Hi Everyone !
My name is AL & I'm new to your forum ,
I recently purchased a 1991 mercedes 0303 coach , my plan is to deck it out & travel ! It was a great idea until I had to pay Rego
I went into vicroads and came out over $3000.00 poorer
I'm just wondering is there any other way of registering it other than a bus with 3 axles ??
I'm thinking if its gunna cost that to rego every year will it be even worth decking out ??
thanks in advance for any advice
cheers AL

Take the seats out, then it is not a bus.

You are allowed a few, maybe 5 or 6 including the driver, and it becomes a "van" or motorhome. . Check with VicRoads.

Taa mate ,
Vic roads tell me it's still under the heavy bus category !!

Thanks for that boronia ! I've taken nearly all the seats out , & VicRoads tell me it still has to be registered as a heavy bus
Cheers AL

As an idea, VP is 16 . 25 tonnes, tag axle coach converted to motorhome, about $1300 pa in Queensland

You may need to have the vehicle inspected to have it reclassified after removing seats. Even though you have removed the seats, it is still a bus in the system of VicRoads. As a heavy vehicle it may not be much cheaper to register than a bus until you've completed your conversion and can have it reclassified as a motorhome.

rustbucket wrote:As an idea, VP is 16 . 25 tonnes, tag axle coach converted to motorhome, about $1300 pa in Queensland

G'day rustbucket, I'm not too sure what you mean by VP is 16.25 ton ??
Cheers AL

The Phonj wrote:You may need to have the vehicle inspected to have it reclassified after removing seats. Even though you have removed the seats, it is still a bus in the system of VicRoads. As a heavy vehicle it may not be much cheaper to register than a bus until you've completed your conversion and can have it reclassified as a motorhome.

Thanks for your reply Phonj . When I asked VicRoads they told me there wasn't a category for motor home
Cheers AL

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/registr ... ertificate

You need an engineer to reclassify your bus before it can be registered as a caravan, motorhome etc as you are modifying a bus to a motorhome.

club reg permit and plates the old girl

90 days use a year

$150 approx

Im sure its 25 years or older being a 303.

Sounds like you have had the RWC done recently if you were paying the rego.

Just a suggestion and definitely not illegal according to vic roads.

You will need to join a club to get "club plates". Many now have restrictions on eligibility for access to the plates.

Thanks guys , I know about the engineers certificate , but the problem is the tag axle !!
If it only had the 2 axles it would be $660 but the cost of the 3 axle is $2726 these are just rego casts not including your tac charges which bump it up another $500

funbus wrote:club reg permit and plates the old girl

90 days use a year

$150 approx

Im sure its 25 years or older being a 303.

Sounds like you have had the RWC done recently if you were paying the rego.

Just a suggestion and definitely not illegal according to vic roads.

its just 25 years old with a build date of 5th month 1991 ! What sort of Club ? How do we go about joining a club ?
cheers AL

most clubs that are not dominated by a Ford or Holden badge will be more than obliging usually.

Remember you pay annual membership of around $100 to join to the club.

Perhaps look up Mercedes clubs, or even historical truck clubs, most people at these clubs are friendly and will refer you down the right track.

There is always another way before to have to pay those big dollars.

Historic Commercial Vehicle Club is based in Melbourne, but has members all over the state.

There are usually local clubs in many regional areas. A bit of googling should help you.

VicRoads may have a list of authorized clubs on their website (RMS in NSW does)

Hi Guys ,
I met with the engineer this morning & he was very helpful ! He reclassified it as a van until such time my fitout is complete & then will reclassify it as a motorhome . This should reduce the rego to about $1200 .00 which I can live with
Now I've gotta get on with the fit out . He's given me some guidelines & advice to work to which is handy
Thanks everyone for your help Theres bound to be more questions
cheers AL

Hi Tednted.
Could you upload some photos of your vehicle and update your post here as you make progress through your conversion? We'd love to see the progress.
Thanks.
Chris.(Denv12).

It is a shame that people get so much run-around trying to sort this sort of problem out.

You're not the first one to suffer.

Here she is the day I inspected her

You're going to have to have it reinspected when it's done, so is there any reason for keeping it registered? If you need to move it while its being done, surely you'd be better off paying for individual permits.

Yes , I want to be able to use it as I go along the process of fitting it out

Because I'm gunna do it stages and still nip away fishing on the odd weekend

I think the correct catagory in Vic is "motorised caravan". The tag shouldn't make any difference, check vicroads website for electrical, gas and typical other specs. NOTE some of the requirements shown on their website are outdated and should be questioned before spening a lot of money - like the "high exhaust exit" ruling.
Club rego is not really fair................

These might be of interest to you:

http://www.motorhomesaustralia.net/cmca.html

http://www.motorhomesaustralia.net/links.html

https://www.facebook.com/CampervanandMo ... Australia/

VP is our Tourmaster coach, Vanishing Point.
16.25 tonnes is the weight.
If I could get 250 kilos out of her I would not need to go over the pits every year, a private certifier could do it, but I could not be bothered, Queensland Trannie is cheaper than the private certifier anyway, and I have no problem them checking the effectiveness of my brakes.

Look up the national heavy vehicle regulator website.
Vsb 6 is the one to download.

Their website is wrong in regards to the standards used for DC only Solar installations. Otherwise reasonably accurate.

Talk to your engineer they'll have a path or 2 to get to where you want with the motor home.