Texas Vehicle Inspection

[skp51443]

It is great that Escapees is offering more home-base states as an option, a bit sad that it is coming from government stupidity.

[AprilWhine]

Thank you Travis. I am currently with a service in SD and will compare services when your home base SD is on line.

[jmrkav]

Thanks for the heads up. We have been looking into a mail service in Florida, not because of recent events. We do not want to leave Escapees so this will be great news for us.

[BooneDocks]

Excellent initiative for your self preservation!

[Kirk W]

Excellent initiative for your self preservation!

This has been asked requested for a very long time and I highly doubt the current issue had a lot to do with it, other than to perhaps push it forward just a little bit more quickly.

 

So this offends you for what reason? Is there some problem with them attempting to serve the membership?

Edited April 4, 2014 by Kirk

[BooneDocks]

Of course mail service revenues and membership dues at risk greatly accelerated these efforts.

[hockeyzan]

Glad to hear that escapees is working on this

[Guest KellyGarner]

Hmmmmmmm Jan sell 100 lifetime memberships @$800 ea = $80K in kitty. Then Valentine's special offering reduced rates if you prepay membership. Sounds like some investment is afoot. They are mortgaging their future cash flow for some purpose and obviously want or need a cash infusion.

 

I wonder how much it would cost to start a small mail service in Bushnell, FL?

 

Looks like he hit that one right on the head back in Feb in post #118!

[Jack Mayer]

I think this is an excellent idea and a prime example of how the Club changes with the times, and acts to serve its membership. Yes, it is a business, but it works on MY behalf in most areas affecting my fulltime lifestyle. I know of no other Club that serves a fulltiming membership in this way. Could I fulltime successfully without the Club? Yes, I certainly could, but it would not be as convenient or easy. One can second guess the motivations and process of running the business all they want - it serves no real purpose to do so, since we have no real idea of the internals of the business. Personally, I measure my relationship with the Club (on one level) on the RESULTS of their business decisions.....and I like the results over the last 16 years of membership. They have shown time and time again that they do things in the best interests of the Membership, while maintaining a business.

[BooneDocks]

This has been asked requested for a very long time and I highly doubt the current issue had a lot to do with it, other than to perhaps push it forward just a little bit more quickly.

 

So this offends you for what reason? Is there some problem with them attempting to serve the membership?

It did not offend me it the least. I wrote that it was an excellent initiative. it gives members more choice and it also potentially avoids a revenue drain from the business and if the business were to suffer that drain, it would likely not be able provide as many services. So it is a win/win or at least a win/avoided loss.

[BooneDocks]

One can second guess the motivations and process of running the business all they want - it serves no real purpose to do so

I see absolutely nothing wrong with watching the way a business is run even as an external observer, especially one I have chosen to buy services from ongoing. Actually, I think one would be remiss not to do some analysis of a business that is a vendor for something as important to their to their lifestyle as mail forwarding.

[d&dvogel]

Escapees Mail Service—New Home Base Option Plans

 

We appreciate all the comments, suggestions, and information that have been shared on this thread over the past weeks and we want you to know that your concerns have not gone unnoticed.

 

You will soon see an article in Escapees magazine (May/June) that talks about our new “Home Base” option plans, but we wanted to share it with you first!

 

Escapees Mail Service in Livingston, Texas will continue to be the main processing center, but we will offer additional “Home Base” services in several other states for full-time RVers who prefer a legal domicile elsewhere.

 

We expect to bring our first Home Base service online in Florida (Sumter Oaks, Bushnell, FL) in just a few months. Once that is up and operational, we anticipate branching out to other states and will be looking seriously at South Dakota.

 

Establishing and/or maintaining a legal domicile is a challenge that many full-time RVers face. We have had a long association with Loring & Associates, PLLC, and we’re working on even more convenient ways to make domicile consulting and estate planning easily available for those who need it.

 

We are still working out the details, but welcome your comments. Feel free to contact me at homebase@escapees.com.

 

SKP Hugs,

Cathie Carr, President

Escapees RV Club

 

Please clarify, does this mean we will be able to use the Escapees park in Bushnell as a legal domicile?

 

Thank you,

 

Donna

[Kirk W]

Please clarify, does this mean we will be able to use the Escapees park in Bushnell as a legal domicile?

 

We will very likely know more when the magazine comes out. My guess is that not all details are set yet.

[Ronbo]

There is only a small number of counties with emission testing. Brazoria county was given numbers to reduce their emissions to. We were already below that number. Harris county claims their pollution comes from the surrounding counties. We are on the hook only 6 more weeks.

[traviscarr]

Please clarify, does this mean we will be able to use the Escapees park in Bushnell as a legal domicile?

 

Thank you,

 

Donna

 

We are still in the process of setting everything up, but yes, members of Escapees Mail Service, who are full-time RVers and would like to use Sumter Oaks RV Park as their legal address, will be allowed to do so using Escapees “Home Base” option plan. We are putting the final pieces in place and expect to share all the details with you in the near future. It is important to point out that the new “Home Base” option plan is something we’ve wanted to offer for a long time. We continue to believe Texas is also an ideal state for many full-time RVers, but giving members additional choices, just makes good sense.

