New Texas Laws?

[old turbo]

In Texas, where I am now the police have plenty to do without pulling over an RV for an inspection. I see plenty of cars and pickups which are junkyard specials on the roads which are more of a threat to safety than an RV. If they want safety get the cell phones out of the hands of drivers who try to drive and use all the hand held devices at the same time. I would have to go along with another previous post as to the truth of the whole story!

[richfaa]

buschot1..holy smoke..I do not understand the 467.00 fee to register your truck . I know that PA has weight classes up to class 25 and they do issue a sticker even when you purchase a new truck the registration will indicate the weight class and a sticker will be issued.. ..What number is on your sticker. I see a 3/4 ton F-250 LL,CC from PA with a weight class 4A on it.Pulling a fairly large 5th.Got to see what that cost him>>>

[skypilot]

Well, at lunch today I stopped by the County Treasurer's office. I was given a copy of KS Statute 8-143 so I now have it in writing that, for Kansas at least, any travel trailer used exclusively for recreational purposes is not included in the GVRW calculation for tow vehicle registration. I'm legal for my license plate tag on the vehicle.

Spoke with the 'State' examiner's office; I got an answer but it doesn't clear the water any in reality. Told me that for Kansas, I am currently legal with my regular class C license; don't need a CDL anything. I asked about the portion of the state web site that I quoted in an earlier post to this thread. The young lady I was speaking with said that the Federal 'guidelines' and State Statute do read that I would need at least the CDL-A since my trailer is over 10,000 pounds; however, there is the conflicting state statute that allows me to drive my truck with the recreational vehicle attached with the state class C license. Until the conflicting laws are resolved, I should not worry about it. Nice, non-commital answer to be sure. She did ask me several times -- "This is a recreational vehicle, not a trailer for hire, and not a flat bed or 'gooseneck' trailer?" I told her it was a 5th wheel recreational vehicle and finally asked her why she kept asking. She said that as of 1 Jan 2008 the state was making a concerted effort to ensure 'farm vehicles and their drivers' as well as some who used 'furniture trailers' to haul vehicles were properly tagged and licensed.

So guess I'll go about my merry way for another year until this years Legislature changes something again .

[richfaa]

Skypilot..Good job on the research. In your case it look like the "State Statute" is in conflict with the Federal CDL Mandates since the Federal CDL does not apply to 'Non Commerical" use..Period.. I am sure that the individual States will work it out and cost us some money. We went through the ame sort of thing with Ohio..To be simple..Question from the State... Are you hauling "for Hire" (commerical) My Answer.....NO... State..have a nice day...

[buschet1]

richfaa,
That the same thing I said!!! The sticker is weight class 8. I rechecked the scale CGVW certificate it says 20680# . I need to say that some portion of the $467 was a fee the tag and title company charge for their service. Here in PA you have to use them. I could put my hands on the receipt at this moment, so I can’t say if it was $20.00 or $40.00 or what. Going back to that day. I asked the lady “what would have happened if the trailer had never come up? She said that she understood that the state police look for the weight stickers on the windshield of the towing vehicle “that’s why it’s RED”. If the police didn’t see a red weight sticker and you were towing your RV you would more than likely get pulled over and weighed. (I don’t know if that is true. And don’t know if all the weight stickers are red) I said the policemen would weigh my rig right there? She said “no, they would call for DOT safety and weight truck that carries portable scales. And you would have to wait until truck got there”. She said also there would be a hefty fine. I think she said that to scare me. Because, I was not happy at that point. I don’t know how many weight classes there are. You said 25?

[richfaa]

buscheet1//All I can say is ..hummmm.. Check this out..from PA BMV http://www.dot3.state.pa.us/pdotform...rms/mv-140.pdf

The individual mentioned above said the 4A sticker reflects the GVW of the truck??? I might be asking some questions???..He did not recall what he paid for the plates but it was not anywhere near what you paid for yours...

[buschet1]

Richfaa,
So if I’m reading this chart correctly I should have paid $198 plus fees. Not $405 plus $62 in fees. I think I got ripped off. I glad this topic came up. Tomorrow I’m headed for this title office with this chart in hand for an explanation. Thanks Richfaa

[richfaa]

We are certainly not experts in interpreting Government rules..But it is sure worth asking the question??

