So I am going to DMV tomorrow (yeah, a "few" days past my 10 day period, so we will see how that goes). Looking at the current registration the "Type Vehicle Use" is listed as "Commercial" as well as the pink slip. I am assuming that this increases the cost of my registration and adds a few of those extra fees that are listed on the payment slip. Is there anyway of getting the "commercial" removed since it is not for commercial use? or is it purely because it is a f-250 3/4 ton, and that's how it will always be classified regardless of its use?

On another note the DMV schedule system is a joke. On the 5th of this month I tried to simply make an appointment. The earliest they had was the 31st. So I tried the DMV in Banning ( I think about 100 people in the city drive) they were also the 31st... what a Joke!

 

You can get around the high buck Commercial plate fees by installing a camper shell.

According to the CA DMV, this is the only way to delete the expensive Commercial plates.

Tonneau covers do not count! One new car salesman told me that, like a fool I believed him.

I installed a 700 buck hard tonneau cover on my 2004 Lariat Screw, then went to see a friend who (at that time) was the manager at the Whittier DMV office = NO DICE!

Belong to the AutoClub? Many DMV transactions can be taken care of there, and there is no need for an appointment.

You just waltz right in, wait for mebbe 5 minutes...at the most.

 

x2 for the AAA membership. It almost pays for itself when I have to renew registration for my vehicles. 5 minutes and it's my turn every time!

NumberDummy is right. The ONLY way you can get rid of your "commercial" status is to PERMANENTLY mount a camper in your bed (NOT a cap or shell, a real live/sleep in it camper). This will prevent you from hauling anything in the bed (cargo, tools, supplies) for any type of commercial use. Tonneau covers and caps DO NOT count. All pickups are by nature a commercial vehicle in CA (even a Tacoma gets the commercial treatment too). If it's worth paying $$$ for a camper, $$$ to have it installed, taking it to DMV to have them inspect/confirm the camper and then getting the standard non-commercial (car) license plate.

After all that work, though, you will be at risk if you remove the camper. Since you will have the non-commercial plate (1 number, 3 letters, 3 numbers) you will stick out like a sore thumb against the rest of us that have the commercial plates (1 number, 1 letter, 5 numbers). You will be easy pickin's for any cop who feels like citing you for having the wrong plates and not paying the commercial fee because you have a usable bed.

I toyed with the idea of doing it when I found out my tonneau doesn't count, but I know that the San Diego police and CHP down here in SoCal are big on citing commercial vehicles not up to code so I figure it's worth the peace of mind to not have to worry about it.

It's your call, but I would recommend just paying the extra commercial fees unless you're going to keep the camper in the bed all the time.

Just my .02

 

There's a hard nosed cop in Santa Monica that will cite a truck with NON-Commercial plates if he sees so much as a SHOVEL in the bed!

If there's one cop doing this, there's prolly a lot more doing the same thing.

For many years, Commercial plates were not a requirement on "Light Duty" trucks in CA.

Light Duty = F350 or less. In fact, one had to request Commercial Plates.

Now...it's a different story, because the law changed in the 1990's.

I have a friend who's a DMV office manager. As I recall, she told me Camper SHELL to avoid Commercial plates, but as the member above states, I could be wrong on the SHELL part.

btw: I just got 2010 tags for my Fusion from the Whittier SoCal Auto Club office. The transaction took less than FIVE minutes.

 

As mentioned, there is a way to register a pickup as a "house car" and avoid commercial plates. Rather than going into the details of what constitutes a house car, I will just recommend that you do NOT do that. If you ever wanted to haul anything, no matter how small, you could be cited, and those non-commercial plates on a pickup are like honey to the bears.

You'll pay a little extra weight fee as commercial, but it's not really that much in the big picture. Note, our recent fee increase was for only the registration part of the fee, not the weight fee or all the other stuff they tack on.

 

Thanks for all the great info! I opted for the wrecking yard this morning, instead of DMV, But I am going there tomorrow AM. It sounds like more of a hassle to not have it commercial then it's worth. I already think I am going to get pulled over enough, just being in an old truck that's loud, so I don't need to give them any more excuse.