[jmrkav]

Any news on the Home Based option

[Wayne M]

Hello ya'll,

 

I have been following the Texas inspection/registration information on several forums. Quite interesting. Here is my recent story, see how it figures in or not.

 

About the 1st of June I registered the MH on-line for 1 year. Inspection is May, registration expiration is August. One can register 90 days early. A week later I registered the wife's car, and the TOAD. For the wife's car it was a 1 year registration amd the inspection sticker expires 12/14 and registration expired 7/14. The TOAD I registered for 3 years and it had an registration expiration of 8/14 but the inspection sticker doesn't expire intil 5/15. Now I have a registration sticker for the TOAD that expires 8/17.

 

When I called the local DMV earlier this year, they did not know a thing about the inspection/registration law change. When I called Austin, the nice lady there was knowledgeable and stated when the law would go into effect.

 

I'm wondering how this is all going to be applied to those who register their vehciles for 3 years with 1 year inspection requirments and new cars typically have an inspection sticker that is good for two years.

 

They must have a good computer system ready to go into effect. Take the wife's car. Registration is now good until 8/15, however the inspection expires 12/14. What is to say that anyone can skip 3 months or more without an inspection.

 

Time will tell. It's going to be interesting.

[Phil D]

The most interesting thing about your experience, Wayne, is that you got the system to issue you a three year registration. Others have previously reported, starting several months ago, that they were unable to obtain multi-year registrations online, as they'd been removed as an option in anticipation of the upcoming single sticker system.

[TXiceman]

I had a call from a nice young lady from the DMW. I had emailed them about the issue of inspections and license registration that is coming up next year.

 

She said that they are aware of the issue created for a Texas based RVer and being out of state much of the year. The state is addressing the issue and working on a solution for the RV folks. So all is not lost and don;t start bailing out for South Dakota.

 

Info from the state and how to get updates on the issue:

Thank you for contacting the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. I hope you are doing well today. Our website contains general information regarding our single sticker initiative at http://txdmv.gov/motorists/register-your-vehicle/two-steps-one-sticker.

 

We are currently working on finalizing our business requirements and you can subscribe to receive future updates either by email or text by clicking on the red and white envelope located at the bottom of the above website link under ‘Join the Conversation.’

 

Also, as Delia advised, you may contact the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is responsible for the Texas Vehicle Inspection program, at (512) 424-7293 or visit their website at http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/rsd/vi/ for additional information.

 

I hope this information is helpful to you. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Take care and have a great day!

 

Sincerely,

Terry

[Blues]

She said that they are aware of the issue created for a Texas based RVer and being out of state much of the year. The state is addressing the issue and working on a solution for the RV folks. So all is not lost and don;t start bailing out for South Dakota.

 

I'm glad they're aware of the problem, but the bolded language makes me a little uneasy. If they're thinking along the lines of being out of the state "much of the year," I can see them thinking they solve the problem if, for example, they let an RVer designate which month to have the registration. It's possible it doesn't even occur to them that some people are out of the state for years at a time. Just like it didn't occur to whoever came up with the bill in the first place that fulltimers and trucking companies wouldn't be able to comply with its provisions.

 

Or, I should say whoever came up with the amendment. The original bill had nothing to do with this combined inspection/registration business at all; this stuff was added by amendment well down the road.

[sasha_j]

Not looking good for us full time Texans, I gotta say. We have not been physically present in TX since Dec of 2010. We will be looking at SD should this fiasco of a law come to pass.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Sasha and Laura

[TXiceman]

And it makes you wonder how long it will be before SD comes up with a squirrely law to mess with RVers.

 

Ken

[skp51443]

Yes, Escapees has clout, but not enough to head off this looming problem.

 

Folks said that before but when the club won their case (voting rights) at the Texas Supreme Court level they had some crow to eat!

 

Also as others have mentioned this law is going to cost Texas millions of dollars leng term in lost business when folks move their vehicle registrations out of state to get around the silly thing. South Dakota has a pretty nice corporate home base program in Sioux Falls that can set them up in SD and have them moved there with minimal expense and hassle. Not to mention the lower sales tax on new vehicles. You can bet Escapees and others impacted by this law are pointing that out and the Texas government folks are scrambling to fix the problem.

[mrschwarz]

Unlike Texas, neither South Dakota, nor Florida have vehicle inspections. Does anyone know of any studies that have shown that vehicle inspections accomplish anything other than income for the state and inspection stations? I have only found references that show inspections make no difference in accidents or injuries. Maybe the solution is to just eliminate inspections.

[Barbaraok]

You need to understand that one of the driving forces for vehicle inspections in Texas is that the major metro areas are all non-attainment areas under the Clean Air Act. So a lot of vehicles require annual vehicle emission testing, since you are going to be inspecting them anyway, might as well include safety items and make those items state wide. So the inspections can't be eliminated.

 

Barb