They are probably working on a way to get thier revenue right now.

 

Around here there are a few stations that carry off-road. The last I bought from a bulk supplier was about 40 cents less than on-road. I've only heard a story of one guy having his tank sticked.

 

Tell your buddy he is WRONG, this is not a commercial vehicle issue at all. Has virtually NOTHING to do with commercial vehicles, they just use DOT guys because they are the ones that deal with Diesel powered rigs the most. This is a tax evasion question and if your caught your charged with a tax evasion ticket and crime and prosecuted by the IRS not by DOT. in several states they actually have IRS agents on hand when doing the inspections other state have authorized state troopers and DOT officers to enforce tax evasion laws. So tell your friend that go ahead cause they will simple just impound his truck, I disagree totally with siezure of property but if it is going to be done it will be over Tax Evasion and his will be real high on the list (I understand that IF they do accuse you and find you guilty of it they can then even take your house. Don't know if that is true or not but i do know the IRS doesn't seem to have to obey the same laws as everyone else)

Some state how much they are saving, but I know in Iowa first offense is $1000 plus whatever tax they think you didn't pay (they calculate it based on how many miles are on your truck averaged over past 3 yrs based on average fuel economy for the type of rig you own and figure you have been running offroad fuel the whole time) + fines and interest, now that added is usually not added on unless they have issues, but second offense it IS added on (now they have proof that you actually are doing it intentionally) and the fine is $10,000 plus back taxes. I don't know what the third offense is, but I do know that at some point it can include loss of property and freedom (yes that means jail time, and if they figure the tax evasion is over $1000 worth of taxes it can be a felony in many places) so you decide if it's worth doing or not.

 

yea look what they did to willie nelson the good ol' IRS took all his stuff so what happend... everyone bought his stuff at auction and gave most of it back. now he's got a bio diesel company.(biowillie) and i figure he's havin a good time reportin all that "alternative fuel" to the irs

 

Yeah I was just hearing about that lately myself, couldn't believe they even took his kids bronzed baby shoes. I don't know about you but I don't think I would have enough fans to buy my stuff back and give it back to me LOL. But it does prove the point the IRS will do whatever they have to in order to get their money, and not even your bank can stop them, the irs overides everything even liens.

 

Hey Ron, monsterbaby doesn't have a name in his signature either!

On topic- I heard from a reliable source that all diesel pickups at a local sale barn were dipped while the sale was going on. Didn't hear what the outcome was and how they contacted the owners, but it was done on farm trucks not commercial.

 

Most guys that run it have a 'shop' or business that they have a ground tank of off road that they can pump out of. I have off road, unleaded, and diesel tanks at my shop. I could easily run off road but not on a regular basis.

I have run it when there is an impending hurricane or storm or something and every fuel depot within 100 miles is bone dry.

My wife works for my supplier, so I can get it very easily at their bulk supply yard. She also keeps me informed of the day to day price changes. Usually about 4 a day. Morning, mid morning, mid afternoon, and evening rack prices can fluctuate as much as 14 -20 cents a day.

 

Our local truck stop has red fuel right next to road fuel. All the school buses and state vehicles run red fuel here. Easy to buy, just slide the credit card and go. 60 cents less! I just run it in an aux tank for equipment and dont mess with trying to get away with it in my pickup.

Around here the fuel dipping seems occur few and far between. Happens at wiegh stations during inspections, or if you get pulled over for another violation, but not just random pull you over because you drive a diesel.

I myself would probably not stop for a sign on the highway unless I was running commercial. I guess I might be wrong, but unless you are commercial a DOT officer has to have a reason to pull you over. Running commercial they can pull you over just to look at your paperwork do to the fact that you are running under federal laws, but private is much different. The power that DOT officers have is down right scary when you run commercial. Maybe it also carries over to private vehicles, but I dont think it does do to the fact that they dont seem to enforce any laws on private vehicle unless you are over 26k gvw.

