Is a 1 ton truck a commercial vehicle in Texas?

[Cenerus]

Thanks guys, this was amazingly helpful. I'm so glad to be a member of this forum.

So after your advice, I just bought a new truck.

2020 Chevy Silverado 3500 LTZ. Single rear wheels. It's has 4,060lbs max payload and 21,100lbs of 5th wheel towing capacity. The GVWR is 12,250lbs so I'll have to keep an eye on the GVWR of the trailer I decide to get so I don't have to get a class A license. Or if I find the trailer of my dreams and it weighs more than 13,750lbs I'll get that license.

[Second Chance]

Thanks guys, this was amazingly helpful. I'm so glad to be a member of this forum.

So after your advice, I just bought a new truck.

2020 Chevy Silverado 3500 LTZ. Single rear wheels. It's has 4,060lbs max payload and 21,100lbs of 5th wheel towing capacity. The GVWR is 12,250lbs so I'll have to keep an eye on the GVWR of the trailer I decide to get so I don't have to get a class A license. Or if I find the trailer of my dreams and it weighs more than 13,750lbs I'll get that license.

A fifth wheel with a GVWR of less than 10,000 lbs. would be pretty limiting. If you figure 500 lbs. for passengers and misc, another 200 lbs. for a hitch, you would have about 3,360 lbs. left over for pin weight. Using 25% of the trailer's GVWR for a maximum pin weight, you could safely handle a fifth wheel with a GVWR of 13,440 without a problem (probably a bit more, since most of GDs Reflection fifth wheels end up around 22 - 23% of the loaded weight on the pin). Don't let getting a Class A license stop you... if this old codger can do it, so can you!

Rob

[geotex1]

Thanks guys, this was amazingly helpful. I'm so glad to be a member of this forum.

So after your advice, I just bought a new truck.

2020 Chevy Silverado 3500 LTZ. Single rear wheels. It's has 4,060lbs max payload and 21,100lbs of 5th wheel towing capacity. The GVWR is 12,250lbs so I'll have to keep an eye on the GVWR of the trailer I decide to get so I don't have to get a class A license. Or if I find the trailer of my dreams and it weighs more than 13,750lbs I'll get that license.

So, how many States do you have the moving violations in if you're so hesitant to get a non-CDL A?!?

It's not a big deal, and will help make you a more capable and courteous camper dragger! If our 56 year-old, 4'-10 1/2", 95# friend can get her's with her F350 dually and 43' 5er when she went full-time on her own (plus 4 dogs) at 55...

Congratulations on the new purchase.

[Cenerus]

Thanks guys, you've convinced me to get the class A license, if for no other reason than to be a safer driver. What's involved to get the license? Is it both a written test and a driving test? If there's an actual driving test, how does that work? Do you bring your whole rig, or just the truck?

Cheers,
Jesse

[geotex1]

Thanks guys, you've convinced me to get the class A license, if for no other reason than to be a safer driver. What's involved to get the license? Is it both a written test and a driving test? If there's an actual driving test, how does that work? Do you bring your whole rig, or just the truck?

Cheers,
Jesse

Take the time and read the information I linked you to early on. All questions will be answered on the what, where and the how.

[Cenerus]

Thanks Geotex1,

I read that how-to doc you linked me to, it was really helpful. Looks sort of like getting a class C license except you have to do the driving test with your entire rig. This should be fun as I still need a spotter for backing up. This will give me a good motivation to get my parking skill improved to the point that I don't need an assist from my wife.

[geotex1]

Thanks Geotex1,

I read that how-to doc you linked me to, it was really helpful. Looks sort of like getting a class C license except you have to do the driving test with your entire rig. This should be fun as I still need a spotter for backing up. This will give me a good motivation to get my parking skill improved to the point that I don't need an assist from my wife.

Never forget you should have GOALs - Get Out And Look - as much as you need to be safe is totally acceptable in driving combinations and a premise drilled in for CDLs. Rear cameras have been a game changer, but I still follow my GOALs as they don't offer a world view - meaning checking overhead and low obstacles for instance. Further, 5ers back differently than tagalongs and also differently than semi trailers since a 5er has so much cantilever off the axle center. Practice, practice and more practice is the only way to get better, and even the most experienced of us still has bad days backing! You'll absolutely want to have straight line backing by mirror down pat before your test. Also, going to a 5er, learn the Z Method for backing as it helps with narrow roadways and narrow drives/campsites. The final high-level tip, always try to set yourself up to back strong-side (driver's side) with a long camper so you can see where your trailer is heading by looking out your window.

[Overtaxed]

but be involved in an accident with injury or loss of life and watch your insurance company leave you high and dry because it is YOUR responsibility to know your State regulations. If you have some time, research the law and you will see this is exactly the case.

