily dealing with the title, registration, and insurance for the bus. Many people in the skoolie community have struggled with finding and keeping insurance, particularly during the build and before they switch the title to RV or motorhome. Going into this, I was incredibly worried about being able to insure the bus purely because so many others had experienced difficulties. Thankfully, I was able to secure exactly what I needed from the insurance front on the first day I attempted it! I anticipated Progressive being the only insurance, but I went ahead and gave a call to Allstate, State Farm, and Geico as well-just to cover all the bases. Just as expected, none of the other three would insure a skoolie during the build process, but most would insure it after it is titled as an RV, so I will have to keep that in mind for the future! That being said, I would definitely recommend giving them a call anyways if you are in the market for insurance as they all told me that their rules change frequently and with the increase in popularity of skoolies, they may eventually insure them. (They are just starting to make changes to insure van conversions, so it is likely just a matter of time before skoolies get added to the mix). After speaking with Progressive trying to get a quote, I was passed to their commercial division and asked for a commercial for personal use policy. (this is what you want, so make sure that you ask for that. They will ask a few questions regarding things like what you will be using it for, how much you will be driving it, if the stop sigh and lights are still installed, etc. Just make sure you are 100% honest with them. You do not have to volunteer information, but you do need to be truthful because if you ever need to file a claim and were dishonest, it is very much possible that they will deny your claim. Full disclosure: I was upfront with them about the fact I was converting it but that the insurance was to be strictly used during the build process and that I understood that they would no longer cover me when the conversion was done.) After just a few short phone calls, I was all set up with some solid insurance, and for MUCH less than I had anticipated- in all of the states I have set up insurance (Washington and Idaho), it has been less than $300 for 6 months of coverage.
After I had my insurance squared away, I gave the DMV a call to ask them what I would need to do in order to transfer the title and register the bus in Idaho. Being that I was still officially a Florida resident, they told me I would have to get an Idaho drivers license before I could tackle the rest, and that was the more difficult and time consuming portion.Once that was settled, I got the original title and insurance information together and went to the DMV to get my bus registered. I was in and out in about 15 minutes total and left with some truck plates and zero issues at all. I was completely shocked! I went in expecting to spend at least an hour or two in there and to have to field dozens of questions about it, but encountered none of it!
Fingers crossed it is as easy to insure the bus as a skoolie as it was this go around!
Cheers to more adventures with the Big Blue Bus!