I'll have to check into AAA. My dad has always been in the auto industry, so all I ever had to do is make a phone call and my car troubles were taken care of. Now that he is not in a position to work anymore, it's harder to pull favors from his bedside.

That's true! it is only the registration fee that was upped, so in my case it wouldn't make much of a difference. The weight fee is the worst @ $80.00

 

If your in the banning area and willing to make the drive come to the Hemet DMV. I don't think i've ever waited more than ten minutes

 

Here is a little info to help everyone figure out what they've got.

California Vehicle Code:
471. A "pickup truck" is a motor truck with a manufacturer's gross
vehicle weight rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight
of less than 8,001 pounds, and which is equipped with an open
box-type bed not exceeding 9 feet in length. "Pickup truck" does not
include a motor vehicle otherwise meeting the above definition, that
is equipped with a bed-mounted storage compartment unit commonly
called a "utility body."

This tells you what you've got. If it isn't a pickup truck then it's a commercial truck. As for the shovels in the bed, there is often more to the story then told. If you're using your pickup truck to haul a bunch of plants home for your home improvement project then you're fine. Now if that truck has a business name on the door you're screwed. If you're hauling that shovel to and from a job site then you're probably still screwed. Point is that if you're using your truck to haul anything for a business then you'll likely loose that fight in court. Hauling stuff home or your buddies house on saturday then you're likely ok.

Now for the housecar registration issue. Here is the code to define what will make your truck a housecar.

California Health and Safety Code: 18010. "Recreational vehicle" means both of the following:
(a) A motor home, travel trailer, truck camper, or camping
trailer, with or without motive power, designed for human habitation
for recreational, emergency, or other occupancy, that meets all of
the following criteria:
(1) It contains less than 320 square feet of internal living room
area, excluding built-in equipment, including, but not limited to,
wardrobe, closets, cabinets, kitchen units or fixtures, and bath or
toilet rooms.
(2) It contains 400 square feet or less of gross area measured at
maximum horizontal projections.
(3) It is built on a single chassis.
(4) It is either self-propelled, truck-mounted, or permanently
towable on the highways without a permit.
(b) A park trailer, as defined in Section 18009.3.

This is the section you need to meet to register your truck as a housecar (RV). If your shell or camper or whatever you want to call it meets this code then you can change your registration over to a housecar. Saves big bucks! But if you take the camper off the truck then once again you're screwed! Use it to haul stuff to and from work, screwed again. Basically just stay within the codes and you'll be fine. But don't think for a minute that the cops don't know about these sections and aren't watching out for this stuff. You might pull it off for a while but if you get caught expect to pay big bucks to the state.


Finally here is the code section that we're talking about

California Vehicle Code: 362. A "house car" is a motor vehicle originally designed, or
permanently altered, and equipped for human habitation, or to which a
camper has been permanently attached. A motor vehicle to which a
camper has been temporarily attached is not a house car except that,
for the purposes of Division 11 (commencing with Section 21000) and
Division 12 (commencing with Section 24000), a motor vehicle equipped
with a camper having an axle that is designed to support a portion
of the weight of the camper unit shall be considered a three-axle
house car regardless of the method of attachment or manner of
registration. A house car shall not be deemed to be a motortruck.

This is where the permanently attached part gets you. What constitutes permanently attached? Well the simple answer is attached to your chasis just like any other permanent part of your vehicle. Will 4 bolts in the bed count? Probably not. More bolts into the chasis? Probably so.

Whew, that's enough typing for now, hope this helps everyone know what they have and how to go about changing it. Jim.

 

Wow, thanks for the informative post. Definitely not using it for business, but I'll have to look into the weight. I am sure I fall outside of the weight category. I guess the worst part about registering this truck is the $80 weight fee. I am sure that would be applied either way. The tags are cheap enough at $15. However I home Sacramento does not read that last comment!

 

here is one not a lot of you know. DMV Will waive the weight fees if you have Disable plates Handicapped. The other item is if you have DP plates you can still carry items in the back. So if you have a place card, have DP plates installed on your truck and the weight fees are gone. Note that you can only do it to one vehicle, so if you own several pick the highest one. the unladden weight must be less than 6000 pounds to qualify.