commercial vs private registration ?
 

I don't know if this has been asked on here or not.
Im in so cal. i have a 02 f250 sd 4door. my registration show's it is only $59. BUT im also charged a $281 weight fee.. From what i have read so far is, That the fee is only charged for trucks over 8500 LBS and more.. or if your truck is registered as commercial. my truck is 6500 LBS if i read the tag right.. .. Has anyone changed their registration to private ?? How did you do it ??

In CA all trucks are registered commercial automatically. You may register it noncommercial but you will have to put a camper shell on it.

And dont think you can get away with just taking the shell off later, the license plates are different

Commercial: 1A11111
NonCommercial: 1AAA111

1=Number
A=Letter

Has to be more than a shell, but you are correct, it has to be PERMANENT.

RANT: Why do people keep asking these questions here when the DMV site has the answers?

Page 20 here talks about registering a new vehicle:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/reg_hdbk_...ia_dealers.pdf

Section E is the application to change your vehicle from commercial to auto registration after you certify it's change to "human habitation":

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg256a.pdf

RANT II: You want to drive a truck? Pay the registration like the rest of us. I'm paying it on a lot lighter truck than yours. :-X19

Probably because I referred him to the friendly folks in the SoCal chapter when he posted this question in the Super Duty forum. I thought he might get a better response and some friendly advice from folks in his own area.:-X22

Treys answer is a good one, especially the plate info. However, a shell alone won't do it unless you add enough equipment to make it habitable. The exemption is really only practical for big slide-in campers and chassis mounted class C motorhomes. In fact, the code refers to these vehicles as "housecars".

I would never do it, unless my vehicle was dedicated to camping as I described above. You can try to play the system with non-dedicated campers, but if you EVER take the camper off, you will stick out like a comet to all LEO everywhere you go.

BTW, you are getting off cheap compared to some of us. Enjoy it while you can.

We could afford to be just a little nicer to new guys, but the link above is a good one. Not only does it explain what is required to be a housecar, note that it asks you the value of the housecar after you added the camper? Why do you suppose they want to know that? Answer - because you will pay use tax each year on the new combined value of the camper and truck. Unless you perjure yourself, that kind of takes any financial gain out of this idea.

Yes. I did misinform about the camper shell. It does have to be inhabitable, ie CAMPER, not CAMPER SHELL.. Sorry for confusion.

OK points taken here. I didn't need to voice irritation here, no harm done asking the questions. I shall exile myself to a brand x site until I get my belly full of the nonsense and low standards over there and learn to appreciate FTE.

i got around that in my truck by registering it as a historical vehicle. but now i can only use it for club activities, parades, car shows that kind of thinks. but i have a very liberal understanding of club activities......

Naaa, don't do that!

Just pay your penance.

Make the check out to "SpringerPop" and send c/o Bricks & Company, Southland, SoCal 92123

We'll do the rest!

Our motto: "Don't go away mad, just go away!" :)

Pop

What about "rant 3" why the heck do we have to overpay in taxes so much as it is? Heck I refuse to drive anything "new" and I am still annoyed at the tax they make us pay yearly on the things. I'd have a heart attack if I actually claculated what guys driving the newer stupid-doodies had to pay.

I resemble that remark. :-jammin

It's eleven model years old, but it still costs a bunch to license and insure my SuperDuty.

I'm not sure to what you're referring with the "stupid" part, however.

Are you saying I'm stupid for driving one, or paying for one?

Are you saying the design is stupid?

What?

Pop

Just not a fan of "newer" Fords since they started making little plastic toys out of them. They '99-'01ish ones however are much better IMO than anything newer, but even then my interest in Ford "trucks" (not sure we can even call them that anymore) dropped off quickly after '97.

But even with that being said my nicknames for the trucks are more to mess with my budies that have them and their flower-poke or power-joke motors.

No doubt the older trucks are nice but as an owner of a newer "Super Duty" I can tell you I have never had a better truck. It tows and hauls better than any truck I have ever had.
I use the living crap out of my trucks and have owned most generations.
The new "plastic" as you put it trucks are awesome.
Example;
Those plastic body pieces on the top of the bed are very nice at protection and if you damage them they can be replaced without a body work bill.
Understand about the stupid duty remark being an inside joke. No offense taken.
One more thing. Since Ford is now making their own diesel engines, we can probably call them Fords now more than ever.