whats the deal with registering your f250 in new york? do you have to put commercial plates on it even if the truck is not for work? or does any one know any way to get around getting commercial plates and getting passenger plates.
let me know.. thanks

 

OK, here's the take, at least the last time I checked.

If the truck is under 5500lbs UNLADEN WEIGHT (on the title as either unladen or shipping weight) you CAN register with PASSENGER PLATES.

If the truck has a topper/cap (camper shell), camper insert, or otherwise closed bed (not sure about the bed covers), you CAN register with PASSENGER PLATES. However, if the truck is not BRAND NEW and the dealer didn't register it initially with passenger plates, you DO have to get the truck WEIGHED empty. Take the weight slip to the DMV and see what they'll do. Ask two different people at DMV, get two different answers. You may OR may NOT have to show them the truck.

Otherwise, if the truck is over 5500lbs empty, and the bed is open, you MUST register with commercial plates.

I was lucky, I bought my SD brand-new, and the dealer registered it with passenger plates as long as I had the receipt for the deposit on my brand-new ARE cap/topper.

Good luck

ALSO - if that's a gasser Superduty, and it's 8800lbs GVWR, and it's pre-2005, AND you register with passenger plates, you WILL have a problem getting an emissions inspection unless the inspector/shop knows what they are doing.

They will have to manually change the weight class to over 8500lbs, and NOT do an OBD-II check. The 1999-2004 Superduty gassers are NOT OBD-II compliant and their machine WILL complain if they attempt to hookup to the PCM with their computer.

 

I think the bed cover requirement has changed. Last time I reg. mine the DMV asked if I wanted pass plates. When I first reg. my truck I ended up having it weighed, no tailgate, both tanks on empty and no spare. (5200 lbs) to amend the registration. Had to tell DMV it had an attached cap. Only thing is now my title says "suberban" Ever since NY came out with the new insp proceedures we have to have vin manually entered (1986 and 1989 F250 SCabs.

 

GLR, like I said, if your truck weighed under 5500lbs, you are eligible for the passenger plates.

That was not always the case. I think they added the under-5500lbs exemption about 10 years ago?

 

Yes, Art that was over 15 yrs ago. I wanted to get pass plates for driving on the parkways on LI when my parents lived there. So had to get it weighed to amend the registration. At that time I had to show the DMV that the cap was bolted to the truck. It used to bug me seeing pass plates on trucks and vans down there with ladder racks and business signs on them.

 

thanks alot guys for the help. can a cop give you trouble for having passenger plates on a truck with out a cap even if it is suposed to according to the dmv?

 

I've heard of it, if you are on the parkways (where they say "No Commercial Traffic", the NYS troopers might get a little weird about it.

I stay off the parkways when I don't have the cap on it.

But if a cop wants to bust your chops, they can get you for improper registration class or something to that effect.

Not sure if the locals, like County, would even know. But the troopers on the parkways, they might pull you over for it. And then, maybe a story like "I'm getting the window on the cap fixed" or something might blow them off.

 

Call this a stupid question if you want, but other than the parkway thing, why would you WANT passenger car plates?

Isn't the insurance more? And aren't you limited in the amount you can haul? There's no GVWR on a passenger registration, is there?

Maybe that changed too, I hadn't noticed.

To me, unless there's a practical reason like the parkway thing, it just pansifies a truck.

 

Actually, my insurance is LOWER with passenger plates than commercial. Years ago, that wasn't the case, commercial-plate insurance was much lower when I did my '74 highboy insurance, but that switched around a few years back.

And no, there is no GVWR, so I can legally carry almost anything and not be "overweight".

Registration is cheaper, based on the weight, registration shows 56xx lbs versus 8800 lbs commercial.

I live in an incorporated village. They have codes that say commercial vehicles can not be "stored" on residential property. So I'd have to park it on the street. And then, they have parking rules about commercial vehicles on the street. The guy across the street from me got hit for parking his vehicles in the street. So, he has to pull them into his long driveway first, with the wife's car in front of them, so they can't "see" the commercial plates. There's always a way around it, but I didn't feel like screwing around.

Not sure if it's still the case, but bridge tolls were always double for vehicles over 7500lbs. Which is why I used to register my '74 highboy (that said 7700lbs GVWR on the door sticker) at 7400lbs.

 

Yeah, all the know-nothin' wannabe towns upstate are starting to screw w/ people like that, looking for revenue streams, exercising the little authority they think they have. Of course nobody's got the cash to take them to task, legally speaking. Most are tinhorn dictators...Dad was in it for 8 years...thankless task with nothing to show for it.

Those laws were written when no self-respecting "town-liver" would be caught dead in something as low-life as a truck, especially a pick-up truck.

We finally got smart and dissolved our Village, now we have to make the Town Boys a little smarter.

Didn't know 'bout the insurance change...probably cuz so many have decided to drive (and wreck) P/U's, raising the whole class' costs.