Tired of your NYS Commercial Plates?
I finally got sick and tired of the insanity of the NY State DMV requiring that pick-ups over 6000 lbs be register as commercial vehicles. The actual use of the vehicle should determine the whether o...
Forum Discussion
In New York State the registering pickup trucks as commercial vehicles goes back to the 1930s when they created the NYS Parkway system and had nothing to do with tax revenues. The original planners of the parkway system conceived them as way for people to leisurely drive to the parks. They wanted the roads to look like parks, hence all the twists and turns and park like look. They wanted to keep all commercial traffic off the highways because they spoil the look and feel of the parkways. Since there was to be no commercial traffic on the Parkways there was no need to provide clearance for trucks and City buses, so bridges were set lower. Also in the 1930s, most if not all pickup trucks were were used commercially, either by a workmen or farmers, so they forced ALL pickup trucks to get commercial plates as a way to keep them off the parkway. Well times have changed and Pickup trucks are now very popular vehicles and many are used as family vehicles. So in the early 2000's the NY Legislature amended the law and permitted pickup less than 6000 lbs to be registered as passenger vehicles. Why and how they came up with that weight requirement is mystery to me and also to the people that I spoke with at the DMV.
I am a Civil Engineer and I studied the creation of the parkway system while in college and it still amazes me how naive the planners of the parkway system were. In the 1930's when the parkways were built much of Long Island, Rockland and Westchester counties was mostly farmland. The planners literally saw the Parkways only as routes to the beaches and parks, when the people saw them entirely differently. They now permitted people to live out the cities and to commute into the city by car.
If the state registered pickup trucks based upon their use they'd probably generate more tax revenue, because there are a lot of 1/2 ton pickup trucks registered as passenger vehicles that you can clearly see are commercial vehicles. I'd be willing to bet that in NYS there are more 1/2 ton picks used commercially that are registered with Passenger plates than there are 3/4 and 1 ton pickups that are used only as passenger vehicles. So I don't think that this is tax revenue issue. In my humble opinion this is a classic example of uninformed politicians passing bad legislation.
So unless this law is changed, I'm going to be forced to cap the bed my truck and to install seats or seat brackets in the bed. The law clearly says "seats, seat brackets OR camping equipment needs to mounted in the truck bed". They used the work "OR", so it's "seats" or "seat brackets", you don't need both. I did ask the DMV what constitutes a "seat bracket" and they did not know. I find this funny that to get passenger plates that we have to put seats in the bed, when the DMV also told me that without the addition of a frame mounted roll bar that its illegal in NYS to drive with passengers in those seats! I doubt you can fit the roll bar under the cap anyway. They said that the pickup bed seats in this configuration (without roll bars) are only for off road or private land use only! You can't make this stuff up.
So call or write your state senators so we can get this stupid law repealed.
I am a Civil Engineer and I studied the creation of the parkway system while in college and it still amazes me how naive the planners of the parkway system were. In the 1930's when the parkways were built much of Long Island, Rockland and Westchester counties was mostly farmland. The planners literally saw the Parkways only as routes to the beaches and parks, when the people saw them entirely differently. They now permitted people to live out the cities and to commute into the city by car.
If the state registered pickup trucks based upon their use they'd probably generate more tax revenue, because there are a lot of 1/2 ton pickup trucks registered as passenger vehicles that you can clearly see are commercial vehicles. I'd be willing to bet that in NYS there are more 1/2 ton picks used commercially that are registered with Passenger plates than there are 3/4 and 1 ton pickups that are used only as passenger vehicles. So I don't think that this is tax revenue issue. In my humble opinion this is a classic example of uninformed politicians passing bad legislation.
So unless this law is changed, I'm going to be forced to cap the bed my truck and to install seats or seat brackets in the bed. The law clearly says "seats, seat brackets OR camping equipment needs to mounted in the truck bed". They used the work "OR", so it's "seats" or "seat brackets", you don't need both. I did ask the DMV what constitutes a "seat bracket" and they did not know. I find this funny that to get passenger plates that we have to put seats in the bed, when the DMV also told me that without the addition of a frame mounted roll bar that its illegal in NYS to drive with passengers in those seats! I doubt you can fit the roll bar under the cap anyway. They said that the pickup bed seats in this configuration (without roll bars) are only for off road or private land use only! You can't make this stuff up.
So call or write your state senators so we can get this stupid law repealed.
