Has anyone been sued first hand for being over the stated GVW of the truck ?

These boards are full of warnings about how people will be sued to death if they are in an accident and they are 1 pound over the GVW of the vehicle.

Is this fear mongering or has it actually happened to someone ?

Has anyone been in an accident with a vehicle that was over weight ? Has anyone ever had their vehicle weighed after having been in an accident ?

Just curious.

 

A Google search on "truck overweight tort" came up with 81,200 hits.

Rusty

 

None of those hits seem to involve someone being sued because they were overweight.

 

There's a story about this that has been going around the duner community for a while. The story goes, guy is driving a lifted truck, big tires etc. pulling a 30'+ toybox loaded up and over weight, tag trailer, big drop down insert, doing 80 mph down the highway, gets it out of control and a old couple in a car get killed in the wreck. He get sued and loses everything, wife divorces him, DA wants to charge him with manslaughter or something but didn't. There have been posts by this guys friends on some of the California duner boards, I'll try to find it for verification

 

DSjockey,
I remember reading that one also a while back. It looked like it was a legit article and story.
With the way that people sue others now days,,,,,, You had better hope you are not overwieght if you are involved in an accident.

 

Really ? Or is that just a myth ? There are tons of F150s running around overloaded and some of them must be getting into accidents. I haven't read about anyone getting sued. Given medical costs these days if you did hurt someone and get sued, you'd be wiped out. Surely one would hear about that. I haven't heard of a single case.

As far as the duner guy, it sounds like there were a whole host of factors involved, not just being overweight.

 

Well I have a 2500 with a GVW of 8800 lbs. I have it licensed and insured for 11,000 lbs. The GVW is the least you can license it for try to get a license for less than the numbers on your door it won't happen. Read through this thread it has a lot to answer your question.
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...=142742&page=4

 

Absolutly, he worked hard to make his rig and his driving very unsafe but in the end it was all hung on him being overweight, still working on a link

 

HA!

My dealer wouldn't register my Mega cab for anything more than 8,000 lbs.

I told him it had a GVW of 9900 and he gave me the most ignorant look...Then he called his manager, and to make a story short, they NEVER had licensed a truck with anything more than a 'C' plate (8,000lbs) and had no clue how to do it.

This dealer is in Milwaukee, WI and sells hundreds of trucks a month....

 

Ya I tried to license my truck for less than 8800 lbs. in the winter when I don't have the camper on. Thought I might save some money. Well the DOT said not likely . So to heck with it I just keep it at 11,000 lbs all year around only about 35-40 dollars difference in all.
Some dealers can scare ya, second thought all dealers can scare ya.

 

Here in VA, people register it for less all the time, because if they get car plates it is like 50 bucks a year, but truck plates, it's 500 or more a year.


funny on that dealer...as a 3500 weighs 7000 lbs alone

 

So lets say that I get an 11,000 pound license on my 8800 lb GVW truck and then I get in an accident. Was I legal to haul 11,000 pounds ? Can I be sued ?

 

Kind of opposite here: Truck is $65/year for basic, no matter what year of truck. Cars/SUVs/Vans are based on state determined value tables. My Grand Caravan is about $250/year, while my truck is $105 -- I licensed for 10k lbs, my truck is a 2001, while my wife's van is a '99. When I got my first renewal registration notice, my truck was licensed for only 6k lbs. It weighs more than that without my carcass in it! I had been driving the truck illegally for about 6 months, and didn't know it. The dealer sent in the registration for the standard $65.00 plate.

 

You guys would not believe the number of rediculosly tall F250 PSD's with a 24" drop down hitch connected to a grossly overloaded toyhauler there are out here in socal. The sand dune crowd comes home from the desert and has to climb a 16 mile long 6% grade that is very treacherous. It is literally a huge drag race with people jockeying for position. I have seen at least a dozen of these rigs upside down or off the road over the years. Never heard of any of them being sued for overweight though. The CHP is starting to crack down on all tag trailers over 10K needing a CDL though. 5vers can go 15K with a special endorsement. I'm completely amazed at the complete lack of common sense in regards to towing around here.

 

Apparently, you guys have never been to MD, the fine state employee at my local MVA handed me a registration card for my new 2500 that said GVWR 3500lbs. I asked her where the registration was for the other half of my truck, and she gave me a confused look . I wound up having to explain to TWO of her supervisors that my truck weighed more then twice that amount with just fuel and me in it.