I did a search on here and did not find out really so Ive gotta ask. Bought my little tandem Freightliner and plan to buy a lowboy to pull my equipment around to jobs and stuff. Might use them once a week or so (not my fulltime job....more of a hobby). I used to work for a guy when I was in highschool and he hauled his stuff alot more often and he used "not for hire" stickers on his dumps and whatnot and farm truck/tractor plates. He never had a problem in all the years I worked for him. If he got pulled over he said he was going to his farm....lol! I called the registration office the other day and they told me $9XX bucks a year (March-March) to register my truck combination. Im really not gonna be using it that much and hate to drop $900 bucks on tags for a $3500 truck. They told me they could not tell me the farm truck/tractor price until they entered a VIN #, but did tell me it would be WAY cheaper. Now on insurance. How do I need to insure this thing? There is no lien on it so do you just get regular old liability insurance on it from my normal vehicle insurance company? He told me other day he could start putting stuff under a commercial policy for me including my dozer and trackhoe when I get it. Im sorry Im pretty dumb at this but I know you guys will steer me in the right direction. thanks
interesting that you should mention farm tags and license, up here farmers can run trucks as actual "farm equipment" (at least that is what I've been told) as long as you got floaters on all the way around and ya don't go over 30MPH. But getting back to the ins. I had this conversation with another farmer a little while ago and what he just said is if I buy a truck and insure it, I should put the commercial ins. on it just to be safe and do things right. He said I'll end up paying more for the insurance but the fines if caught would outweigh any savings for a long time. The reason he told me that was because I had thoughts of using it for moving the 953 around and also for around the farm. I'm sure if things were strictly AG oriented, license and ins would be cheaper. Just to clear the air and make room for the experts to weigh in on the subject I should also note here I'm no expert on trucks.........just know what I been told.
Farm tags are good But you have to own what your hauling and use it on your farm.There might even be a cheaper Insurance for farm use.Commercial is high.But remember farm tags are exempt to the DOT laws up to 48,000lbs and are 150 miles.You go over that and it,s a DOT thing.You could by permits if you don't use it much and that will save you money.Some DOT Officers and the Clerk at the License office will help you on this.Some will not.
Yeah I own everything. Exempt up to 48K.....is that gross weight? More info on that please. My dozer weighs 18.5K and truck around 15K and trailer (not sure of yet cause I aint bought one). Once I get the trackhoe I will be way over 48K gross. I mean if Im going down the country road and get pulled over I just tell them Im going from some lease land to my farm, or vice versa. The clerks at the license office are of NO help. My mother used to do this 15 years ago but she has been out of it too long now and lots of laws have changed so she is afraid try and help.
I just went thru this. Here is what I was told. my farm tags on my single axle dump were exactly half of the regular cost. I got farm bureau commercial liability insurance, and that cost me 200 bucks a year. not bad so far. NOW, if the truck, trailer combination is over 48000 lbs. it has to have a dot number, you need a cdl, or class A farm exempt operators license, and a med card. The 48000 limit is measured in 3 ways. 1- the registered weight, 2 the actual weight, or 3 the potential capacity on the door tags. The highest of these is the one that the dot will use. In my case i was fine with the truck alone. however I wanted to use a belshe triple axle tag that was capable of carrying 18000 pounds, and this with the truck's 33000 capacity put me over the 48000 number. I did not want to hassle with the log book, med card, dot federal numbers and the annual inspection of truck and trailer. I wish my 98 ford f-800 with the 8.3 cummins, allison 6 speed trans, air and brand new goodyear rubber, was onlya 26,000 gvw. And this truck only has 143,000 miles on it. The DPS has a book titled commercial farm vehicle regulations. It is very straightforward and easy to understand. It seems the 48000 lb limit is a federal number that we cannot get around. These dot guys do not fool around here and I don't want to feed their gold sack. I hope this might help.
