Anyone have problems parking their class B in their Driveway

[trukeeper]

Has anyone encountered problems with city ordinances when parking their Sprinter-based RV's in their driveways for extended periods of time? I know some Homes Associations will prohibit RV's from long term driveway parking, but never heard of any city ordinances that would prohibit it. My understanding is that Sprinter-based RV's are generally considered "passenger vans" and are treated as "standard Passenger vehicles" and treated no differently than any other car, SUV, or other van. Has anyone else had any experience dealing with their local jurisdictions regarding issues with parking of a Sprinter (or any other Class B) in their driveways?

[reppans]

We have HOA restrictions but they don't specifically address RVs and I haven't had a problem parking in my driveway (mine is the only "RV" in the neighborhood).....on the other hand, I'm more worried about driving on the parkways (greater NYC) ;-). I went as stealth as possible - RT 170, silver with window blackout option, regular auto plates/registration. I must have one of the least RV-looking RVs.

[wintersun]

Naturally it depends. A woman had her 1 year old Sprinter MH listed in Florida last year at a 30% discount. She had recently learned that in her condo complex a MH of any size was not allowed.

Some cities restrict RV's of any type and that includes boats from being in the driveway or parked on the street.

Even if you do have to rent a space for when you are not using the RV the cost is a small fraction of the depreciation cost for the year.

[Skid_Row_Joe]

mikeandlisa wrote:

trukeeper wrote:
Interesting replies so far. Some more detail... I contacted my HOA before I even purchased my Sprinter Van and got their approval to park it in my driveway. My immediate neighbors have all been complimentary regarding how pretty the Van looks in the driveway (I keep it very clean). Unfortunately, it appears not ALL the neighbors like it, since someone complained to the city. (The city inspector could only tell me it was an "anonymous caller"). I have a real good idea who it was, but that is a completely different matter. Some of the comments above are critical of me wanting to park this in my driveway. The reason we purchased a Sprinter based "touring coach" was to serve as both one of our "daily driver" cars as well as a nice vehicle to travel in. To store this thing off-site for some reason totally negates our intended usage. If I just wanted an RV, I could have purchased a good sized class A for considerably less money than I spent on this thing. In the end, this whole matter seems to hinge on what my vehicle is; if it is considered a Van, then it is ok to park in my driveway, if it is considered an RV, then I cannot. I have read my State Statutes and it defines an RV as a "unit built on a chassis intended primarily to serve as living quarters...." I have tried to explain to the city inspector that my Sprinter is a factory-built VAN... NOT an RV shell built upon a truck chassis. I have had no luck so far, in the end, I think the inspector has simply decided that anything as big as my van MUST be an RV regardless of the technicalities of it... i.e. my vehicle is simply failing his "sniff test". Still holding out some hope, but it's not looking good right now. The inspector said I could park on the side of my home, but there does not appear to be enough room for that... I can't extend/expand my garage because it would violate local building codes to do so... I am starting run out of options. I guess one option is just accept a violation every so often and consider the fine as storage expense? Has anyone hired a lawyer to successfully win a situation like this?

We had an issue in Florida with ours. My husband and I remodel homes in FL during the winter and our class B is our only vehicle. One of our neighbors was not happy with us parking our Class B in the driveway and she reported us to the HOA. They came out and couldn't do anything. Next our neighbor reported us to the County. There was one stipulation in the County code that saved us. It stated that RV's/motorhomes were not allowed but a "converted" van was allowed. Since our registration stated MH we called Winnebago and told them our problem. Winnebago sent us a letter stating that we owned a Dodge Sprinter "Van" that Winnebago converted for us. We were able to take that letter to the DMV and have our MH status changed to Van. We took the registration to court and they let us keep it in our driveway.

Good luck.

Excellent advise.

[Unity]

Some Deed Restricted Communities will only let you keep the RV in your driveway for 24-48 hrs in Fl. However, the state could care less as long as it is registered.

We keep our Unity B+ on a pad next to our home in our non deed restricted neighborhood.

Ron

[mikeandlisa]

trukeeper wrote:
Interesting replies so far. Some more detail... I contacted my HOA before I even purchased my Sprinter Van and got their approval to park it in my driveway. My immediate neighbors have all been complimentary regarding how pretty the Van looks in the driveway (I keep it very clean). Unfortunately, it appears not ALL the neighbors like it, since someone complained to the city. (The city inspector could only tell me it was an "anonymous caller"). I have a real good idea who it was, but that is a completely different matter. Some of the comments above are critical of me wanting to park this in my driveway. The reason we purchased a Sprinter based "touring coach" was to serve as both one of our "daily driver" cars as well as a nice vehicle to travel in. To store this thing off-site for some reason totally negates our intended usage. If I just wanted an RV, I could have purchased a good sized class A for considerably less money than I spent on this thing. In the end, this whole matter seems to hinge on what my vehicle is; if it is considered a Van, then it is ok to park in my driveway, if it is considered an RV, then I cannot. I have read my State Statutes and it defines an RV as a "unit built on a chassis intended primarily to serve as living quarters...." I have tried to explain to the city inspector that my Sprinter is a factory-built VAN... NOT an RV shell built upon a truck chassis. I have had no luck so far, in the end, I think the inspector has simply decided that anything as big as my van MUST be an RV regardless of the technicalities of it... i.e. my vehicle is simply failing his "sniff test". Still holding out some hope, but it's not looking good right now. The inspector said I could park on the side of my home, but there does not appear to be enough room for that... I can't extend/expand my garage because it would violate local building codes to do so... I am starting run out of options. I guess one option is just accept a violation every so often and consider the fine as storage expense? Has anyone hired a lawyer to successfully win a situation like this?

