Truck Conversion & Toterhome Community - View Single Post

hot rod · 02-16-2012, 01:45 PM

Sticky situation with no good answer.

Here's the deal. If he is driving the toterhome strictly as an RV, the seller was correct, no cdl or anything else is required to drive it. Same as any other RV.

When a truck like that is used for commercial purposes however, it must be licensed, insured and operated as any other commercial truck. Otherwise every semi with a stove and a toilet in the sleeper would be an "RV". That means company name (or his name, as the case may be) on the door, registered with the usdot, cdl if the truck is big enough for that, log book, medical card, scales, annual inspection stickers, the whole works.

The sticky part is "commercial purpose". For a long time racers have been skating on this, but the dot's in various states now look upon racing as a business. The theory being you are racing for a purse, have sponsors, etc., so it is a for-profit business regardless of whether you actually net a profit or loss at the end of the year. And that makes sense as most racers have to file a schedule C on their taxes as a "racing business" to offset purse money with expenses so they don't have to pay tax on the winnings. So those states that think racing is a business are going to treat that truck like any other semi.

I read a thread on the Old Hippie | It's all good here forums a while back where the dot sat at the exit for Maple Grove raceway in PA and did a full dot inspection on every racer going to the track, pickup trucks and all, and wrote a pile of tickets for exactly those issues.

I guess what it comes down to is racers have been skating the dot rules for a long time towing with "RV"'s which are basically full-on class 8 semis, and it is just coming down to the dot is not letting it slide anymore.

I was just stopped here in OH 2 weeks ago with my pickup truck. Apparently the PUCO (Ohio dot) dropped their target enforcement from 26000 gvw down to 10000 gvw starting this year. I was towing a brand new 14x7 enclosed (motorcycle) trailer home from the factory in IN, which I just bought new that morning for my own use, and was empty. I do have a sticker in the window of my dually with the name of my shop(apparently my biggest mistake). He wrote me an arms length of violations, saying that I was commercial since I had my business name in the window, and I had bought the trailer with a company check. He wrote me for:
* driver duty status not current (log book)
* carrier name/usdot number not displayed
* no fire extinguisher
* no warning device (triangles)
* operating a cmv without periodic inspection (annual inspection)
* failure to pay UCR fees (usdot registration)
* failure to display valid license plates (non-comm plates on cmv)
* exhaust altered to amplify engine noise (flowmaster muffler, ok on personal vehicle, but you can't modify on a commercial vehicle at all)
* speeding 1-5 miles over speed limit (he clocked me at 73 in a 70, which was his "excuse" to pull me over

Now, my contention is the truck is not commercial, which is why it was not licensed commercial, and only towing a brand new trailer I bought for personal use, so I had no reason to license commercial. If I can prove that, all the rest except for the speeding goes away. Still working on it, I'll keep you posted. I can't even imagine how many thousands all those violations will cost if I can't work it out.

Add that to various other horror stories I've run across from people stopped in different states.

So anyway, be careful out there, the day's of skating the rules are running out fast.

02-16-2012, 01:45 PM	#5
hot rod Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 527	Sticky situation with no good answer. Here's the deal. If he is driving the toterhome strictly as an RV, the seller was correct, no cdl or anything else is required to drive it. Same as any other RV. When a truck like that is used for commercial purposes however, it must be licensed, insured and operated as any other commercial truck. Otherwise every semi with a stove and a toilet in the sleeper would be an "RV". That means company name (or his name, as the case may be) on the door, registered with the usdot, cdl if the truck is big enough for that, log book, medical card, scales, annual inspection stickers, the whole works. The sticky part is "commercial purpose". For a long time racers have been skating on this, but the dot's in various states now look upon racing as a business. The theory being you are racing for a purse, have sponsors, etc., so it is a for-profit business regardless of whether you actually net a profit or loss at the end of the year. And that makes sense as most racers have to file a schedule C on their taxes as a "racing business" to offset purse money with expenses so they don't have to pay tax on the winnings. So those states that think racing is a business are going to treat that truck like any other semi. I read a thread on the Old Hippie \| It's all good here forums a while back where the dot sat at the exit for Maple Grove raceway in PA and did a full dot inspection on every racer going to the track, pickup trucks and all, and wrote a pile of tickets for exactly those issues. I guess what it comes down to is racers have been skating the dot rules for a long time towing with "RV"'s which are basically full-on class 8 semis, and it is just coming down to the dot is not letting it slide anymore. I was just stopped here in OH 2 weeks ago with my pickup truck. Apparently the PUCO (Ohio dot) dropped their target enforcement from 26000 gvw down to 10000 gvw starting this year. I was towing a brand new 14x7 enclosed (motorcycle) trailer home from the factory in IN, which I just bought new that morning for my own use, and was empty. I do have a sticker in the window of my dually with the name of my shop(apparently my biggest mistake). He wrote me an arms length of violations, saying that I was commercial since I had my business name in the window, and I had bought the trailer with a company check. He wrote me for: * driver duty status not current (log book) * carrier name/usdot number not displayed * no fire extinguisher * no warning device (triangles) * operating a cmv without periodic inspection (annual inspection) * failure to pay UCR fees (usdot registration) * failure to display valid license plates (non-comm plates on cmv) * exhaust altered to amplify engine noise (flowmaster muffler, ok on personal vehicle, but you can't modify on a commercial vehicle at all) * speeding 1-5 miles over speed limit (he clocked me at 73 in a 70, which was his "excuse" to pull me over Now, my contention is the truck is not commercial, which is why it was not licensed commercial, and only towing a brand new trailer I bought for personal use, so I had no reason to license commercial. If I can prove that, all the rest except for the speeding goes away. Still working on it, I'll keep you posted. I can't even imagine how many thousands all those violations will cost if I can't work it out. Add that to various other horror stories I've run across from people stopped in different states. So anyway, be careful out there, the day's of skating the rules are running out fast.