Massachusetts registration info

[bigbunkhouse]

Ok, In contemplating buying an f 550 I was researching the Registration/ insurance costs. Once again, conflicting answers from the right people(atleast they should be).
*The insurance company says it must be commercial, costing nearly $300 / year for reg and $120 for inspecton plus twice passenger plates for insurance.
*A state trooper said I can put Camper plates on it costing much less on all accounts
* The registry says No camper plates, they will issue standard passenger car plates,but, the trooper and a town cop say they will ticket me!
* Trooper says camper plates are good until I tow something thats not the camper then it's illegal, but solo is fine


seems the "easy way" is to pay $420/ year to registry and well over $1000 a year to insurance!

there has to actually be an answer, rmv said to look on their website, I spent 1.5 hrs there, nothing solid!

State trooper said I could find it in the "books", whatever that means!

Insurance company said " ask the registry"

Any actual facts for mass would be great, This state gets more confusing every day!

[Heat84]

Ok f550 truck and only truck RIGHT ? ? ? Ok if the weight limite is I think over 10,000 pounds which is the truck and only the truck then you have to register it commerical because of the weight. But if the truck is going to carry a slide in camper then and only then the truck now becomes a camper. So here is your problem first tell the troper that he needs to go back to school and before you do that ask him for the chapter and section on the mass general laws that justifies his intend to ticket you. Also you can call the Attorney generl office and inquire about what is beeing said and get a confermation from someone in the office to confirm what you need to do .So when this troper gives you a ticket or your local officer then you request a hearing which you can do on the back of the ticket. SO if registered under Commercial you are pretty much cover because commercial cover many different things. Including the weight factor. I would be interested in how you make out.Don't forget to ask them for the CHAPER AND SECTION under which he( Troper,LOCAL OFFICER) would wright you a citaion under. You can go to your local libery and then look up the information AGAIN I aslo would like to know it so I can do some reading with 32 years of law ENFORCEMENT. I think I'm pretty close to getting this right. Don't forget the weight factor playes a rool in registration

[bigbunkhouse]

Thank you muchly!!! now my current f350 dually has TC plates (teacher passenger) but weigc in at 11300. The registry had no problem issuing me standard plates and the insurance company had no problem insuring it and I have had it inspected 3 times. A friend has gotten 2 tickets in danvers for passenger plates on a dually over 10k, is it just a matter of time before I get one? How do we get everbody on the same page? I'd expect when you go to register they would tell you what you need, as in possibly the computer would default to commercial if over 10k, so if the reg gives me passenger plates and I get a ticket, how am I supposed to know what my car needs? I don't expect the registar to know what type of wood, fasteners and structure they need to meet the building code!

To get to the point, in mass we must reg as commercial even to tow an RV 10k /year????????? sounds like another great part of the Mass system.

[Heat84]

Ok start here first all of the registry people are hired to do a job they are no longer are registry inspector (remember them,) Ok so in come Joe with his paper work from the insurance company and gives it to the clerk who process it and doesn't look at any of except type of plate and cost and tax paid. Then come's the local who see spot and tag it and now your argument is well the registry gave me the plates. WRONG ! ! not going to fly . Tamden wheel weight factor Commercial plates. I just went over what you had written and not sure if I get the question? ? your asking ? ? ? Remember commercial plates go from the small load to the big load just look on the truck's one other thing if you put on sign of any type on your truck to advertise again Commercial Plates or TICKET MAN WILL GET YOU. The insurance company is there to make and take your money ? Try this go to the insurance company and have them call the registry while your there and explain to them (reg) exactly what it is and what you want and see what they say. But remember who your talking to a clerk try and get the person in charge someone who is a REGISTRY person (inspector) and don't lose his or her info becuase if something should happen you can request a meeting with him or her there after and the other thing you can do is request a hearing with the registry once you get cited (ticket). Them have them if found not quilty remove and fix the paper work so it doesn't appear on your record because any THREE TICKET IN ANYONE YEAR you license will be suspended.

Oh yes my truck ( one Ton) has a VANITY PLATE and the camper has a Camper Plate. No problem !! ! !
I hope this help's out / ? ? ? ? ?

[bigbunkhouse]

I spent a while looking thru the laws and all I found was something about the discretion of the registrar as to the "special situations". Seems that alot of states differentiate between commercial as in used for business and commercial as in anything over 10k. Seems mass should get on board so we can afford to play. Monday i'm goin to the insurance co and have them conference with the rmv and see what happens

[rpfan]

In NY anything over 15000lbs is considered comm. My F450 has a GVW of 16K and car ins co. would not write me. I wound up doing ins with my RV ins co., National Interstate and registerd at my GVW of 16000lbs. DMV tried to talk me out of reg at max weight...I said to register the truck at max. Although I have comm plates, it is insured as RV and registered as a pick up, not a cab and chassis

Rich

[campswithcritters]

I did not have weight registration issue on the big truck in Texas, but as stated above it is insured as an RV. No one would write a normal policy on it without going to commercial vehicle. I used explorer rv insurance.

[Future Fulltimers]

OK, first let me say I don’t know Mass law. Secondly, as a retired law enforcement officer, if the county clerk (or who ever issues the plates) issues a plate based on the weight of the vehicle or its intended purpose then Joe the law dude can’t say squat! They may require you to put “Not for Hire” on the truck but if the issued paperwork is correct then Joe doesn’t have a leg to stand on!
(Sorry to all the Joes out there )
As for the insurance company, the're going to get you anyway.

