GVWR over 10k on new truck, need commercial plates?

You can call my insurance person and he will help you. Atlas insurance in Tewksbury, MA.

Lenny

RobENY
Emissions issues as youention, only are a problem if you try to register said vehicle in an area requiring something other than what you have.
P saying for or not having to pay tonnage is another issue.
ALL pickups here have tonnage paid for, be it personal or commercial use. I would still want to know, if you don't have a paid tonnage license, travel into somewhere that does for how your traveling, will it count or not. Louisiana does not allow per say trucks wieghing more than iirc 75000 gvw. Texas does. You pay a $380 fine tax crossing the border for going in over 75000 gvw, even tho you have a reg weight license higher elsewhere. I could see it going the other way around too.

Marty

Mroma23 wrote:

Drew A. wrote:

Mroma23 wrote:
Thank You all for the advice. In MASS right now RMV is closed and open for appointment only so that is tough. Turns out my insurance agent set it up for personal vehicle insurance with commercial tags. She told me the registry requires commercial plates because of curb weight and GVWR by the VIN, but going the personal policy insurance options saves me money from commercial, a lot actually.

Anyway excited to pickup the new tow rig and hopefully start looking at new fifth wheels or upgrading travel trailer!!! That is the important part.

Don't go with the commercial plates, you do not need them and may regret this later. If you are not using the truck for commercial purposes, get passenger plates. I have a 3500 with a GVWR of 11,700 and I have passenger plates. I am in MA too.

Tell your insurance person how you want it done and make them take care of it.

Good luck

What insurance company do you have? Safety wrote my policy for personal and would ok passenger plates but RMV said no. Gotta love the Registry!

My insurance agent said that is the best they can. Mass RMV requires commercial plates for this weight. I know there was some cutoff date in 2019 per my google searches, so maybe you can be grandfathered in? I have known my agent since kindergarten so I trust that she did her due diligence on this. I also dropped off paperwork yesterday and the manager said that personal insurance and commercial plates is the best you can do for GVWR and Curb weight over 6k. To be honest I have come to terms with it and think it may not be a big deal. I may go to registry once COVID is over (if ever) and plead my case.

I have Amica insurance and had no trouble registering my truck with passenger plates. Grid Dog quoted the section on page 1. The key is all the "ors" in the spec.

here is one definition.

Private Passenger Motor Vehicle is any vehicle:
(a) which has a vehicle weight rating or curb weight of six thousand pounds or less as per
manufacturer's description of said vehicle or is a sport utility vehicle or passenger van; or
which is a pickup truck or cargo van of the 1/2 TON, 3/4 TON or 1 TON class as per
manufacturer's description of said vehicle; or which is a vehicle used solely for official
business by any college or university police department whose officers are appointed as
special police officers by the colonel of the state police under M.G.L. c. 22C, § 63; and,
(b) which, if a pickup truck or cargo van, is registered or leased to an individual, and is
used exclusively for personal, recreational, or commuting purposes; and,
(c) which is not described in elsewhere in 540 CMR 2.05.
The terms pleasure vehicle, passenger vehicle, passenger car, automobile

Here is another

540 CMR 4.02: Special Definitions
(24) Commercial Motor Vehicle shall mean any motor vehicle which is not a private passenger motor
vehicle, antique motor car, motorcycle, auto home, house trailer, taxicab, ambulance, hearse, livery
vehicle, or school pupil transport vehicle. A commercial motor vehicle shall include the following
vehicles:
(a) The vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of
10,001 or more pounds; or
(b) The vehicle is designed to transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver; or
(c) The vehicle is used in the transportation of hazardous materials in a quantity requiring
placarding in accordance with the Hazardous Materials Regulations of the United States
Department of Transportation. Any commercial motor vehicle that singularly has a gross vehicle
weight rating of 10,001 pounds or less and is designed to meet emissions standards, shall be
submitted for an emissions inspection in addition to all applicable safety inspection requirements;
or
(d) A single, full or semi-trailer, used in commerce, with a manufacturer's gross vehicle
weight rating over 3,000 lbs; or
(e) Any vehicle which has a vehicle weight, or curb weight, of more than six thousand pounds, as
per the manufacturer's description of said vehicle, unless such vehicle is a sport
utility vehicle or passenger van, or a pickup truck or cargo van meeting the definition of private
passenger vehicle; or
(f) Any vehicle which has five or more wheels on the ground.


