Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 20:54:09 -0800
Reply-To: Erin Daniels <eirejammer@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Erin Daniels <eirejammer@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: titling and registering camper in Washington
In-Reply-To: <014801d03136$b3d4b100$1b7e1300$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
One potential advantage of being classified as a motorhome is that you can have alcohol in your vehicle
> On Jan 15, 2015, at 6:46 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> The problem in Washington is Westys are not in their database, and they can't pull up a market value for sales tax purposes. So, some overly aggressive clerks try a bit too hard, but they need to settle on the high value of an '80s vehicle, usually about $2000, which results in $200 in sales tax here in Seattle. That's what my son's '87 was valued at in October.
>
> You are stuck with standard auto insurance, even if you only drive it a few thousand miles a year. You can get the "collector vehicle" plates, but none of the collector car insurance companies will insure a camper. People don't camp in "collector vehicles"! Trust me on this, I've tried them all. Best you can do is "stated value" insurance, and that's another issue. I have Traveler's with stated value, but it will still be a battle if my rig is totaled. Regardless, I'd buy it back after settlement and extract all the good parts, assuming I'm still alive. I think it's likely I will be, since it wouldn’t take much to total a Westy, and they are really pretty safe.
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 2:23 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: titling and registering camper in Washington
>
> Thanks to all who replied to my query. I went to a different office today to title and register the camper. The clerk asked another employee in the office if it was a motor home. That woman asked me if it "is set up to live in." I told her that I wouldn't live in it, as there is no toilet or bathing facility, no way to heat the cabin in winter, and that it is only three steps from back seat to front seat.. She declared it to be a passenger car, and the registration clerk went with that. So far as insuring it as a motor home, two different agencies including AAA said it did not qualify, and if it did it would cost more, not less, than a passenger car. Thanks again, McNeely
>
> ---- Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET> wrote:
>> I have run into something unexpected in moving my camper to Washington. The clerk at the registration office asked me if my camper is a motor home. I said "No," because it is not. She agreed, saying that her computer registration program identified it, by its vin, as a passenger car. But another lady, at a different booth, spoke up, saying that it is a motor home. The two disagreed, so they called someone else, saying that they can always rely on him for correct information. He said it was a passenger car.
>>
>> OK, everything was cool. But the other woman intervened again, asking me if the van had a bed. It does. She then asked if it had a sewage holding tank. It does not. She asked then if it has cooking facilities or a refrigerator. It has both. She declared it to be a motor home. The first woman was non-plussed. I told her that I would title and license the vehicle "later," and she said she thought that was a good idea, and that she would check further for me, and let me know what she found out.
>>
>> It seems to me that if the registration program recognizes it as a passenger vehicle, and the departmental expert, consulted because he is the expert, agrees, then the second woman is just butting in, but what do I know.
>>
>> So, fellow VW Campmobile owning Washingtonians, how are yor camper's titled and registered, as passenger vehicles or motor homes?
>>
>> Thanks,David McNeely
>
> --
> David McNeely
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