Living The Bus Life? Insurance, Domicile, Registration + Other Things You Need to Know

We’ve been writing about fulltiming, skoolies, and van life recently, and despite earlier indications that those lifestyles may be starting to wane, we think they are probably here to stay. While there are no restrictions on who can live on the road full-time, this lifestyle is particularly attractive to Zoomers who are struggling with getting their first house. 

A bus, skooli, van, or used RV is many times cheaper than even a lot of “starter homes” now, so why not hit the road and live a nomadic lifestyle? Want to spend a couple of weeks on Padres Island? No problem. You’re only a $25 annual pass away, and you can hang out on a beach for two weeks at a time. 

Feel like hanging out on BLM land in the western states? Alaska has 222.7 million acres of federal land, while 80.1% of Nevada is federal land. In fact, over ninety percent of the 620 million acres of federal land is in the twelve Western states. So, about 27% of America’s landmass is federally owned land, and almost all of it is in the beautiful Western states. This seems like a good place to go if you have a nomadic soul. Hit those beautiful Western states in the summer, then hang out on the beaches of South Texas for pennies for the winter. Shoot, it’s making me rethink some of my life choices at the moment…

However you choose to live your life on the road, or if you are just exploring some options, you’ll need insurance. Let’s take a look at how this all works and comes together, what your options are, and where to get started. 

First Off, What Is Bus Life?

Okay, so what is bus life? 

Well, “Bus Life” typically refers to a lifestyle centered around living in a converted bus or van. Any kind of vehicle that is converted for full-time living is suitable, although, as the name suggests, it is usually some type of bus. 

Thankfully for you buslifers, there is an ample supply of buses to choose from. Since almost all school districts in the U.S. operate a fleet of school buses, there is always a surplus of used buses around, and they can be had for very reasonable prices. The item in the picture here is a 72-seat bus with less than 200k on the odometer. Equipped with a Cummins engine and Allison transmission, these are made to last and can be serviced easily at any diesel repair shop (plentiful along the Nation’s interstate system).

Fulltiming has gone from a sort of fringe-radical outer-edge lifestyle and is not cast squarely into the mainstream. I talked about this at length in a recent #vanlife article:

Bus living isn’t quite as high on the totem, but with #buslife having over 1.2 million posts, it is obviously no slouch. We are serious when we say that the movement isn’t dead, nor does it appear to be going anywhere. 

Anyway, the converted buses, which are usually called “skoolies” or some variation of that, are built from scratch to include

• Bedrooms/sleeping spaces

• Kitchens

• Bathrooms

• Living areas

A core tenant (probably the core tenant) of the skoolie community is the promotion of personal freedom, minimalism, and sustainability. 

People choose to live the bus life for a wide range of reasons, one of the most common being a desire for adventure, finances (if you play your cards right, it might be cheaper than home ownership), or just a simpler way of life. 

Where Can I Register My Bus?

Okay, so here we are on the topic of registration. If you are interested in this lifestyle, the odds are pretty good that you are a nomad by nature. Or maybe you live in one of the most expensive states in the nation and are dying for some relief (we’re looking at you, California, and New York).

Now, you won’t be able to register your bus just anywhere you want. Some states are cool with you living on the road, although, for the most part, you’ll still need some sort of physical address for it to work. 

One option is to forward your mail to a trusted friend or family member. Of course, what if they end up moving? Or they just get tired of babysitting your freeloading ass? That is always a potential hiccup. 

Well, the easiest workaround is to register it out-of-state. Not to mention, this helps you circumvent some real pain-in-the-ass problems like figuring out how to get it smogged when you are currently out-of-state.

We recommend using our Montana LLC program to get your bus titled and tagged. But Montana is not the only game in town. South Dakota is also friendly toward out-of-state titling and registrations. While it is not a zero-income tax state like Montana, its tax rate is only 4%. The major benefit to some folks is that South Dakota has no residency requirement, while Montana does demand that you prove residency. 

The LLC is sufficient for Montana to dub thee a resident, but it isn’t free, and you have to keep it up every year. Also, Montana LLCs require that the assets contained must not be financed, so if you don’t own your skooli or RV outright, you may be outta luck for the Montana program (there are ways to pay off the vehicle and make it work, though). 

South Dakota Domicile & Residency

Like we said, you do not need a domicile or residency in South Dakota. South Dakota is considered an “open state” for the purpose of residency, meaning you do not need a physical residency in the state. 

What Does "Domicile" Mean?

We have talked about domicile in the past, so make sure to check it out. 

Alright, let's discuss domicile versus residency. Establishing residency in Montana is the primary objective of the Montana LLC for asset protection. A person's domicile is their permanent home, while their residency is where they choose to live. 

No matter where you move or where you live, your legal domicile never changes. Remember that there is a difference between the two, and our assistance is limited to the residential aspect. Additionally, keep in mind that Montana has unrestricted authority within its own state lines, and your domicile may differ. 

Domicile Vs. Residency: Which Do I Need?

