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NYS and Commercial Registration

merek

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Just FYI for others running into the same dispute with their dealer, the F150 Lightning does NOT need commercial plates. The rules generally were anything over 6,000 pounds required commercial plates, so your dealer will likely try to push you into commercial plates, but this rule was quietly changed a few months ago to remove the weight limit.

I could not find anything about this change, I called the DMV who did confirm it. I had to push my dealer to call the DMV to verify. Just insist they call the DMV and verify, the guy I spoke to knew exactly what I was talking about.
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Dakovich

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What are the pros/cons of choosing passenger vs commercial? I tried searching but didnā€™t seem to find too much about it.
 

ExCivilian

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What are the pros/cons of choosing passenger vs commercial?
I'm not aware of any pros to commercial plates. They signify to police that you've paid additional taxes for the benefit of hauling in the bed. In CA, one can avoid this by putting a topper on the truck.

The best advice I can give you on this is if you have non-commercial plates and you decide to sell your truck, don't take the camper off and drive it a mile to the buyer's house. Don't crumple the ticket you get and throw it out the window believing the DMV will "figure it out." And once you're eventually pulled over and advised of your warrant in a separate incident a couple years later, the judge will ask the cop if you really told him that you were on your way to selling the truck and that's why you didn't have a topper or commercial plates and he will yell at that cop to not waste the state's resources or clog his courtroom with BS but he will then turn to you and say even when you're right you don't get to ignore a court summons...and then you will spend your summer shelving books for the local library instead of surfing.

Wait...that's not the best advice. The best advice is that it will take roughly 20-30 minutes for the motorcycle cop to dig through a myriad of books to find this obscure violation. So if you eat mushrooms because you know that after you sell your truck you're going to a school play shortly thereafter...and then you are sitting on the side of the road for 20+ minutes...well, let's just say you will have a hard time keeping your shit together and you will be hallucinating for the rest of your drive.

But 40 years later you might find a way to squeeze it into casual conversation so there's that...
 

Ford Senior Master

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Wait...that's not the best advice. The best advice is that it will take roughly 20-30 minutes for the motorcycle cop to dig through a myriad of books to find this obscure violation. So if you eat mushrooms because you know that after you sell your truck you're going to a school play shortly thereafter...and then you are sitting on the side of the road for 20+ minutes...well, let's just say you will have a hard time keeping your shit together and you will be hallucinating for the rest of your drive.
WTF?????šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£
 

Prime8

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What are the pros/cons of choosing passenger vs commercial? I tried searching but didnā€™t seem to find too much about it.
You can park in yellow loading zones with commercial plates in California...
 

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FordLightningMan

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Do you have any information from NY DMV website that shows commercial plates aren't required over 6,000lbs? Document MV-114 which is currently active on the NYS DMV website (the PDF link doesn't seem to work when I post here), says the following:

Choice of Registering as Passenger or Commercial
Pick-up trucks with an unladen weight of 6,000 pounds or less, that are used as a personal vehicle, may be registered in either the commercial or passenger class. In either case, you will pay a commercial registration fee, along with any commercial use tax applicable for your county (form MV-202C).

Pick-Up Not Modified
If the pick-up truck weighs more than 6,000 pounds and has not been modified, it must be registered in the commercial class. You must pay a commercial fee.

EDIT 2: You need to have permanent camping equipment in the bed to be over 6,000lbs and not a commercial vehicle. I found the link: https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/vehicle-modifications-and-registration-class

It looks like my county charges $10 per year extra for commercial plates, the rest is by weight so the plates aren't the primary factor for cost. It looks like you get a benefit of being able to park in commercial only spots, but there are roads which don't allow commercial travel. I don't know which roads these are, but this would be the biggest downside for commercial plates, if this impacts your commutes.

EDIT: New York City parkways seem to be the biggest roadways that don't allow commercial vehicles. If you live downstate, the commercial plate designation could have a significant impact on which roads you may use.
 
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SmokingtheMeats

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OP said they couldn't find anything but confirmed when they called.
 
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OP

merek

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Do you have any information from NY DMV website that shows commercial plates aren't required over 6,000lbs? Document MV-114 which is currently active on the NYS DMV website (the PDF link doesn't seem to work when I post here), says the following:

Choice of Registering as Passenger or Commercial
Pick-up trucks with an unladen weight of 6,000 pounds or less, that are used as a personal vehicle, may be registered in either the commercial or passenger class. In either case, you will pay a commercial registration fee, along with any commercial use tax applicable for your county (form MV-202C).

Pick-Up Not Modified
If the pick-up truck weighs more than 6,000 pounds and has not been modified, it must be registered in the commercial class. You must pay a commercial fee.

