I'm looking to replace my old 2003 F250 with a newer F350 to use as a camper hauler. There seems to be lots of mixed info out there regarding registration and weigh stations for 11500+ lb GVWR trucks in California. Anyone with an F350 or bigger truck for personal use care to chime in on their experiences here in socal? Any issues with weigh stations, CA stickers and how pricey is the registration really?

 

Hi Dave,
I have a 2018 F350 Diesel Supercab Dually, GVWR of 14000 lb. I have no problems with weigh stations, signs say no pickups so I just go on by. Ca. laws are odd, supposedly my truck with a service bed needs to weigh, but I followed one(service bed truck) past a weigh station a couple weeks ago and he did not stop - go figure. Dealer registered my truck as 10000 GVW so every year I need to verify it is correct along with $862.00 registration.
Also had a rude awakening with this years registration - needed a smog check. Seems all the power adder folks have irked the CARB folks.

 

Thanks for the feedback! So your DRW is registered at 10k GVWR instead of 14k?

I hear you on smog, my F250 has to get tested despite not having any real factory emissions equipment. Because of that really the only way for it to fail would be to blow "excessive smoke".

 

I believe the lower weight rating saves a few dollars on registration fees. I suppose if I was doing commercial work and had to do official weights it might pose a problem.

The DMV web site indicates all vehicles 8 years and newer do not need smog checks and only certain diesels do. So the notice for smog this year was a shock. My old truck 95 DRW F350 with 7.3 was exempt because of age.

 

My '78 F350 race car hauler is OVER $400 a year because of the "sticker'. I do stop at the scales but have never been stopped. I plan on going to "Historical vehicle" plates to cut the registration in half like my '74 F350 race car hauler has.
Randy

 

Are registration fees significantly higher on a srw 350 compared to 250 in ca, and if so is there a way to get them reduced

 

Yes it's about 200 a year difference. The only way to get them reduced is to buy a base F250 with 9900 package. Otherwise plenty of F250 trucks will put you into a higher reg class as they can be equipped up to 11,300GVWR.