Even though it's a pickup, you also can't drive on parkways in NY state if it says "commercial" on the plate. That's why in recent years you see so many pickups (generally half tons) with passenger plates on them. You hardly ever used to see that. Most all pickups had commercial plates on them back in the day.
In NY, you have to register a pickup to carry at least 500 pounds cargo to register it commercial. So, say your new truck's weight as provided by the manufacturer is 6,000 pounds, you register it at 6500.
I have a 2014 F250 Super Cab XLT with 6.2 gas. I occasionally tow my business trailer with it but not often. I also have a 10k gross weight dump trailer that I pull with it. If I remember correctly I only added 1k to the stock weight for my commercial plates. So the registration on my truck now says 7500, leading me to believe that the stock weight on this truck is at 6500. If this is the case, you're beat right out of the gate with a 250. But don't take my guesstimate. Do the research and determine the factory weight of one of these trucks so you have accurate information.
As others have suggested, I think you'd be better served by a 150 with 8 cylinder for both your registration and relatively light towing needs. But as xr7gt390 pointed out, maybe you have a loophole with our DMV for a 250. But you probably know that oftentimes you'll be doing battle with someone at the DMV counter to prove your points.
As also noted the F150 is a popular truck, which puts the dealer in the driver's seat in negotiations. If it were me, I'd shop a large region. Even with the price of a one way plane ticket and the fuel home you might be able to find yourself a better bargain than locally.
When I ordered a new 2007 Mustang GT back in 2006 I wound up dealing in Rochester, which is about 3 hours from me because the locals were all asking above sticker due to the popularity of Mustangs at the time. We have an army base nearby so most dealers would let you walk because they knew that there would always be returning service members with a pocket full of combat cash and no desire to negotiate.

 

I'd agree with that. I like to use Ford Dealership Near Me Katy, TX | AutoNation Ford as a measuring stick on truck prices. They have extremely competitive pricing, and the incentives down in Texas seem to be a bit better than other parts of the country. I'd book a plane ticket for a better price. Woodhouse Ford in Blair, NE is another one people are known to fly out and drive back.


Yup, that was me right around that time. Returned to Fort Drum in 1/2007 and bought a new F150.

 

My 08, xl, 5.4, regular cab, 4x4 weighs 6500# empty. I highly doubt you will find a super cab to weigh less. My truck is registered at 6040# but that weight is almost 500# off from true weight. So even at registered weight you would be over and my configuration is about as light as it gets

 

Drum is what I was speaking of. I'm about 12 miles from Watertown.
Actually had dealers tell me that they had no desire to deal because military would come in and pay the price with zero questions. And for Mustangs they were getting over sticker at the time. Good for the dealers, not so good for me.
So I ordered a 2007 Mustang GT in May of 2006 from Vision Ford in Rochester. Got it in August.

 

Yup, I gathered that from your location. My wife is from Sackets Harbor.

 

+1 to this. I'm in NY


The over 6k pounds thing is BS law. The dealers are just trying to push these trucks for commercial use only, probably to bring down their passenger vehicle emissions average. and make an extra buck on the cap up-sale. And they turn a slightly better profit on F-150s, so they'll try to push you toward that too, if you come in looking for a passenger vehicle.

 

Not a single sentence is true, you're applying wild speculation to explain why your dealer fudged your registration.

 

?? I didn't mean it wasn't legit... I'm just saying that it is perfectly feasible to get passenger plates on a super duty, with, or without a cap. You just have to "intend" to use it as a camping vehicle.
Yes, the part about my theory on emmisions/sales plans of the company IS speculation! That's why I said PROBABLY in that part of it! lol


Just to explain my speculation further... Right now, there is a race between companies, of who can have the lowest fleet-wide emissions, specifically for non-commercial vehicles. so lowering that average, is sure to be a priority, and it would make sense for them to posture their sales teams accordingly. So when you come in saying you want a super duty for personal use, it would make sense for them to say "how about a nice F-150?". And since they produce more f-150s, that means they're cheaper to build, thus leaving a better profit margin. Sooo, they make more money on F-150s...

 

Here's my two cents on NYS commercial registration tags.