If you read carefully, you see that even a 1 ton pickup can be registered with passenger plates as long as it's not a dually.

Drew A. wrote:

Mroma23 wrote:
Thank You all for the advice. In MASS right now RMV is closed and open for appointment only so that is tough. Turns out my insurance agent set it up for personal vehicle insurance with commercial tags. She told me the registry requires commercial plates because of curb weight and GVWR by the VIN, but going the personal policy insurance options saves me money from commercial, a lot actually.

Anyway excited to pickup the new tow rig and hopefully start looking at new fifth wheels or upgrading travel trailer!!! That is the important part.

Don't go with the commercial plates, you do not need them and may regret this later. If you are not using the truck for commercial purposes, get passenger plates. I have a 3500 with a GVWR of 11,700 and I have passenger plates. I am in MA too.

Tell your insurance person how you want it done and make them take care of it.

Good luck

What insurance company do you have? Safety wrote my policy for personal and would ok passenger plates but RMV said no. Gotta love the Registry!

My insurance agent said that is the best they can. Mass RMV requires commercial plates for this weight. I know there was some cutoff date in 2019 per my google searches, so maybe you can be grandfathered in? I have known my agent since kindergarten so I trust that she did her due diligence on this. I also dropped off paperwork yesterday and the manager said that personal insurance and commercial plates is the best you can do for GVWR and Curb weight over 6k. To be honest I have come to terms with it and think it may not be a big deal. I may go to registry once COVID is over (if ever) and plead my case.

Almost all pick up in NY have commercial plates. From your perspective it means nothing. Don't need DOT numbers, don't need to stop at scales,nothing.
Only thing it does is solidify your registered weight. You can gat an over weight ticket if you are.
I think the cut off curb weight is 5k for passenger. My 13Ram 1500 just made the cut off for passenger plates.

Here in ct you can register a truck for the max combination plates limit even if the truck has a higher gvwr But don’t get caught over that weight . In my case my truck has a 14k gvwr and I need to be near that weight so I have a commercial registration , no parkways for my truck and it’s a yearly renewal. I know this does help for mass but it could be similar .

I believe states honor the licensing requirements from a person's home state for personal non commercial vehicles, just like they honor drivers licenses from their state.

blt2ski wrote:
Something to consider, depending upon the other states you travel into, a passenger plate may only allow the truck plus passenger weight! Start pulling a trailer, load of landscape material, ie bark, mulch, soil, lumber etc, you need a truck/commercial plate. If you come into Was St, no payed for tonnage on that truck, you would be considered overweight. Paying fines, plus putting tonnage on you truck.
In reality you probably won't get pulled over here in Wa St for wieght per say, but if pulled over for speed, lights are out etc, they may notice passenger plate, fine accordingly.
Your call gamble. At least here, everyone buys tags in even 2000 lb increments, your legal to that wieght.
Marty

By your explanation then, any person that would like to visit Washington State can't do it legally if they drive a registered vehicle there from any State other than California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia because Washington State requires emissions standards that meet California standards. That leaves people with registered vehicles from the other 35 States SOL unless they go there by some other means.

Something to consider, depending upon the other states you travel into, a passenger plate may only allow the truck plus passenger weight! Start pulling a trailer, load of landscape material, ie bark, mulch, soil, lumber etc, you need a truck/commercial plate. If you come into Was St, no payed for tonnage on that truck, you would be considered overweight. Paying fines, plus putting tonnage on you truck.
In reality you probably won't get pulled over here in Wa St for wieght per say, but if pulled over for speed, lights are out etc, they may notice passenger plate, fine accordingly.
Your call gamble. At least here, everyone buys tags in even 2000 lb increments, your legal to that wieght.
Marty

Mroma23 wrote:
Thank You all for the advice. In MASS right now RMV is closed and open for appointment only so that is tough. Turns out my insurance agent set it up for personal vehicle insurance with commercial tags. She told me the registry requires commercial plates because of curb weight and GVWR by the VIN, but going the personal policy insurance options saves me money from commercial, a lot actually.

Anyway excited to pickup the new tow rig and hopefully start looking at new fifth wheels or upgrading travel trailer!!! That is the important part.

Don't go with the commercial plates, you do not need them and may regret this later. If you are not using the truck for commercial purposes, get passenger plates. I have a 3500 with a GVWR of 11,700 and I have passenger plates. I am in MA too.

Tell your insurance person how you want it done and make them take care of it.

Good luck