Our first Prevost Gary & Megan Carmichael

[Will Garner]

Gary & Megan,

First, Welcome to POG and will you be going to Maine for Skiff's mini-rally in July?

Second, you do not need a CDL, in fact in NC you can't get one for a bus converted to a motorhome. OK, now for the reason that I was given by NCDMV, "It has to seat more than 16 passengers or tow a trailer rated at greater than 10,000 GVW. You can upgrade to a "Classified B" license which is one step down from a CDL. I had to take a road test with a delightful female examiner. She said this may take awhile as she had never given a road test in one of these. She suggested a trip to Myrtle Beach. I called her bluff telling her I had a full tank of fuel which was enough to get us down there and back but maybe not before sundown. Oh, she passed me and I got the license. The written test is 50 questions. You must answer 40 of them correctly. Use the CDL manual as a study guide because none of the questions are based on driving buses. The questions are all about driving a tractor trailer. I was going great guns with 30 out of 30 correct. I let down my guard at that point and did manage to get 10 more correct answers. Yeah, I passed first time - you can too!

Finally, for an inspection location you might try contacting a tour bus company in your area that has a good reputation. Another possibility would be an outfit such as Gregory Poole. Their branch in Garner NC was willing to do mine but I use Holiday Tours in Randleman NC each January.