When I lived there, every pickup truck got commercial plates unless you had a cap on it and had seatbelts installed in the bed. With commercial plates, you weren't allowed to drive on any of the parkways on Long Island and there are bridges/streets you can't travel on in NYC either. And it was enforced. I had a little 2wd S-10 in college and I got pulled over on one of the parkways just for being on it. An Excursion is fine - but an S-10 is a no-go. Go ahead and try to figure out what kind of drugs NY lawmakers are on.

Now you can get regular passenger plates on an open-bed pickup just by ticking a box on the registration form, provided it weighs less than 6,000 lbs. This is the unladen weight listed on the title. It has nothing to do with what the vehicle actually weighs. If it weighs more than 6,000 lbs you can still get passenger plates, but you're back to having a cap and seatbelts installed.

Your alternatives are to either register your vehicle at another address in another state, which shouldn't be too tough to do when you're traveling in an RV, or to simply ignore the requirement altogether. I've traveled all over the US and I've never seen it matter anywhere except Long Island/NYC. Even if you do rarely see a sign that says "no commercial vehicles allowed" I've never seen it apply to pickup trucks. Keep in mind it's very easy to plead ignorance with something like this because probably 95% of the population doesn't even know that passenger and commercial registrations are different or have different plates.

 

You are literally just making all of this up. None of it is true.

 

Guys.. I don't know what offended you, and I don't know why you're acting like I'm making this stuff up..


My goal here, was to tell the OP, that I bet he can go down to the dealer, get his passenger plates, and not run into any real hang-ups.


And as for the emissions stuff.. read the link at the bottom for starters.. and if you do your own google search, you will see thousands of pages on the topic..


If I end up being wrong about something I heard or read, that's fine. But I would never just make something up.... geeez.


U.S. proposes tighter emission standards for big trucks | Reuters

 

You didn't offend me at all.


And my goal is to point out that this is 100% false. You can't register a 6,000+ lb truck as a passenger vehicle unless it's been permanently modified. Drop by your local State Police barracks with your passenger plated truck and ask them if you don't believe me or THIS LINK which spells it out in plain English.

 

If you want an F250 - get it. You live in the boonies of Upstate NY and will probably never ever go anywhere near NY City and their ridiculous parkway restrictions. As far as the Natchez Trace - how many times will you visit there in your retirement? This retirement thing is not about totally limiting your choices as far as a tow vehicle. You buy that F150 - and with any engine choice, is a great truck but you are tying your hands. Since you stated that you want to keep driving it for many years, you limit what kind and size of RV you may end up owning in the future. No matter what the truck or RV dealer says or some facts thrown out here from the specs, real world will tell you that you just cannot tow an RV over 10,000 pounds and over 30 feet comfortably with an F150. Supposedly our Montana is 1/2 ton towable - no frickin way as even my current truck, an F250 with 11,200# suspension by actual checked part numbers, registered in NY State to not exceed 9999, could be a dually F350/450 for winding road stability.

Get the truck you really want and let the commercial plates fall where they may.

 

This info was in my first quote, from someone's post on the previous page....... but again, I already knew this is what it sais in the books..... BUT what I'M saying..Is in reality, they will work around it with you, and if you want an SD with passenger plates, and no mods. They will make it happen for you, rather than loose a sale. Maybe they send a simple cap receipt in when they register it for you.. idk for sure, but I really don't think people get pulled over for not having your cap on either. 9 out of 10 SDs I see in this area have soft/hard bed covers. I rarely see caps. So I can't be the only one that got hooked up. Or maybe people buy the cap, and take it off right away, and leave it in they're yard. beats me.


I suspect this exchange could go on forever, but I said my bit, and now I'm bowing out of this quagmire. I still love you guys though! lol.

 

I'm also thinking that places like Natchez Trace aren't going to give you the boot based solely on a license plate that's stamped "commercial". Common sense should tell people that it isn't a commercial vehicle in the heavy duty or "used in commerce" sense. NY certainly will hit you because they never met a tax, fee or fine that they didn't love.
Maybe the OP could find an RV'er site and discuss this with folks who have been to destinations he plans on traveling to with the type of truck or truck/trailer combination that he's interested in.