Enforcement vs Taxation
Howdy,
First of all I want to apologize to silverstate55 for my surly tone in my reply to his initial message. I was in fact also wrong in my statement and silverstate55 was correct in his!
I should have also made it clear that I was stating my experience and opinion. And I should have realized that my very amateur status as a big tuck operator leaves lots of room for learning!
I spent the better part of yesterday talking to people at the NV DMV (including the Motor Carrier group), the Nevada Highway Patrol and insurance underwriters. Everyone I spoke with yesterday was very helpful and they were all in general agreement with the following information.
Here is what I have learned:
The simple facts are that the NV DMV is basically a taxation organization and law enforcement is a task assigned to various agencies like the NV Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies . This distinction is critical to understanding the interpretation of the laws governing the registration and operation of your truck in NV!
When you register a large truck in the state of NV you pay a basic rate for the registration (covering things like basic registration and general taxes etc.) and then you pay an annual fee relating to the amount of weight your truck is allowed to weigh on the public roads. The GVW that you select can range anywhere from the maximum GVWR as rated by the manufacture (as noted on the data place) down to a much smaller number depending on the truck. The second part of your annual registration fee is based on the GVW you select.
The NV DMV registration GVW only relates to your truck's legal weight on the public highways for the year (taxation).
NV law enforcement organization will be interested in the condition and operation of the truck and they will only use the DMV registration GVW to determine if you are over weight at any given time.
Additionally the law enforcement agency will be concerned with your complying with the Nevada Revised Statutes relating to the condition and operation of the truck. The only truck related information that the law enforcement agencies will use to determine the application of the NRS laws relative to the condition and operation of the truck is the information on the manufacturer's data plate! The NV registration GVW does not alter or preempt in any way the manufactures data plate information.
Given my confirmation of the above information, I have personally come to the following conclusions:
1 – slothman's issue first noted in this thread is solely a problem to be solved by the DMV and given my experience with my registration I’m hopeful that they will be able to resolve this issue without to much trouble.
2 – My 923-a2 has a data plate that indicates a GVWR of 31,500 pounds and therefore I need to have a NV “Class B, Non-Commercial” license and a “Air Brake” endorsement. The following link explains the related NV laws that I am drawing these conclusions from:
http://www.dmvnv.com/pdfforms/dlbookabj.pdf
3 – Operating a vehicle without the appropriate drivers license may: a) cause your truck to potentially be impounded “in place”, b) lead to significant operator citation(s) and c) your insurance company may cancel your insurance and they may not be responsible for providing coverage in the event of any claim.
So I'm sorry folks but these seem to be the facts and personally I'm glad I learned all of this before I was involved in a problem and learned this the hard way…
Thanks again silverman55 for keeping me from making a very bad mistake!
Tom