For Montana, you need proof of residence, not proof of domicile. Your LLC is all you need for proof of residency, although you will need a Montana registered agent. Residency and domicile are important concepts to read up on and understand if you are planning to live the bus life, yet you still partake in civic duties like voting, jury duty, and taxes because the demands are different.

The legal concept of domicile goes far beyond physical presence for a given period of time (like college, which would be residency). It is aligned with an individual’s intention to make a state (in this case, Montana or South Dakota) their home of record. 

Insuring Your Bus As A Nomad

Alright, so now we get down to the brass tacks. You’re interested in the nomadic life, or maybe you’re already living it, but you need to iron some things out. We get that. But there are some real considerations about insurance that you need to be made aware of.

First, you need to be honest about the application. If you have a skooli or other converted bus on commercial insurance, it may be enough to register and tag the vehicle, but if you suffer a loss, it may not (or will not) cover all of the vehicle's contents.

Also, remember that liability could leave you hanging if you are in a wreck. Yes, comprehensive is more expensive, but this is your home we’re talking about here. Also, you need to make sure that you have personal property insurance to cover the cost of all your equipment.  

So, how does it work since you are on the road all the time and have no actual domicile? First off, you must make sure that your insurance is for full-time RV living and not part-time. Your insurance provider may rightfully refuse your claim if you are using part-time insurance coverage and it is determined that you have been full-timing. 

It doesn’t really make any difference what state’s plates your rig carries as long as you are carrying full-time RV insurance. However, you will probably want to have a mobile mailbox service, but more on that later. However, having a Montana LLC that establishes residency is a great asset to have. It is a way to sort of plant your flag, so to speak, since you won’t actually have a residency anymore. 

Resources You Should Use

First and foremost, we recommend getting a mail forwarding service. There are lots of them out there, and they are pretty cool. These work by scanning your mail, opening letters that need to be opened, and then forwarding your packages. Anytime Mailbox boasts nearly 2,200 forwarding locations in the U.S., so no matter where you decide to hole up, you can go to a partnering location and easily get your mail. 

This is just part of the process, though. Since you are living on the road, you should think long and hard about where you want your digital life to meld with the physical world in terms of domicile. Unfortunately, even though nothing is stopping you from hitting the road full-time in tangible terms, at some point, you will have to reckon with the logistical difficulties of not having a domicile. If you care about voting, you need to maintain a domicile address. Yes, you could use a family member or a friend's address for this, but after enough months (or years), they will probably get tired of getting your mail. 

Eventually, you will have to be a grown-up and set these things up on your own. South Dakota and Montana are really great starting points for nomadic life. They both offer 100% online car registration and titling, which puts them lightyears ahead of most states. 

Also, you really should consider the long-term when you start this lifestyle. Very few people full-time for long periods before coming back off the road; it can be highly rewarding, but it’s also a meat grinder. Think about where you would like to be. For instance, if you are getting out of an extremely high cost living location, you might think about where you’d like to settle that is significantly cheaper. In this case, a Montana LLC for title and registration makes all the sense in the world.

You can maintain your Montana LLC forever if you want, and once the vehicle sunsets at 11 years and older, the registration becomes permanent. So, no matter where you decide to settle down (assuming that you do), your plate and title can remain in Montana with no issues. Of course, you can easily transfer the title to your new domicile if it isn’t Montana or South Dakota. 

How About My Driver's License?

I had no idea about this one until recently, but South Dakota is absolutely head and shoulders above other states. Once you have one, you can renew your license with South Dakota completely online, and it is good for a decade! 

Montana also has an online renewal system, although it appears that you must have renewed it previously in person. A Montana driver’s license is valid for a period of eight years, so you’ll be good to go for a while. 

Now, it is not required that your driver’s license and bus titles/registration and tags align, but it would eliminate a lot of questioning looks by the authorities were you to be pulled over—just some food for thought. 

Parting Thoughts

Bus life is not a new phenomenon, but it is certainly evolving and has changed a lot since the Beatniks were living in VW buses and strumming guitars for cash. You can hold down a real, steady, and lucrative career while living on the road as long as you have internet. But with the advances in tech, society has become far more tethered than it was in years past.  

Getting along on the road is much harder without some form of home address. For better or worse, society is cruising towards cashless systems, meaning you must have a checking account at a minimum. To use payment processing systems to get paid online, you gotta have an address. You get the point. Also, you can’t just get along without adequate insurance for your bus, van, RV, or whatever. You need to have the right insurance with coverage for what you are really doing. Full-timing? Pay the premium and get insurance for full-timing. 

Oh, and make sure to check out our friend Steve Ludwig and save up to 35%!

You can register in South Dakota or Montana, each with advantages and disadvantages. Montana is a great overall program because the LLC provides a lot of protection if the law starts wondering why you have, say, an Iowa driver’s license but out-of-state plates. The LLC owns it, and you are just driving it.

Finally, have fun with it! There’s a whole lot to do and see in the U.S., so why waste your life watching sportsball on your couch? When you are ready to hit the road, hit us up first. We’ll get your skooli, van, bus, or RV titled and tagged and probably save you some money in the process.