HOW FAR CAN I TAKE MY HUGE RV WITHOUT A CDL?

Whether you're a weekend warrior or starting your journey as an RV lifer, there's a lot to learn before you can feel confident in the driver's seat of a cruise ship on wheels. It can feel like learning to drive all over again, and the bigger your vehicle or trailer, the more there is to figure out.

With that said, don't get overwhelmed and just take things one step at a time. For instance, the next time you need to pick up some groceries, leave the Toyota Camry at home and take the opportunity to get some practice behind the wheel of your RV before you head out on a cross-country excursion. Then you can take a weekend to learn all about basic maintenance concerns, like refilling your water and propane tanks. For now, put all that other stuff out of mind and focus on what it takes to keep these things legal.

How To Make Sure You're Driving Legal In The First Place

For the most part, if you drive an RV that's under 26,001 pounds, you can pretty much treat it like a really big van. You can drive it wherever you like with a standard-issue Class E driver's license, park it in your driveway, take it on the highway and city streets. You can even use it as your daily driver, if you like. There may be HOA regulations that dictate where you can park your RV and for how long, and you'll want to double-check with the city and the county, but there are no state laws anywhere in the US telling you that you're not allowed to park your RV wherever you like on your own property.

Many states require an annual inspection as part of your travel trailer or RV's standard registration process. For the most part, whatever laws you have to follow with your personal car, you have to follow the same rules with an RV, although some states have additional inspection requirements for RVs. In Pennsylvania, for instance, cars undergo annual inspection, while RVs may be inspected every six months if they're being used for a commercial purpose.

One of your main concerns should be insurance. You're only required to pay for your state's mandatory minimum in liability, but you may want to consider covering any personal property on board through your RV insurance policy, rather than your home insurance policy. If you're covering a small home's worth of personal property inside a vehicle, it simply makes more sense to go with an insurer that specializes in that sort of thing, since a home insurer would want to know why you left a big screen TV in your camper for years on end.

Where Are You Going To Need A Special License?

The good news is that most states do not require any sort of special license to operate an RV of any size. In fact, you can even drive all the way from Washington to Florida on a Class E license if you plan your route through Utah, to Nebraska, and around Arkansas. The bad news is that this cuts you out of Texas, you can't take a trip up the California coast, and you're missing out on a lot of Route 66. Basically, all the road trips you bought an RV for in the first place. Here are all the states requiring a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) for large RVs:

States Where You Need A CDL To Drive A Large RV

• Arkansas
• Connecticut
• Hawaii
• Kansas
• New Mexico
• Washington, D.C.
• Wisconsin

Note that a "large RV" is defined in most of these states as anything exceeding 26,000 lbs. Except in Wisconsin, where the cut-off is anything over 45 feet in length. In any event, size is measured in weight or length, and not in whether you can fit another car inside of it.

The above list looks kind of short, but that's just for the states requiring a commercial driver's license. There are also states that require other types of special licensing.

States Requiring Special Non-CDL Licensing For Large RVs

• California: Class B for anything over 26,000 lbs or 40 ft., Class A for towing 10,000 lbs or more.
• Maryland: Class B for anything over 26,000 lbs
• Michigan: Recreational Double R Endorsement for fifth-wheel plus a trailer.
• North Carolina: Class B for a single vehicle over 26,000 lbs, or Class A for a total weight of 26,000 lbs. such as a 22,000 lbs RV towing a 4,500 lbs truck.
• Nevada: Class A for 26,000+ lbs RV, Class A for combined weight of 26,000 lbs, "J" Endorsement for 10,000 lbs in tow if total weight exceeds 26,000 lbs.
• New York: "R" Endorsement over 26,000 lbs.
• Pennsylvania: Class B for RVs over 26,000 lbs, or for combined weight over 26,000 lbs.
• South Carolina: Class E for RVs weighing over 26,000 lbs, Class F for combined weight of more than 26,000 lbs.
• Texas: Class B for RVs over 26,000 lbs, Class A for combined weight over 26,000 lbs.
• Wyoming: Class B for RVs weighing over 26,000 lbs, Class A if you're towing more than 10,000 lbs in a 26,000 lbs plus RV.

Why Not Skip The Matter Entirely?

The smartest course of action may be to simply skip the matter entirely and drive a smaller RV. If you drive something that's under 26,000 pounds and shorter than forty feet, the only legal problem you're likely to have going state-to-state will be if you wind up double-parking. Some of the coolest RVs and trailers on the road these days are not the massive 45-footers, but the modestly-sized camper van, fifth-wheel, and converted light-duty pickup.

The current-generation Ford Transit Camper Van, for instance, is essentially just a Ford F-Series with a little house on the back, packing a 310-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 engine. There's also an all-electric version, used as the basis of the Winnebago eRV2. If you want an upgrade, Mercedes-Benz makes a high-end camper, too, and you've got luxury trailers like the Airstream Flying Cloud and the forthcoming Cybertrailer, which will keep you in the mid-size range without sacrificing comfort.

If you're specifically looking for camping trip getaways, you might not need an RV in the first place, as the overlanding tents, plug-in coolers, and pressurized water showers you can get in a fully-loaded Jeep or Toyota essentially transform your SUV into a pop-out RV. There are so many functional alternatives to large RVs, trailers, and vehicles you can camp in, travel in, or comfortably live in for short or extended periods of time, that it simply doesn't make a lot of sense to drive a gussied-up city bus if it's not needed.

With all of that being said, if you've considered all the alternatives, and you're still determined to drive a mansion on wheels, the best course of action may be to simply go and get your CDL so you don't have to plan your next trip around all the states you're not allowed to drive in.

2024-10-02T04:59:04Z