All pickups are required to have a "commercial" plate unless they have a permanent camper shell on them, then you can get car plates and lower registration fees. "Commercial" plates on these pickups do not require any special license and do not require you to follow commercial laws. Truck weights for pickups and motorhomes are exempt from most weight restricted streets, but my question comes into play when you are over the VWR in one form or another.

I appreciate all the info, but I feel several of you missed the mark with all the chatter about log books, reciepts, etc. for Commercial vehicles.

I am obviously not a commercial vehicle and would NEVER be mistaken as one. When I travel, I am very clearly on a vacation, with my wife and our Jeep.

Guess I'll just have to find out for myself if I ever do get stopped. I have been out twice, both trips under 200 miles round, and haven't ever been stopped. My next trip will be 800 miles each way and cover several states, which is what got my curiosity going.

Thank you all for the info.

 

My State, MN

I was trying to point out that if it were true that all 1 ton pickups were to fall under FTC comercial rules (ie log books, DOT checks, Weigh scale stops, DOT #'s etc..) A lot of the RV crowd is going to push back on this if the OP claims were true.

Point is Check you State regs and make sure what you are pulling is legal. My state (Minnesota) allows me any combination up to 26,000lbs, or Unlimited if its an RV. I do not need a DOT#, Log Book, Keep my fuel reciepts (of course that would help defend myself if I get dipped), I do not display a "not for Hire" sign, And I do not stop at the scales. I know other states have different requirements

Now here is where I think people get confused. Where I work (I am on the border of ND/MN) we have a 1 ton pickup with a flat bed. That pickup does require a CDL licensed driver because it is licensed for more than 10K (MN rules are CDL reg if over 10K and used for COMERCIAL purposes). Basically I cannot drive our work 1 ton, but I can drive my 1 ton.

 

Well, if they are operating in accordance to the law they have their DOT numbers displayed as per MCS regs. Plus, anyone in the business for any length of time can pick out a transporter whether he is loaded or not. Giveaways: 5er hitch in the bed and a W/D hitch in the receiver. A real clean new trailer and a dirty pickup with oversized mudflaps. Pulling a camper at night after real RVers have gone to bed. Transporter plates on the trailer, usually from a different state than the pickup. There are others, but those are some of the most obvious.

 

Once again, New Mexico, or any other state, can impose whatever licensing and registration requirements they want to on non-commercial drivers and vehicles from that state. I travel through NM on a regular basis because most of my family lives in Oregon. A lot of times I am pulling a trailer of some type. NM can not impose their non-commercial regs on me or any other non-resident of that state (other than rules of the road). When I am commercial I stop at the scales, buy the necessary permit and drive on. I am in accordance with FMC regs and local regs have no bearing on me. It would be exactly the same if I drove a V10 gas powered duelly 1 ton, just as it would be the same for you. They are taxing (by way of registration fees) either your weight, weight rating, combo weight, combo weight rating or some combination of them.

 

I was told all diesel powered 1 tons will soon be considered commercial no matter what you may be pulling or what weight you are pulling. The point is in all 50 states( Federally) a 1 ton will be considered and treated the same as an larger tractor.

 

When it does happen my beachfront property in El Paso will be under water. BTW, all large tractors are not considered commercial..........only the ones that actualy are used for commercial activities are. Lots of RVers pull their trailers with MDTs and even class 8 tractors with one axle removed. Not required commercial tags in a lot of states. Just because "I was told" a lot of things over the years doesn't mean that those things would happen.

 

Just what I was told.....I've been lied to before.

 

GAmes, Thank you for being the voice of SANITY in this terrible thread...Your points on licensing requirements and FMC regs were spot on. No State can impose regs on you that are more strict than the regs in the state your vehicle is licensed in. However, if you are stopped in a state like TX when you are from NM the TX DOT officer can hold you to the same standards as are required in your state, assuming they know or have access to them. If the regs in NM are as strict as you claim I feel extremely sorry for you. I doubt if the USDOT is really able to instate a law making all 1-tons cmv's? Why would they want to? Don't they have a lot of other more dangerous vehicles vehicles on the roads that should draw their attention first(ie. the aggravating $250,000 motorhomes who like to drive 55mph on my 70 mph state hwys. I'm from Tx as well and my job requires me to drive thousands of miles a month across a majority of the country with many of them pulling a flat bed trailer with a 5325 series John Deere tractor and various assortments of farm machinery. The company I work for has a couple ford 1 tons that they registered as commercial vehicles. A couple of years ago one of my co-workers was hauling a mower back from southern Ks. and got pulled into the only weigh station on HWY 81 in northern Ks. and got red tagged for ten hours because he didn't have his triangles and FE. I have been through that same station with my 3/4 ton duramax (only my work truck) pulling the exact same trailer with the afore mentioned tractor, sprayer, and rotor tiller weighing at least four times as much with no questions at all. By the way, This is the only weigh station I have seen in my many travels in both a pickup and driving semi pulling a variety of van trailers, and farm equipment including over sized combines and silage choppers. Sorry to turn this into a ten page diatribe.