[Heat84]

Close BUT NO CIGAR>
In this state (Ma) the plates are not issued by county clerk. We do have a registry of motor vehicle that do all 0f the paper work including collect the sales tax. Being ignorent or playing LIKE I DIDN"T know \doesn' t fly.You are going to registry and have it registered on a commercial plates. what your pulling at the time comes under it's own registration the weight factor is an issue and will be and issue. Others wise look at some of the box trucks with signal wheel but are registered commercial WHY? ? ? ANSWER WEIGHT FACTOR ? ? ? LIKE I STATED TO YOU BEFOR GET THE CHAPTER AND SECOND YOUR FRIENDS SAID THEY WOULD ISSUE YOU A TICKET UNDER AND THEN LOOK IT UP AND SEE OR TELL US ON HERE AND WE ALL CAN FINE THE ANSWER ? ? ? GOOD LUCK

OK, first let me say I don’t know Mass law. Secondly, as a retired law enforcement officer, if the county clerk (or who ever issues the plates) issues a plate based on the weight of the vehicle or its intended purpose then Joe the law dude can’t say squat! They may require you to put “Not for Hire” on the truck but if the issued paperwork is correct then Joe doesn’t have a leg to stand on!
(Sorry to all the Joes out there )
As for the insurance company, the're going to get you anyway.

[bigbunkhouse]

I'm still workin on this, my current insurance agency called the rmv with me there and ended up more confused, the insurance companies were even different, the poor agent looked like she wanted to quit. The Rmv "manager" said they will issue any plate I want as long as it is not lettered or used for business and to have the insurance company insure it under a recreational vehicle policy.

So the agent called 3 companys,
the first said, Original price $45k, Gvwr 17500, needs commercial plates, rate is 1750/year rate of $100/1000lbs

next said, WHo cares original price, how much weight do I want it reg for, needs commercial plates but will write a standard policy costing 650/year but the registry said they won't issue commercial plates to an rmv-1 with non commercial insurance

Last said standard plates ok, but they need to write a commercial policy for 1750/year but registry said a commercial policy will only get commercial plates.

About the Officials "troopers and townies" only one is even a friend the others were people I happened upon and thought it a good oportunity to pick some brains. My friend the trooper said he would ask the "commercial guys " or "truck team" to find out how or why a ticket would be issued.

None of the companys said recreational vehicle insurance would work so i'm still confused but have the trooper working on it an d the insurance agent will work more next week

[campswithcritters]

Have you considered a mail forwarding service and registration/insurance in another state? Plenty of full-timers use South Dakota due to low registration fees and no inspection requirements. Just another idea.

[bigbunkhouse]

Bruce, you shady man you! Good idea

[campswithcritters]

Bruce, you shady man you! Good idea

I prefer the term resourceful Other states to check into (used widely by full-timers) are TN & FL. Some set up a corporation in Montana to be able to get permanent tags and pay no sales tax. I use Texas as do others, but we have an annual inspection which requires being in the state annually. Good luck.

[Heat84]

Ok ! ! !go ahead and do that Register it in another state and then tell me what your going to do after thirty day's.
I bet it will cost you more money when done paying for that ticket you'll get then registration in Mass. I'm sure you must have some knoweldge of "SNOWBIRDS" yes they like to do the same thing and when they get back home (mass) and get stopped by the local man the tears start to come down from the eyes and like I told you before being dum or playing dum doesn't fly. Not only that when your are stopped he can now tow the vehcile for not being registered. WHAT A PROBLEM YOU ARE CREATING FOR YOUR SELF. But again the state can use the money. Oh yes I am one of those who have this thing about people doing just that and in fact " Reason I guess you would say SON,DAUGHTER,SON-IN-LAW,WIFE,MYSELF, FRIENDS< UNCLE<AUNTS WE ALL HAVE TO PAY AND WHY NOT YOU" Last person was a 73 year old lived here in Mass and come winter lived in Florida she was arrested for attempted murder of her husband and attempted arson which all took place in Florida. Her words " I didn't KNOW" (REGISTRATION) it was good putting on the bracelet's on. Oh yes it all started from a neighbor calling and complain about the out of state plates being here for so long. HAVE AGOOD DAY

[bigbunkhouse]

Yes, I know it is a bad idea, I am one who is willing to pay my part, but I do not think I should pay the same as a Guy running a business with 5 guys loading the bling out of the truck using different drivers putting 30k a year on his ride. We have a friend who has a summer place in NH and has all his personal and companys cars/trucks registered in NH from that address, He thought it saved him thousands a year, when they caught up with him he ended up selling out because it put him out of business.
When my wife went to grad school in california they caught her and said she must reg in cali, that would cost 2k more per year but she was there for 11 months and had rented a house. She went to the registry and they let her have dual registation, she had to pay cali registration and put a cali plate on the rear but had mass insurance and kept the mass plate on the front.

for now we will try to find out the answer, it must be out there somewhere, I just want to do it once and not pay thru the nose, The excise tax and registration fees are fair but the insurace is outrageous for 6k a year RV yanker.

stay tuned!!