We had an issue in Florida with ours. My husband and I remodel homes in FL during the winter and our class B is our only vehicle. One of our neighbors was not happy with us parking our Class B in the driveway and she reported us to the HOA. They came out and couldn't do anything. Next our neighbor reported us to the County. There was one stipulation in the County code that saved us. It stated that RV's/motorhomes were not allowed but a "converted" van was allowed. Since our registration stated MH we called Winnebago and told them our problem. Winnebago sent us a letter stating that we owned a Dodge Sprinter "Van" that Winnebago converted for us. We were able to take that letter to the DMV and have our MH status changed to Van. We took the registration to court and they let us keep it in our driveway.

Good luck.

[MiniTT]

ahhhh.. this brings back ugly memories. Soon after moving into the neighborhood my neighbor placed a copy of the HOA (i was told there wasn't HOA) in my mailbox with highlighted sections. One being RV's are not allowed and another cars parked on the street for over 4 hours. My daughters boyfriend did park on the street when he came over. Im not sure he stayed more than 4 hours. When he confronted me face to face I informed him that when the other RV's in the neighborhood were kicked out then I would lead the convoy. There were and still are several in my neighborhood . I never got anything from the HOA office. Now, after 10 years plus of the same neighbor. His children are grown. Cars parked all over the street for all night. He has 2 work vans in his driveway. One of his sons wore a cute little ankle bracelet for a while .. Funny how when its you breaking the precious HOA rules, its just not that important anymore. We have extended our cement drive to the side of our house and our splinter sits there .. next to his house ... SMILE

[scarpi]

Well my Class B Pleasure Way is always parked in my driveway when not in use. Never had a problem. But of course I don't have a HOA. Not having an HOA has some advantages like being able to park my B in my driveway, but as a disadvantage, some of the houses are not well kept up. So it's all a compromise and what is important to you.

[Skid_Row_Joe]

topless wrote:
I have a picky HOA. Never got a nasty letter, but did hear those hostile whispers if I left the van very long in one place. Started backing it in, nobody said anything, didn't look like an rv from the front ( my driveway is higher than the street, so they couldn't see the roof a/c). Originally, no vehicles were to be left in driveways, but now over 1/2 the homes here have at least 1 vehicle parked outside, they can't really say much if it just looks like a van.

HOAs are breeding grounds for the residents that are power-hungry, busy-bodies. But, they protect you from yourself, so it's for your own good. Wish they'd quit being so good to me.

[Skid_Row_Joe]

Supercharged wrote:

trukeeper wrote:
Has anyone encountered problems with city ordinances when parking their Sprinter-based RV's in their driveways for extended periods of time? I know some Homes Associations will prohibit RV's from long term driveway parking, but never heard of any city ordinances that would prohibit it. My understanding is that Sprinter-based RV's are generally considered "passenger vans" and are treated as "standard Passenger vehicles" and treated no differently than any other car, SUV, or other van. Has anyone else had any experience dealing with their local jurisdictions regarding issues with parking of a Sprinter (or any other Class B) in their driveways?

I see a few in our area try it but get run off as they should. If you can see it it shouldn't be there. Only the cheap try to put a Class A-B-B+-C-SuperC- what ever. Rent a space or hide it some where, A day or three to vist is something different. I don't like to see it it I'm not driving it.

In my neighborhood, an RV in your drive is actually an upgrade from the cookie-cutter, aging, tract homes. I'm the envy of the downtrodden neighbors, with my beautiful Class C coach taking-up almost 1/2 the driveway. I'm too cheap to ever rent a storage facility, however Supercharged has a very upscale condominium RV storage facility that he owns, and is an upgrade from even upper middle-class housing/neighborhoods. Now that, I could go for!

[topless]

I have a picky HOA. Never got a nasty letter, but did hear those hostile whispers if I left the van very long in one place. Started backing it in, nobody said anything, didn't look like an rv from the front ( my driveway is higher than the street, so they couldn't see the roof a/c). Originally, no vehicles were to be left in driveways, but now over 1/2 the homes here have at least 1 vehicle parked outside, they can't really say much if it just looks like a van.

[mlts22]

Sportsmobiles are very nice. On one end, you can get the classic Econoline or Express van with the pop-top. On a different scale, you can get a 24 foot LWB Sprinter van upfitted with virtually every creature comfort you can imagine.

[charles]

You must also be careful when buying one. Not all 7 foot garage doors have 7 foot openings. I had a 2010 Chevy Conversion van with a factory roof, not modified, it would fit in one of my garages, it was 82" and barely made it in, and the other one was 81-1/4" and it would scrape the top if I tried to get in there. The pop top does add just a bit to the height, the Pleasure-way Traverse pop-top is 83" high and it would not fit in either of my garages and PW told me up front that it would most likely to fit.

Nick

[Heapie]

Stan,

If I was younger, I would be interested in a Sportsmoble. When I was teaching (app 1982 to 1991) I owned a 1080 VW poptop Vanagon Camper. First year of big body, still small engine.

I loved it. pure freedom.

I am now in my mid seventies. Have a wife and two dogs. The 2002 Roadtrek 190V is a perfect RV for me. Drives like a dream.

As for when and if we move. I will then figure out where I will stash my RV.

Heapie

[stan909]

Heapie. You may have to get a Sportsmobile with a poptop.