Weight certificate needed in CA?

[dedmiston]

I bought a new (to me) 2014 RAM 3500 4x4 dually in Texas and drove it home to California. The TX dealer has a service they use for the DMV paperwork. They called me yesterday and told me I need a VIN inspection, a smog cert, and a weight certificate since it's such a heavy truck. They say that the weight cert is needed because the tag fees are calculated based on weight.

Does that sound right?

Should I drive around and run the fuel tank dry?

[Bedlam]

Remove the inside duallies, tailgate and spare before weigh in and get off the weight platform before accepting the truck weight. The difference may put you in a lower weight category. I pay by declared GVWR although they automatically base it on 1.5x empty weight unless you ask for otherwise.

[N-Trouble]

And you will have to SMOG every 2 years

[korbe]

When we had our rig weighed for the first time in CA, I came in as light as possible.Don't know the rates per weight, but it can't hurt not having a full tank of fuel and a cab full of Sumo wrestlers.

[coolbreeze01]

Drain the the tank, pull the outside rear tires, and drop the spare. If all that saves any money, let me know 😉

Forgot the hitch, tailgate and rear seats...........

[Tankcar]

Hi. It's true! A vehicle coming to cal will be required to prove the title is clear, and a smog check is also required. The military was caught off guard some time back with this requirement, and a smog check was required for all vehicles requesting access to there facilities. All of this is a legal way of increasing the "TAX" requirements on vehicles.

[GordonThree]

A lot of states base the tags on weight, but only some of them actually bother to weight versus just use a generic weight-class, I know my truck's tags cost more because its heavy despite having a lower retail price than my station wagon.

Sounds like a headache, glad Michigan hasn't gotten around to making the DMV complicated yet.

Good luck!