Many years ago I bought a Dodge Ram 3500 CTD dually in CA. From a dealer. Even though my home of record was in Montana, I had to pay the CA registration fees and taxes. I don't remember any hassle about GVW.
When I got back to Montana and went in to transfer the title and registration, the clerk asked me what GVW I wanted on it. I said 14,000 sounded like a nice number that I could never exceed, so that is what it was registered for.
The whole process was just as it should be; simple, straight-foreward, with no number juggling required.
It is too bad some other states can't be that way!