 

He is. Tell him to research the Carroll doctine and civil penalities vs. criminal penalties.

Extreme nutshell version is Carroll v US eliminated the need for a warrant for a vehicle search as long as the vehicle is mobile. A car on blocks is immune, but one that will move under its own power is covered. You still need probable cause or consent for the search, however that moves us to the second issue.

Civil penalties play by an entirely different set of rules than criminal penalties. Different standards of proof, different court rules, different (lesser) protections.

 

i'm not sure about all states, but here in NC you can have your vehicle registered as a farm vehicle. i don't know all the details about how you qualify, and don't feel like looking it up, but i wonder if you would then be able to legally run the red stuff. the reason i ask, is i have friends who own a farm and have their own huge tanks. as long as i can remember, my friend ashley would always fill up her car with off road diesel. maybe they've been breaking the law all this time.

 

Most farmers do have bulk storage of off road, but I will tell you this...in LA it is an unwritten law by ALL law enforcement officials.....don't f^%$ with the farmers. Don't pull 'em over, don't look at 'em funny, don't wink at 'em.........nothin' It's just not cool to pick on'em. Most are tied in to good o boy network somewhere down the line, they're hard working salt of the earth folk that you just don't pick on. Not sayin' that's a bad thing, just sayin'

 

I have my wifes truck registered as a farm vehicle in Texas. I believe all the laws are the same. You can run the off road stuff if you never drive on a road. If you take your farm vehicle to town (even for farm related stuff) it's illegal. Road taxes on fuel are supposed to be paid for any vehicle driving on a public road.

 

My very first diesel vehicle was that joke GM put out in the late 70's early 80's, I was always putting farm diesel in it cuz I lived on a farm and it was available to me for free. I don't think I even knew I was breaking the law at the time. All I knew was that I was getting something I sure could use today...FREE FUEL.....

 

Here in Kentucky, the DOT Enforcement Officers will pull private passenger automobiles over and write tickets for violations, not just commercial rigs.

A farm tag will exempt you from some commercial vehicle requirements, but you cannot used red/off-road fuel in any vehicle that is driven on a public highway with the exception of specific farm equipment like tractors or combines.

 

Here in Iowa, the DOT/IRS specifically go after farmers for this violation because they are known for doing it and think being a farmer gives them special privilages. Locally the farmers got on the bad side of DOT when one pulled out infront of a car without looking with a tractor pulling 2 wagons and a 100+ft auger causing an accident that killed an entire family. His response was "It's my road I paid for it so they should stay off it if they don't want to deal with my equipment" I don't know all the details but he found out how much he DIDN"T pay for the road, I know they got him on running offroad fuel while on the hiway in his tractor, got him for having an unregistered vehicle on the hiway, for tax evasion for not paying FET and sales tax on tires that were being used on road (ag tires are exempt from all taxes) as well as a bunch of other fines a lot having to do with DOT. I know a bunch of them were dismissed in the end but the family also lost the entire farm and everything and the guy went to prison (he didn't even bother to stop when the accident happened cause it was their own dang fault for driving 55mph in a 55 zone that was his) The one thing that I learned at that time was that even tractors are NOT exempt from paying road use tax, the law REQUIRES them to log all time on road vs offroad and the file a report paying the tax on the fuel that was used while on a state highway (non ever do). Now that was an extreme case of coarse but it shows one thing IF they can go after a farm tractor for running red fuel on the highway they darn straight can and will go after your pickup. actually they did in this area go down to the sale barn and every single diesel that left they pulled over and checked and nailed several farmers pulling livestock trailers for tax evasion (my nieghbor who is a DOT officer told me that a couple of them got rather mouthy about picking on farmers and didn't they know that without farmers you won't eat BS so they wrote them DOT violations too like overweight, and equipment violations etc, as well as one guy for hauling for hire since he couldn't produce a sale reciept in his name for the animals on the trailer)