Avoiding california 'weight fees' while renewing DMV registration

[srileo]

Hello all,
My camper is on the truck fulltime, but california assumes that if i own a truck, it is for commercial use and wants to charge me $154 weight fees on top of the usual license and renewal fees.
I read somewhere on here that if you go to the DMV and tell them that your camper is on the truck fulltime, it is no longer a commercial vehicle and therefore does not attract the weight fees.

I tried that last year, and i remember that the DMV lady was very cooperative about it, but said that my Truck title would have to be modified to be marked as recreational use only. But because the title is still held by the Bank of the West, I have to get some documentation from them.... (or something to that effect).

I ended up having to pay the full commercial fees last year, but want to try and avoid it this year. Any insights into this would be helpful. Thank you.
BTW, i cannot pay off the truck and take the title to the DMV right now ;-)

 

[ACEBLACKDOG]

ONLY HEARSAY ON MY PART....

i have heard the camper has to be "bolted" to the truck and that if you are caught by chp w/ camper off while on a ca roadway then you will be ticketed and be required to pay all back fees plus any fines, etc...

good luck
ace

 

[srileo]

ONLY HEARSAY ON MY PART....

i have heard the camper has to be "bolted" to the truck and that if you are caught by chp w/ camper off while on a ca roadway then you will be ticketed and be required to pay all back fees plus any fines, etc...

good luck
ace

I'll happily pay the fine and it would be well-deserved. But how do i convince DMV that i dont need to pay the weight fee?

shridhar

 

[NoPlanMan]

How can they tell it is/is not licensed for commercial or recreational/ Is it the plates?

 

[snuffy]

the dmv and chp etc go by the plates..number or letters are diff.. also i was told by my local dmv that it must be bolted down and must be self contained, fine is very stiff too i was told

 

[lqhikers]

srileo.

i changed my 2013 ford transit van ,which also had weight fees to a camper.
all i had to do was to have them check van to verify it was a "camper"
sink ,stove, pota potti {works as bathroom} exchange old plates for new.
i could if wanted remove everything in about 20 min.
i did this when registration was due,saved about $75.00 a year! (2 tanks of Gas )

while there i asked about my truck 2015 tacoma with northstar camper,no problem if its mounted
safely ,sugest removing corner jacks,also the dmv guy who inspected said that any topper
​on a pick up would allow you to delete weight fee.

i live in calif do not know about the rest of the world.

Les,lqhikers

Le

 

[Bad Habit]

What worked for me was I moved away and haven't looked back. Interestingly enough, about 3 years after I moved, I got a letter from DMV stating that my vehicle registration was past due and they were threatening to garnish my wages. Of course, this was mailed to me at my address in WA. I responded with a certified letter asking them to explain to me how they could be smart enough to know my address which was out of state, and yet not figure out that I was no longer a resident of the State of California and probably wouldn't be registering a vehicle in a State where I didn't live. Not surprisingly, I didn't get a response.

Love the people, love the diversity of the environs, have no use for the bureaucracy

 

[simimike]

Mr. Habit, That sums it up nicely.

 

[srileo]

What worked for me was I moved away and haven't looked back. Interestingly enough, about 3 years after I moved, I got a letter from DMV stating that my vehicle registration was past due and they were threatening to garnish my wages. Of course, this was mailed to me at my address in WA. I responded with a certified letter asking them to explain to me how they could be smart enough to know my address which was out of state, and yet not figure out that I was no longer a resident of the State of California and probably wouldn't be registering a vehicle in a State where I didn't live. Not surprisingly, I didn't get a response.

Love the people, love the diversity of the environs, have no use for the bureaucracy

Nicely done, and well said!

 

[srileo]

srileo.

i changed my 2013 ford transit van ,which also had weight fees to a camper.
all i had to do was to have them check van to verify it was a "camper"
sink ,stove, pota potti {works as bathroom} exchange old plates for new.
i could if wanted remove everything in about 20 min.
i did this when registration was due,saved about $75.00 a year! (2 tanks of Gas )

while there i asked about my truck 2015 tacoma with northstar camper,no problem if its mounted
safely ,sugest removing corner jacks,also the dmv guy who inspected said that any topper
​on a pick up would allow you to delete weight fee.

i live in calif do not know about the rest of the world.

Les,lqhikers

Le

Excellent advise!!
I am very surprised what the nice DMV lady told me last year she didnt mention anything about changing plates etc. Well, i guess I have to get an appointment at the DMV and have the camper inspected. Seems straightforward enough

I hope all DMVs do it?
And once you get the camper plates, are you good to go the next year as well or do you have to return for a camper inspection again?

Thank you all. You saved me some $$!
shridhar

 

[wuck]

My dad this quite a few years ago here in California. He had an F100 with a carpeted camper shell, no cabinets, no porta potti, nothing permanent. The shell was bolted onto the bed rails.

The DMV exchanged his commercial plates for regular passenger car plates, saving considerable $ each year.

