How To Get Insurance For A Skoolie?

Getting legal documents in order to buy your bus is important, especially when you are planning on driving  a long distance. I can tell you that more often than not, most people will drive their bus without registration and insurance on the way home from the purchase. It can be intimidating if you’re a first time bus driver, securing insurance is ideal.

How do you get insurance on your School Bus? 

Look and ask for commercial non commercial insurance for your bus.

This means that you are insuring a bus for personal use with no intention to transport passengers. Another way to obtain insurance is to change your title over from a bus to an RV or house car.  

For more information on retitling a bus to a house car, check out this post:

https://ridicubus.com/how-do-you-pass-a-title-inspection-in-north-carolina/

There are many people that can tell you different ways to insure as in what to say and what not to say to an insurance agent to avoid getting rejected by an insurance company. 

The truth is, no matter what you say your VIN number will show what type of vehicle you have, so you aren’t fooling anyone. 

Be prepared to be rejected the first time you ask for insurance. 

When you are talking to an agent, they can be new and not have the information needed to help, their inexperience could lead to confusion on both parts and leave you without the plan you thought you were getting.

 In fact you may need to have them inquire deeper and ask their manager if it is a possibility, which can require more than one interaction and plenty of call backs.

 How To Find An Insurance Agent For Your Skoolie?

If you post in a group forum you’ll get a lot of names and contact info for different agencies. I would love to put actual names however, times change and so do careers so you never know how long an agent will be in their position. 

Insurance Agencies that have been known to grant a policy for bus conversions –

• Progressive
• State Farm
• Allstate

Another good tip is to call around to local insurance companies, some of the smaller ones may be trying to build their clientele and will take some chances early on.

Do Property Claims Work For Skoolies?

Unfortunately, they do not. Your auto policy will only cover your bus for the accident and the people involved only.

If any property is lost, stolen or damaged during ownership they will not consider the claim. 

There is a loophole that will cover your ENTIRE build and the value of your bus by the insurance company if you can submit documentation that all of the work has been completed professionally.

You do not have to have all of the work done by the same professional, as long as you can prove that work was contracted and completed by a professional service. You will get the insurance estimated at a retail value.

 This should allow you to carry a policy for the full amount of your conversion. 

How Do I Protect My Property Inside My Skoolie?

If your skoolie was done DIY style you will need to carry a renters insurance policy for your belongings. 

If anything should happen to your things you’ll be cover on a renters insurance policy. Take record of all of your possesions to make your claim as easy as possible in case of an incident.

Geico uses a subsidiary company called Still Water and that is who we currently use for renters insurance. It is a decent price and good coverage for our situation.

Summary

If you cannot maintain full coverage you can select liability instead, this policy will hold a less expensive premium and will take care of damages to the other vehicle. If you want to bump that up, you could add collision to insure yourself as well.

Insure all of your belongings with a renters insurance in the event of theft, damage or accident. You will then only owe the deductible to replace all items. On that note, keep records of your purchases in order to provide evidence to your insurance agent. 

We wish you luck in your insurance endeavors and thank you for reading our article.

Articles Of Interest

Washing Machine For My Skoolie?

Using a washer / dryer appliance that is low voltage and needs less water than average is best so that you aren’t using up all of your resources in one load of laundry. If you won’t be in a campground and intend to be off grid often, the washer/dryer that you’ll use can go in a 120 outlet which is pretty standard for a camper and use If you are tied in with shore power you can feed energy in and split the voltage and use power that way.

How Much Should I Pay For A Used School Bus?

Most school bus conversion opportunities are found under 5k and $1,500 is considered a great deal. Most of these buses are at least 10 years old or retired. Buses are popularly seen in the 2-6k price mark but can be negotiated based on their condition. Found for purchase on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Surplus Auction and more.