Well I have a class A CDL with every letter behind it sans doubles/trips cause I aint pulling that junk. My med card is expired. You do not have to keep a logbook if your just local......I thinks its 150 mile radius. You would have to get anything inspected annually whether it be your moped, dually or dumptruck. I know the DOT is more but its still something you gotta do. Its been too long since I was in the big truck arena so Ive got to figure out about the DOT numbers.....whats the deal on that? Does that come from the registration or the inspection? My truck will be well over 48K with what I wanna pull. I will be near 70K or a little better Im thinking.
Man I cant get a straight answer out of anyone.....called the DPS office today and talked to a Texas State Trooper. He didnt have a clue what I needed. I ask him about the DOT numbers and he said a law changed about a year ago and the law stated "if you were hauling cargo (did not specify farm equipment, chickens, cocaine or muffler bearings) that you must have a DOT number but said he would do some checking on that for me. I ask him if I needed a medical card to haul MY stuff local and he said "no".....then said "well Im not sure, let me get back to you on that". I have called everyone I know to call on this and cant get a "you need x, y and z to do a, b and c" Nobody freakin knows! So if the people that write you tickets for this stuff dont know how the hell are we suppose to??
I believe your Insurance Company can file for a DOT # it just tells the State you have insurance.Now you need tw ne TX DOT # and a US DOT #both for same thing and don't ask me why.lol.As for the medical card in Texas your exemt if your birth date is a certain year.Not sure what year.I had a DOT Officer tell me that the laws change so much they are confused at times.I was stopped by a DPS Trooper because of no mud flaps.I told him a pole trailer hauling logs does not have to have them.He did call and I was right.I think any farm vehicle over 48,000 has to have the same thing as a 80,000 rig.Just milage exempts log book and a few other things.Better check on the drug test too while your doing this.
Well what I found out on my own as far as registration goes I can have farm tags (not the most legal thing but dang sure cheaper) on my truck. I can only pull trailers that are farm tagged (no token or apportion). The trailer cannot gross more than 34K.....this is fine because Im only getting a tandem axle trailer anyway and thats all they can gross. So sounds like Im set other than: 1.) get DOT stickers for TX and US 2.) find out about med card....officer said something about 1971 (I would assume if you were born before 71 trying to get older guys checked out......I was born in 78 but I know what two sticks are and can drive them, LOL!) 3.) find out about drug test.....I think Im exempt from this being farm. 4.) I dont need log books as Im within 150 mile radius. 5.) anything else yall can think of??
34k is your legal axle weight, not your trailers gross, almost half of your trailer gross is on the tractor.
Well maybe I misread the law. After I re-read it I come to the conclusion that NO farm trailer has to be registered unless it goes over 34K gross. Hell I dont know. Its like reading tax laws! They do this so the average guy cant understand and therefore have to pad the DPS/DOT gold sack. Here is the law http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/InternetForms/Forms/CVE-13.pdf Its on page 19 but I cant understand it. Also what about the IFTA stuff and operating athority? Does that apply to me too?
Are you farming or working construction?
uhh, farming. yeah thats it. With my dozer and stuff. Its pretty common around my area.
If you operate only in Texas no Authority needed. The IF TA we do not have the stickers on our trucks.I think that's only for out of state trucks.I know this crap gets confusing like taxes.Talk to different people that have trucks with farm tags and get their information. You can run farm tags up to 80,000 because I have seen them.Even Log trucks run them.
A dozer is used on a farm.A lot of construction equipment can be used on a farm.But if the DOT can prove you used it on a Construction job then your in trouble.
Hell they dont even know the law that they went to school for much less proving where I been or where Im going. Im not running up and down the roads all day everyday. Might move once a week. Most of the stuff around me is backroad FM roads. Im not willing to go real far to make money. Ive tuned down some work cause it was like 60-80 miles away.....might have been a mistake. A friend told me to go wherever you can make money as long as the customer is willing to pay enough to get you there. I think he might have been right.
I have found at times it is cheaper to hire some one to haul your equipment.They have all the head aches then.
So if I go out Tuesday and buy a brand spankin new 320 or say a D5, keep it on a job for a few weeks at a time so I dont haul it more than a few times a month, Than I can license my truck I pull it with as a farm vehicle, not need a cdl, operating authority, or medical card?
