I live in CA. I applied for the endorsement and the DMV clerk told me there was no such thing and referred me to the commercial DMV office. Her boss happened to walk by and asked me to follow him. He had me fill out an application for a 5th wheel endorsement and gave me two separate written tests. Eye examine, but no driving test or physical examine. He asked me what I drive and never made note of it. I passed the test and have the endorsement. The problem is the DMV manual is not well written and most DMV personnel just do not know. Even better, ask a traffic cop. They don't know either.
Risk; cops don't know so a ticket is unlikely. An accident could be a problem if the insurance company knows the law. If you do not have endorsement, get in an accident and they know about endorsement, you loose.