 

[slus]

My experience with the CA DMV is that they are pretty lazy. If you go in and ask about something you are not sure about, they will always take the route that is easiest for them, which is usually to say "no you can't do that". If you go in prepared and tell them "this is what I am here to do" they will mutter under their breath and do it.

I think what you are looking for is Reg 256A, Certification of Vehicle for Human Habitation.

http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/vehindustry/vin_memos/vin2011/11vin29.pdf

I do believe this law has changed somewhat recently. I've bought and sold many trucks in the last 10 years and had a few come through with regular camper shells, passenger car plates, and the registration said "PICKUP WITH CAMPER SHELL" on it. A regular camper shell (Leer, Snugtop and such) does not appear to qualify anymore and per the DMV when I went in and asked "no you can't do that", but see disclaimer on DMV above. I haven't found any literature suggesting I can, so I'm still paying weight fees on my Tacoma, making it much more expensive per year than the 4runner version of basically the same dang truck would have been. I've been temped to put a porta potty in FWC on my F350, but I do occasionally take it off to haul things, and like said earlier in the thread, the fine is pretty stiff and the CHP WILL notice. My commercial plates only have 1 letter on the plate, while my passenger car plates have 3 letters. Check it out on the road, it's easy to spot once you're looking for it.

 

[snuffy]

2nd that.. if you even take the camper off just to make a run to home depot or haul firewood etc. you might be busted it might depend on where you live in commiefornia, i knew a guy in Santa Barbara who did the camper shell thing years ago and got busted hauling firewood, he had a sign on the truck firewood for sale lol..

 

[srileo]

Guys, this is all great info, but did you have the titles of your vehicle in hand before you went to the DMV for this inspection? I was told I need to have it or get permission from my bank, coz they have it...

 

[lqhikers]

all i showed was my current renewal notice and current registration
they did not ask for title,which is in my name (no bank loan)

Les,lqhikers

 

[murphy744]

You can get the paperwork done at AAA if your a member. I thought about it, then figured with my luck, I would get busted. Until I can retire outside Kalifornia, I will just keep paying.

 

[srileo]

You can get the paperwork done at AAA if your a member. I thought about it, then figured with my luck, I would get busted. Until I can retire outside Kalifornia, I will just keep paying.

Nice! I have a AAA membership. I doubt though, that AAA can do the inspection. I'll call and find out right now.

 

[srileo]

So, the mystery deepens on this issue. I tried calling up a few AAA offices to see if they would do the inspection. I could not even get anyone on the phone. All they want to do is sell insurance.

Anyway, went to the DMV and they easily did the inspection for me, no problem there. HOWEVER, they do need the title. And when i said that the title is with the bank because I financed it, they recommended I get in touch with the bank and have them send the title to the DMV directly, so the DMV would then change the licence plates on it and give me the new plates.

Well, i called up the bank, and they said "the bank really does not have the title, the DMV does and it is not a paper, it is an electronic record. When loans get paid off, the bank notifies the DMV and the DMV then issues the new title in owners name.

What the bank will do for me is send me some sort of a screenshot on paper to take with me to the DMV to argue the above point. Lets see what happens.

 

[norcalhawk]

To whom it may concern,

I just returned from the California DMV regarding commercial vs. non-commercial vehicle registration. The supervisor told me, if you have a livable, cab over, attached camper with a bed, seating, table, etc. and that the camper will stay on your truck, the weight fees are canceled and you may register your truck non-commercial. It does not matter whether your truck is 1/2, 3/4 or 1 ton. FWC and alike qualify as cab over. You'll need to bring your truck with camper on to the DMV office for verification, fill one form out and surrender your old plates. Personally, I keep my FWC on 100%, so this is good new. The supervisor also share with me, that CA state will be "cracking" down on trucks that have a "shell" on back using non-commercial plates.

Happy trails.

 

[Paul B.]

In California, be very careful if you are registered commercially and you go over 10,000# GVW. They include the trailer weight if you have one. If you are over this weight you will need an overweight sticker, they cost more. These are those 15, 20, 26, etc.....up to 80 stickers that are on the side of commercials trucks. 80,000# is the heaviest one can weigh on US highways with out a special use permit. If you're over 10.000#, you need a 15 sticker, over 15,000#, you need a 20 sticker, etc.

The fine is $0.50 per pound over the listed weight on your registration. If it's registered at 8000# and you're carrying 12,000#, the fine is $2,000. Believe me, I know, I paid it twice on my work trucks, to the tune of 5K. Now I have all the stickers on there, but the yearly registration goes up by hundreds of dollars. (Also, stay the hell out of Culver City at all costs. They are the worst.)

All campers and RV's are exempt from this. If the combined weight on your rig, truck and trailer, ever gets over 10,000#, get it registered non-commercial. If you have a commercial truck you use for work and play, and you regularly go over 10,000#, I don't know what you would do except get the overweight sticker.

Also, note. If you do have those overweight stickers on your commercial rig, there is a zero-tolerance alcohol policy. Any blood alcohol count at all while driving a commercially registered vehicle over 10,000# in California is a full tilt DUI.

Take care.