Tow vehicle registration

[DrSmart]

Has anyone registered their tow vehicle plate with a combined truck and trailer weight?

[Go Dawgs]

No, In Washington State we pay a fee based on the weights of a truck. For me that's about $80 per year.

[Steven@147]

Nope. Not in Texas. The license plate for our new truck costs us @ $150. Don't remember for sure or what the weight part of that is. Drivers license, well that is a different story on combined weight.

[CWSWine]

Depends on your state. In my state, if you have a 10,000 GVWR truck and you plan on towing an 8,000-pound cargo trailer you have to register your truck for 18k. If you have an RV you just have to cover the GVWR of the truck and the RV weight is exempt as long as the RV has a permanently mounted toilet. If you use the RV exempt don't get caught towing a U=Haul with your grand daughter's stuff to college.

[D2Reid]

FL tow vehicle registration is based on the GVWR of the truck, not the maximum trailer weight it can pull.

[CWSWine]

Not in my state. I had to have a sticker on the plate that covers the combined weight of the truck in the enclosed car trailer that Ipull. When I had my car trailer had had a 22M on my plates which meant I could have a combined weight up to 22,000 pounds. In Kansas, you have to register a half-ton for minimum 8,000 and 3/4 ton gets a minimum of 12,000 pounds. Then from 12,000 goes in 2,000-pound increments. Some states do register for GVWR of the truck but not Kansas. In Kansas, NOT the max, the truck can pull but the max you intend to pull with the truck.

FL tow vehicle registration is based on the GVWR of the truck, not the maximum trailer weight it can pull.

[Pawsitive Camping Life]

When we lived in Washington, had to include weight of trailer if you want to be legal. Most people do not know this there and just register with the weight of the truck without any tonnage and get away with it for years. One of our hay customers tried to fight an overweight ticket in court, he was pulled over with two round bales (800lbs each) in bed of truck, and was weighed on the spot. He was only registered for the weight of the truck (6000lbs) since it was new from dealer and had no additional weight added to his registration.
Thought we would have to do the same thing in Florida, but was happy when found out it wasn't needed. Much cheaper as well.
Best thing to do, check with your local state patrol office, not the DMV. Each state is different and rules are always changing.

[Bamaman]

Our plates are a fixed price. It's the advalorem taxes (personal property taxes) where we pay based on the NADA value of the truck--declining every year.

But again, our sales taxes on new cars, trucks and boats are only 2 1/2 per cent--very cheap. Surrounding states can see sales taxes approaching 7-9%.

[kevinpo]

When we lived in Washington, had to include weight of trailer if you want to be legal. Most people do not know this there and just register with the weight of the truck without any tonnage and get away with it for years. One of our hay customers tried to fight an overweight ticket in court, he was pulled over with two round bales (800lbs each) in bed of truck, and was weighed on the spot. He was only registered for the weight of the truck (6000lbs) since it was new from dealer and had no additional weight added to his registration.
Thought we would have to do the same thing in Florida, but was happy when found out it wasn't needed. Much cheaper as well.
Best thing to do, check with your local state patrol office, not the DMV. Each state is different and rules are always changing.

Hello,
This is no longer the case here in Washington. When I first move here in 1989 I cut a load of firewood and was flagged down by a WSP officer at a temporary scale. I was registered for 6,000lbs. I weighed in at 8,400lbs. He was very gracious (I had just bought the truck a few weeks earlier and didn't have the permanent paperwork. Being just moved to Washington 2 months prior I had never heard of such a thing. He had to explain it to me several times. I kept thinking he was saying my truck was overloaded and unsafe at that weight. He only cared whether or not I paid for the extra weight. In the end he wrote me a ticket but said he would tear it up if I sent in a copy showing I registered it for 10,000lbs. A few years later the law was repealed.

Regards,
Kevin

[Pawsitive Camping Life]

Hello,
This is no longer the case here in Washington. When I first move here in 1989 I cut a load of firewood and was flagged down by a WSP officer at a temporary scale. I was registered for 6,000lbs. I weighed in at 8,400lbs. He was very gracious (I had just bought the truck a few weeks earlier and didn't have the permanent paperwork. Being just moved to Washington 2 months prior I had never heard of such a thing. He had to explain it to me several times. I kept thinking he was saying my truck was overloaded and unsafe at that weight. He only cared whether or not I paid for the extra weight. In the end he wrote me a ticket but said he would tear it up if I sent in a copy showing I registered it for 10,000lbs. A few years later the law was repealed.

Regards,
Kevin

I see some changes have been made for 2019. The gross weight schedule still applied to us when we renewed our registration in February this year for our truck still in Washington, so instead of paying the large fee for a truck that stays on the farm now, we just switched it to farm exempt. Of course we can only use it for farm business in a 15 mile air radius of the farm now.

Current Gross Weight Law

Maybe it went into effect July 1st, or the DOL hasn't got the update.

What happened to our $30 registrations? I never saw ours that low! Just glad we aren't in Pierce or King County anymore with all the RTA tax included!