Save some bucks

  Having been in California only a couple dozen years, I'm still learning the ins and outs of the DMV and its fantastic fee structure. On a non-yak forum today, I learned that a pickup truck with an open bed is classified as a commercial vehicle and charged an annual weight fee. In my case, $154. But if you have a permanently attached utility body or camper shell, the classification changes and you don't have to pay the weight fee. I'm heading to the DMV Monday to try to get back my contribution to Ahnuld's jet, but here's a link to a DMV page which spells out this policy - might be worth printing and taking with you if you're in the same boat: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/about/lad/pdfs/pktrucks/pk_isorfinal_adden.pdf

Just don't ever take off that shell, and don't carry a "load" as if it were a truck. I believe the "spirit" of that law is for people who have a permanent shell on their truck to camp and store people, but if people just permanently attach a shell, but carry a load in the bed like a truck, you are subject to it being a truck.

Be careful here, because it could lead to a citation if the officer who stops you makes the dehumanization that your vehicle is :

California Vehicle Code section;

410.  A "motor truck" or "motortruck" is a motor vehicle designed,
used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.

Good luck on this one!

CHEERS!

I do not pretend to know anything about the Motor Vehicle Code, but a friend of mine was stopped and fined for having a load in a truck that had been licensed this way. He was moving and took the shell off of his truck. If I remember correctly, his plate identified his truck as being licensed this way, so it was easy for the officer to identify my friends mistake.

Bill

Here's the part that convinced me:
These sections distinguish between a pick-up with a temporarily attached
camper and one that is permanently affixed. When the camper is
temporarily attached it is classified as a load and weight fees are applied.
When the camper is permanently affixed, there is a sufficient change in the
property carrying capability of the vehicle whereby the primary purpose of
carrying property is lost; hence the weight fees are not applied.

  My camper is permanently attached. Yes, I could unbolt it, but for the effort involved, I'd probably just rent a larger truck. I regularly carry loads in it - paddles, fishing tackle boxes, rod cases. Occasionally I carry a few bags of potting soil or such. In each case, just the same sort of stuff I'd carry in the trunk of a car if I didn't have the truck. I also carry luggage in it when on trips. I'm going to take my chances with the local DMV office and see what they say. My camper shell may not satisfy them, although it has rodholders, dome light, opening vent windows, locking door, and BedRug. But unless they insist "camper" means only a cab-over or similar type, I'm gonna try this.

Just so you know, if I stopped a truck with a car plate and a camper shell with a bunch of stuff in the bed, like a truck is meant for, I'd issue a citation. You've got to remember, it's the spirit of the law.....if it's a truck that is used as a car, then it's a car, but if it's a truck trying to get a break on paying the licensing fee and being used as a truck, the spirit of the law has been broken.

Just my two cents. But as I said before, good luck on this one!

CHEERS!

so how much money do you think you are going to save?  75 bucks a year?  while risking getting pulled over anytime you have any load and given a $200(?) ticket. Or god forbid youve had a couple beers and get pulled over. i dont think youd be doing yourself any favors by trying to sneak through that loophole.

It depends on the truck. In my case, it's $154 a year, and you can claim a refund for three years after payment of the excess fee - so it's nearly $300 since the shell went on the truck as soon as they became available to fit it. As a retiree, I think that's enough to be worth a few minutes of my time at the DMV. I don't think I'm attempting to violate the spirit of the law, either: weight fees are intended for commercial vehicles. While a pickup can be, and many are, a commercial vehicle, mine's not. The shell's not coming off, and I'll carry whatever I need to carry in it and be happy to meet any ticketing officer in court. I've read the applicable sections of the Vehicle Code, and I'm convinced. To put it in perspective, this truck has all of a 6-1/2 foot bed. I'm not going to be loading it up with 16-foot lumber, or a bunch of major appliances. I'm going to haul kayak paddles, fishing tackle, luggage, and the occasional few bags of manure I don't want stinking up my car - all with the cover in place. That's exactly what I do with my sedan, too. While not knowing the difference, I drove a full-size Ford Bronco for 13 years with passenger car plates - dealer licensed it that way. It was certainly built on a pickup truck platform, just with a bobbed bed and attached shell. I carried more crap in that than I'm likely ever to carry in the new truck - and nobody ever gave it a second glance.
  Of course, you can always feel free to ignore the subject completely. I'll happily go my way on this; just thought it might apply to some others out there who might want to save a fee they shouldn't be paying.

Well maybe i'm wrong. 300bucks   is   300bucks.

It sounds like you are rationalizing the decision. An actual officer just told you he'd probably write you a ticket carrying the said fertilizer. That would be enough for me. As far as arguing the citation in court, it has been my experience that judges give far more weight to an officers interpretation of the law than Joe Publics.

You could take the 300 bucks you save and buy a utility trailer, then if you're ever in a situation where you would need the top off, you have a utility trailer to do that with.   

I imagine even the ghetto trailers made out of a truck bed wouldn't come with the truck bed tax... 

I have a campershell on my truck, and it's been on pretty much since the truck was new (02' 2nd pickup, 2nd campershell)) I know about the different registration , but choose to not call my truck a car, because I don't want to loose the option to carry stuff in the bed, or worry about driving around without the shell and getting nabbed for it.

I forgot to add that another perk for having a commercial vehicle (truck plate) is that you can park in the yellow "loading zone" when ever you want.

But as I said before, good luck with this.

I also have a truck and pay over $400.00 a year for registration.

Additionally, I have violated my own rule on this site. I didn't want to be "the cop fisherman" on here, I wanted to me that dude from Ukiah who seems to always be out fishing....what does he do for a living?

Nuff said!

CHEERS!

I've got a trailer already - five year license cost next to nothing. After all, you have to haul kayaks somehow. Guys, someone needs to read the code. All this stuff about "loopholes" sounds like someone's been watching too many Perry Mason reruns. This isn't a loophole, it's just the law. It reminds me of growing up in a place where the regional apocrypha held that if you carried so much as your spare tire in the bed of a pickup truck, you had to have a commercial license. My dad believed it, and kept such a license for years just to drive his pickup to work - with the spare mounted underneath the bed. But nobody I knew ever heard of anyone who was actually ticketed for a violation of this urban legend. The code doesn't say squat about what you can carry in your camper, just that the act of permanently attaching a camper alters the carrying capacity of the truck sufficiently to exempt it from the weight fees. Damfino why the same goes for a "utility body"; some of those things are extremely heavy and the trucks are used to haul some very heavy stuff in several of the trades. And I see pickups loaded several feet above cab height every day - but not ones with campers.

Additionally, I have violated my own rule on this site. I didn't want to be "the cop fisherman" on here, I wanted to me that dude from Ukiah who seems to always be out fishing....what does he do for a living?

Nuff said!

That's how I've always refered to you as Dan, "that dude from Ukiah" 

Additionally, I have violated my own rule on this site. I didn't want to be "the cop fisherman" on here, I wanted to me that dude from Ukiah who seems to always be out fishing....what does he do for a living?

Nuff said!

That's how I've always refered to you as Dan, "that dude from Ukiah" 

Thanks Adam! wordUpmyBRO!