You might get a ticket, but your insurance isn't going to leave you "high and dry". Doesn't work that way, if insurance could "walk away" anytime you broke the law and something happened, well.. Collision insurance would be nearly worthless, if you're using it, 99% of the time, you broke the law (ran a light, followed too close, etc) and caused an accident.

It's good advice to get the right license, but do it because you should, not because your afraid of the "high and dry". There are a few, small, specific callouts on insurance (racing, intentionally causing damage, war, etc). "Breaking the law" ain't one of them, and, if it is, get a new insurance company ASAP!

SC requires a >26K license, and I do need to get one. When I can find someone to do it! I went down to DMV and had to go back with printouts, they'd never heard of the non-commercial class A. And the road test in SC is pretty nuts, backing up to a loading dock with an RV?! Ugh, no; thank you! I have another trailer I can use to take the test, which is what I'll do, when they can find someone to actually administer it (not doing it because of COVID, and, when I went to the big DMV where the administer the test, they told me "ugh, we've never done this test before").

[geotex1]

You might get a ticket, but your insurance isn't going to leave you "high and dry". Doesn't work that way, if insurance could "walk away" anytime you broke the law and something happened, well.. Collision insurance would be nearly worthless, if you're using it, 99% of the time, you broke the law (ran a light, followed too close, etc) and caused an accident.

It's good advice to get the right license, but do it because you should, not because your afraid of the "high and dry". There are a few, small, specific callouts on insurance (racing, intentionally causing damage, war, etc). "Breaking the law" ain't one of them, and, if it is, get a new insurance company ASAP!

SC requires a >26K license, and I do need to get one. When I can find someone to do it! I went down to DMV and had to go back with printouts, they'd never heard of the non-commercial class A. And the road test in SC is pretty nuts, backing up to a loading dock with an RV?! Ugh, no; thank you! I have another trailer I can use to take the test, which is what I'll do, when they can find someone to actually administer it (not doing it because of COVID, and, when I went to the big DMV where the administer the test, they told me "ugh, we've never done this test before").

You missed the depth of my point, because I was keeping demonstrative instead of morbid, but life shifting injury or death, watch watch happens when the limits run out and the family is suing... Check some case law with suits against unlicensed, at-fault truckers that have been in the situation... Negligence is real in the court room.

[Overtaxed]

You missed the depth of my point, because I was keeping demonstrative instead of morbid, but life shifting injury or death, watch watch happens when the limits run out and the family is suing... Check some case law with suits against unlicensed, at-fault truckers that have been in the situation... Negligence is real in the court room.

How does my well within limits F450 in anyway change this situation? Guess what, if I mow someone down, I'll be in court too, and hoping my limits don't run out. The insane focus on the sticker as the determining factor in "sued or not" is crazy; you hit someone, overweight or under, you're getting sued. You hurt them badly, you're getting sued for a lot. The situation isn't "sued or not" it's ACCIDENT or not. If you're coming down a mountain, your brakes give out on your 250 towing a 21K trailer and you plow into a school bus, guess what? You're getting sued. Come down that same hill in with a semi towing the same trailer playing Words With Friends and forget to hit the brakes, yup, still getting sued. The way NOT to get sued is to avoid the accident, which is why "buying safety" (heavier truck, more wheels, better brakes, etc) makes sense to me, where buying stickers (higher GVWR on a 350 vs a 250) does not. Will it help you avoid an accident? If so, it's worth it to me, if not, no, it's not. Can we contrive a situation where the "sticker might matter" in getting sued or not? Maybe we can, I struggle to think of one, but I'm sure it's out there. But people get way too "CSI: Miami" on all this, where, in nearly every accident I've ever seen, there's no computer recreation or sweep up the debris and weighing them. Person A rear ended person B. Person A failed to yield. And in situations like this, overweight or under, bald tires or new, failing wheel bearing; loose lug nuts, or the 10 million other things that could be pointed at don't matter because the person you hit at the stop light, their bald tires have NOTHING to do with the accident at all. It not an "automatic at fault" if you're breaking the law and are in an accident; if it were, every pile up on the interstate, everyone would be at fault because they were all, or mostly all, breaking the speed limit at the time of the pile up. Or TXTing, or doing their hair, or the millions of other things people do, all illegal, while driving their car/trucks.

I firmly believe you should have the right vehicle and the most safety you can afford. I traded a truck that was 2 months old I believe it so much, taking a significant financial hit in the process. Is the 450 safer than the 250 towing my rig. Undoubtedly. Does it insulate me from fault in an accident? Not even a little bit. I fully support people going up in size to get a truck that can tow their rig effectively, but I do not at all support fear mongering that your insurance won't cover you.

That said, to your point, no matter what your towing with, you really do need to think about the liability of damages you could cause. Get an umbrella policy, they are cheap, and, god forbid the worst happens, they take your limits way up. I'd spend the money on that before selling a 250 to buy a 350SRW just to get a new set of stickers, that's for sure.