Your in Wyoming not Texas so your State Laws might be different.
I discussed this with a friend several months ago.... In Louisiana, when you get your Farm tags, you have to sign a document stating that you're running a legitimate farm operation. (makes sense, right?) Then, you go get your insurance for your Farm vehicle... for a fraction of the cost of commercial, and no cdl required... To me, the real question is... what happens when you have an accident, and the insurance company is oblidged to pay some widow $1million... I'm guessing they're gonna be curious why you were 30 miles from your "farm"... and if I were them, at that time... I'd want to see your farm.... oh, no real farm? no real coverage then?
Gotta Agree with you on that 2stick, when I need the CAT at home I gotta arrange trucking....lucky for me Jim is real good about moving me and is ALWAYS on time.... his info can be found on my website in case anyone in SE MN is in need of a truck for moving. Some other options I've considered is to get just a tag trailer and pull with heavey enough tractor to your site, (no tags required) but that only works effectively for short distances, and still another idea was to buy the trailer and insure that and develop a working relationship with other farmers to pull the trailer when needed. But hands down my trucker has been real good to me and the only downfalls I have run into is the lack of "instant" mobility, and the ability to use the truck onsite when needed. At this point as much as I would like to have my own truck I have a hard time justifying the extra costs and headaches, as work picks up I fully expect to have to purchase one and get it licensed as well.
The long and short of it is that I already bought the truck now gotta figure out how to do this......
Here's the info from MI. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/msp/FarmersTransportationGuidebook2008_224593_7.pdf I couldn't find a similar publication in TX . Here in MI to buy farm plates they also state "not for hire". You need to apply for your DOT number, there's no charge. If you don't leave the state, don't get an IFTA fuel permit number. I got one to take my antiques across state lines, after 3 quarters of all in state travel, they revoked it . I bought my 87 Ford LTL9000 and trailer to haul my old dozer pretty much just to shows. I just plate and insure it for 6 months in the warmer months. I could find no way around buying commercial plates at $300 for 3 months for 54,000lbs that I was comfortable signing my name to on an application.
Well after doing alot of thinking I believe Im just gona go Combination. Too much liability going farm if something bad were to happen. One ticket from a cop would make up the difference in what the tags cost. I can hire out one or two hauls a year for hay or something to pay the difference. Not worth it and dont wanna have to be running the gypsy moving company....lol Now to do this legal what do I need. IFTA, 2290, operating authority, **** tests, medical card, blah, blah, blah.
That's the conclusion I came to. I'm fortunate that I have a CDL and my Medical card is through my employer.
Glen, from what you're telling us your usage will be, you're probably going to fall under the mileage exemption on the 2290 tax. You only need IFTA if you're leaving the state. In my case, I have commercial insurance, Class A, and medical... But... I run farm tags, and have since the late nineties. On the other hand, I do have a legitimate farm, farm tax number, and 70 acres with a few animals that I trade around on and occasionally take to sale, and I manage several timber leases as well as my own timber, also considered agriculture in this state. I do report considerable farm income on my taxes. It is not, however, my main source of income. Since my equipment is used quite regularly in farming applications, I would be overpaying for commercial tags, since it's also used regularly in commercial applications, then I am underpaying for farm tags. We used to have a tag in this state that was for both. They did away with it. Screw them. If they're gonna take away the tag that was actually legitimate, then I'll buy what I can. I've paid nearly 26,000 dollars in the last five years in sales tax alone on equipment, in addition to steep business taxes, because I'm not using the farm exemption for those things, so I figure the 1500 or so a year I save on farm tags is a pittance. In the end it's all mob costs and calculated risk. It has become us against them, they're raping us anywhere they can, so calculate your risk, and get away with whatever you think you can get away with reasonably. At this point i've saved in the neighborhood of 15 grand in the last decade on tags. They're going to have a really hard time recovering that with tickets, so at least in one arena, I win.
Nicely put and thanks for the info.