EDIT 2: You need to have permanent camping equipment in the bed to be over 6,000lbs and not a commercial vehicle. I found the link: https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/vehicle-modifications-and-registration-class

It looks like my county charges $10 per year extra for commercial plates, the rest is by weight so the plates aren't the primary factor for cost. It looks like you get a benefit of being able to park in commercial only spots, but there are roads which don't allow commercial travel. I don't know which roads these are, but this would be the biggest downside for commercial plates, if this impacts your commutes.

EDIT: New York City parkways seem to be the biggest roadways that don't allow commercial vehicles. If you live downstate, the commercial plate designation could have a significant impact on which roads you may use.
Insurance also seems different. Not sure if its better or worse, just different.

I could not find anything published, other than this page used to say 6000 pounds, but quietly removed it a few months back. https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/register-pick-truck-passenger-class-vehicle

The DMV said there was some policy MB-1822, but I could not find anything about it, they read it to me and basically effective May 25, the weight limit was removed. My dealer really didn't believe me until they called themselves to confirm. Also seems to effect SuperDutys I would think.


When the dealer had the paperwork with commercial plates, the plate fees were about $260 for new plates and to transfer.
 

FordLightningMan

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Thanks for the info. I think I'll just let it ride with my commercial plates, they are already paid for and on the truck. However, if anyone finds a DMV link that shows you can register a passenger vehicle over 6,000lbs, please post it here!

Being in Upstate NY, I would say the difference between the passenger and commercial plates will be nearly non-existent. If you're downstate, this is a major issue, since so many NYC area roads are off limits to commercial trucks. I'd rather have passenger plates just in case I do venture out of town with the truck sometime, so I'll be watching this one closely in case I can make the swap.

Brief story that may or may not mean anything. I went on a fishing trip, the boat owner did pickup and drop off service as part of the package. On the way home the driver was pulled over for a traffic violation. When they saw he had passengers and didn't have the right registration, they wouldn't let him drive away and the vehicle was towed. We had to call a cab (non-uber days) to bring us home. I'm not sure if a verbal okay from the DMV would have helped the driver in this situation, which is why I'd be a bit cautious with this one.
 

FlasherZ

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Illinois has some weirdness as well. The dealer called 3 different DMV's and then Springfield's office because they didn't know whether I could put the electric vehicle plates on the truck or not (but that's another saga for another time). You may want to see if they have a central contact who might be able to help.

(In the end, they decided that I was permitted to use my EV plates on the truck, but if I'm ever weighed and I come in over 8,000 I'll get an overweight ticket since EV plates here call out an 8k limit.)
 
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GrokTime

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The current New York registration form which appears to be dated 7/22 (MV-82, link below) does not say anything about pick up truck weight. It merely says a pickup truck may be registered as commercial or passenger. I did manage to find a an old MV-82 form online from 2015 and curiously it stated that pickup trucks over 5,500 pounds must be registered as commercial.

https://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv82.pdf?_ga=2.246476227.638891841.1660567332-1458410955.1659995342
 

greenne

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The current New York registration form which appears to be dated 7/22 (MV-82, link below) does not say anything about pick up truck weight. It merely says a pickup truck may be registered as commercial or passenger. I did manage to find a an old MV-82 form online from 2015 and curiously it stated that pickup trucks over 5,500 pounds must be registered as commercial.

https://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv82.pdf?_ga=2.246476227.638891841.1660567332-1458410955.1659995342
Since 7/22 is the most recent mv82 published I would assume the guidance updates the previous weight limit. Therefore I'll be applying for passenger plates.
 

GrokTime

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I guess I will proactively discuss this with my dealer when my truck finally comes, hopefully soon!
 

FordLightningMan

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Since 7/22 is the most recent mv82 published I would assume the guidance updates the previous weight limit. Therefore I'll be applying for passenger plates.
I need to go back and get my tri-fold cover installed when it arrives. I'll have the dealer hook me up with different plates, seems like this guidance is sound. I imagine this cost me some extra money though, so that sucks. NYS really needs to update their website, as numerous places note a 6,000lb limit and none say the opposite, you basically need to read through the lines to get to passenger plates being allowed.
 

greenne

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I guess I will proactively discuss this with my dealer when my truck finally comes, hopefully soon!
I would..just on the off chance you visit NYC you want to have the option of using the parkways. I don't know if the cops would actually stop you for driving a "commercial" plated Lightning on the parkway if it was obviously a personal vehicle(no tools, no lettering, etc).

However, always better to be cautious with NYS LEOs.
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