[Wiarton William]

The confusion is widespread even up here....the clerks in the licencing offices dont seem to understand that the weight of the RV is not added to the weight of the truck for licensing purposes........RV are not considered to be commmercial in nature but the load carrying capacity of the truck is..hence if you tell them your trailer weighs 10000 lbs they will try and licence you for that amount....they will argue that the truck cannot be "personal use only" if you try to licence it to carry 2000 lbs on it...again..the pin weight is not added or included in the trucks licenced weight IE: my truck is licenced for 3000 kg(6200 lbs +/-).....which is barely enough to have a full tank of fuel the wife and dog in it and be legal......I can make that legal by adding 500 kg(1100 lbs +/-) to the licenced RGW...... I can hook up the trailer and be legal at 3000 kg if I dont take the wife and dog.......(ok...i will chance the ticket and take the dog)..Where I have my personal problem is with the weight of the trailer.. my DL is only good to 10200 lbs and the trailer with the bare mimimum load and no liquids is right on that limit..

[SlickWillie]

quote:Originally posted by buschet1

Richfaa,
So if I’m reading this chart correctly I should have paid $198 plus fees. Not $405 plus $62 in fees. I think I got ripped off. I glad this topic came up. Tomorrow I’m headed for this title office with this chart in hand for an explanation. Thanks Richfaa

And to think I complained about the registration fee here in TX!

[Delaine and Lindy]

I hear you and I'm happy to live in Tennessee. Truck 2008 Chevy 3500 $54.50, and the Cambridge was $14.00 for a Total of $68.50 not to bad. However our sales Tax is 9.75 but we have to State income Tax. GBY...

[mail2us]

Very interesting thread from all of you.

My question: If the CDL requires English, physical examination or certification and other requirements for licensed drivers in U.S., how does these requirements fit or will fit with those tractor trailers and drivers now coming into Texas, AZ, NM and Southern Calif from Mexico.

Do they all have CDL's? Or is it simply reciprocal? How does Texas law handle those vehicles and drivers? Dennis

[Charlie]

They are just getting prepared for the future and it's gonna be a mess!!!!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/5454166.html

[trukdoc]

After reading all this it come to me... Hotshot's. Hotshots are pickups pulling usually a flatbed trailer and being that there are no commercial requirements, no need to cross truck scales, they pull insane weights. I was talking to a man that claimed to regularly pull in excess of 60,000 pounds. Besides being beyond the legal limits of gvr, it is just plain stupid and irresponsible. It is regular around here for hotshots to pull hay trailers grossing between 40 and 50K. Make a rule for one it will go for all.

[Wiarton William]

There is a reciprocal agreement in place between all the states and all the Canadian Provinces....I have no idea of the agreement between states and other countries........if its legal in your home province(state/country) its legal wherever it is.....thats why you will find motor homes that are licenced in another state other than where the registered owner lives.....because he is legal there but might not be in his home state....also the licencing fees ie: Uhaul trucks....junk everywhere except in the state the licence is issued//

[SlickWillie]

I think what everyone here seems to be overlooking is that we are not pulling commercially. I had the opportunity a couple years ago to deliver trailers (farm and utility) from East TX to OK. It seems some were doing so without any sort of DOT approval. I called TXDOT and found I needed the DOT inspection, numbers, and some type CDL (don't know which class, as I dropped it like a hot potato). I've never had a CDL, and don't want one now.

I do know hay haulers that haul without CDL, merely by having a farm tax number, having the name of the farm on the truck (owner operator), and having farm tags. I made a trip with a friend of mine to Northwest, TX to pick up a couple Hereford Bulls (for hire); he had the seller make up a duplicate bill of sale to him in case we got stopped by the weight police. You can run farm tags on anything here in TX. We got a good laugh one day when we saw a Hummer with farm tags pulling a large pleasure boat.

[richfaa]

You will note in the Federal mandated CDL regs that States MAY exempt Farm vehicles from CDL requirements and most if not all do.However as truckdoc pointed out abuse of the exemption will force regulation. Rvers are doing the same by ignoring safety and weight specs.. We are shooting ourselves in the foot and any regulation will be in large part our fault.

[SlickWillie]

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

You will note in the Federal mandated CDL regs that States MAY exempt Farm vehicles from CDL requirements and most if not all do.However as truckdoc pointed out abuse of the exemption will force regulation. Rvers are doing the same by ignoring safety and weight specs.. We are shooting ourselves in the foot and any regulation will be in large part our fault.

No argument from me on that. One of the reasons DW and I went with the Mountaineer was the weight, contrary to the dealer saying we could tow anything on the lot.

[Okie Guy]

I am going to have to hook up to the trailer and get it weighed this weekend.