 

Since when do you think that safety has become the primary focus of the DOT officer. I think revenue is their primary focus. ??????? I wasn't speaking of what has been the norm in the past, I was just passing along what the future was going to be like.....according to two DOT officers.

 

each state has the right to modify the federal regs, up or down. i posted CA only as FYI. it would be a service to those reading the forum, especially those just looking at trailers or towing, to be able to have access to the actual laws or regs concerning towing. the DTR as a service might be able to accomplish this.

all of us go over the speed limit at one time or another and get away with it. so what, that doesn't mean it still isn't the law and the fines can be very high when it comes to towing. folks need to know what is correct and not assumed or i towed a million pounds and got away with it. that helps no one and might lead someone that is new into thinking they don't have to conform to the laws of the land.
if one knows what the law is and the penalties for breaking it, and then decides on his own to break the law, that is his decision and he hasn't been misled by the members of DTR.
A class a felony can run thousands of dollars plus attorneys' fees.

 

My buddy is a DOT officer here in Missouri. The scale house here on I44 averages 175 trucks per hour year round. He said they have bigger fish to fry than us little trucks, no matter what law gets passed. They rather write a ticket for being over loaded a couple thousand pounds verses a couple hundred on our little trucks. JM2C

 

I'm reading this thread with a lot of interest, as we do pull our equipment trailer for hubby's business, as well as our big five-horse trailer, with our 3500 CTD flatbed.

There's one other little interesting item - we also own a single-wheel C30 Chevy gasser, just a little utility truck - matter of fact, it began life with a utility box on it and was owned by City of Seattle as a dog catchers truck. When we retired it to farm use (usually dragging the two horse trailer to take a horse here or there), we took it off the company insurance and I put it on our personal policy. I was totally amazed to get a bill for over $900 for the year - my agent took it up with the company, and was told that since the state of WA regards it as a commercial vehicle, it MUST be insured as such regardless of use! It boils down to the fact that it was originally sold as a cab & chassis, not as a pickup truck.

I knew that vehicle licensing in WA had been this way for some time - draconian rates for "commercial" - and for that reason a LOT of people buy a dually pickup, strip off the bed and put a flatbed on it for work. Now, the insurance commissioner has caught up with it as well... don't get me started on insurance in this state..... heck, even our broker for our business bonding has moved out of the state!

 

Halfpint, a good source for custom bumper stickers is here; http://www.makestickers.com/

I had one made that says "If you can read this in English, Thank the U.S.Military"

 

i run commercial i dont have to carry a 30 days worth of fuel receipts or other receipts. i have an ifta sticker which means i have to keep track of miles and fuel from each state the dot does not ask for that only the weight stations mite but they see the current sticker and dont ask. i have to get trip permits because i am not running apportioned tags. i have to keep a log book with 7 days worth of pages in all the time. Each state regulates the tags of their truck and what they charge i know this from checking on apportioned tags they can run from 400 to 1500 depending on how many states you run. there fore the fed gov cannot regulate the tagging of vehicles. one state can tell you a truck is commercial while another doesnt. their and probably will continue to be one ton and 3/4 trucks here registered as farm trucks, regular trucks, and apportioned vehicles.

 

A friend of mine recently ran into a similar situation. He was going to trade in his 05 duelly for an 08 3500 C&C, only to be used to pull the new heavy 5er he had just bought. (C&Cs come with a better automatic trans). He called his insurance company and was told no problem. He traded trucks, then his insurance company renigged and canceled his policy because they do not insure commercial vehicles. Their definition of a commercial vehicle was one that has a GVWR over 10,000! After he pointed out that his duelly pickup and every other duelly pickup built in over a decade has a GVWR over 10,000 (and that they insure a heck of a lot of them) they reconsidered, then finally gave him a regular policy. So my thinking is that your problem isn't what the state of Washington thinks about the C30, it is the insurance company's perception. I'd talk to another company.