?'s about Commercial Vehicle Registration

[miketa95]

As some of you may or may not know, I opened my own landscaping company this year. I use my personal truck and trailer to tow lawnmowers, mulch, or whatever else I am using on a daily basis. Another landscaper from a much more well known company stopped and told me that I need to register my truck as commercial if I plan to use it for work like I do. This has been scaring me more and more because I've had a few other people tell me this. However, my accountant told me that as long as the truck is my personal vehicle, and I am paying for it out of my own pocket without any help from the business, that I do not need to register it commercially so long as I do not put a sign on it. So, I do not have a sign on the truck, but I do use it for work everyday and it is also my personal vehicle. I've tried to search the MVC website but the info I found wasn't very specific, it basically tells you everything about commercial registration except when it is necessary. So, if anyone can help me with more info about commercial registration I'd appreciate it. I'd like to keep the truck registered as my own personal vehicle because my long term plan is to buy a separate truck to be the commercial vehicle so that my truck can be just my personal truck.

[deadtrend1]

pretty sure that you are right. As long as it isn't labeled with your business, GVW, dot number and business location on it, you should be ok.

[bobb1589]

Originally Posted by deadtrend1

pretty sure that you are right. As long as it isn't labeled with your business, GVW, dot number and business location on it, you should be ok.

+1 im pretty sure that as long as you don't put any signage on the truck or pay for it with biz funds then you are fine

[chrisfrom nj]

i use my own personal truck every day for landscapeing i pull a trailer with my truck allso i wouldnt be worried unless you have a dump truck or a truck with a ezdump

[V]

When i was doing landscaping. IN nj if you have a commercially registered vehicle you need to have a name at least on the side. Same goes for a work trailer. Now with my 96 Ram, i never had the name on it but on a few occasions we got stopped and told about it. Also in my case i wasnt pulling the trailer, we had a 91 f350 rack truck for that which was all commercial with lettering etc. But As a result, i put the Ram in my own name and a regular registration. It was obviously a work truck from its condition but if i were to ever get stopped, id say the other truck broke and i had to use my towing rig for my race car. However i never got stopped. I did get stopped for speeding and ticketed for a broken mirror but they didnt mention anything about it not being commerical with branches, chainsaws, etc in the bed.

Basically it all comes down to the area where you work. There was towns id avoid going through knowing they had it out for landscapers. If you plan on sticking with the business i would def recommend getting a dedicated work truck and getting it all legal. Those fines can be huge. Also go for LLC status, itll protect you private assests in case anything bad happens and u get sued etc.


Just to give you an idea, i took over the business from my father, who started the business in 1962, i ran it for 5 years before i realized it wasnt for me and competition up north here is insane. So i know a lil bit about the industry... lol

[S.J.SLEEPER]

I have my own construction business, i have all my vehicles registered/titled in my name, not the business name, but all are under commercial reg & ins. i did much research on this and this is how it goes.

if vehicle is lettered or has company name on it must be registered and insured commercially

you can have commercial reg & ins. on vehicle and not have name on it. the po po always confuse this,

once name/ lettering is on it. it must be commercial !!!

you might want to look into comm. reg & ins. it actually isn't that bad, + your insurance usually covers tools/equipment in case of accident even with just comm. liability and no fire/col./theft.

i only pay $900/yr. per vehicle commercial insurance.
if you want the company name & # pm me and i'll give it to you. real nice girls to deal with in the office & easy payment options.

also if vehicle is reg'd over 7500 or 10k i don't think it goes for full inspection....... thats a plus in my book, no emission testing ... fantastic !!!!

[miketa95]

Basically it all comes down to the area where you work. There was towns id avoid going through knowing they had it out for landscapers. If you plan on sticking with the business i would def recommend getting a dedicated work truck and getting it all legal. Those fines can be huge. Also go for LLC status, itll protect you private assests in case anything bad happens and u get sued etc.

yeah I've been doing landscaping on the side for a while, and established the LLC this year for those reasons. Of course once I do that, I start getting issues with the truck reg.

[maroman88]

Originally Posted by SmokingSS

When i was doing landscaping. IN nj if you have a commercially registered vehicle you need to have a name at least on the side. Same goes for a work trailer. Now with my 96 Ram, i never had the name on it but on a few occasions we got stopped and told about it. Also in my case i wasnt pulling the trailer, we had a 91 f350 rack truck for that which was all commercial with lettering etc. But As a result, i put the Ram in my own name and a regular registration. It was obviously a work truck from its condition but if i were to ever get stopped, id say the other truck broke and i had to use my towing rig for my race car. However i never got stopped. I did get stopped for speeding and ticketed for a broken mirror but they didnt mention anything about it not being commerical with branches, chainsaws, etc in the bed.

Basically it all comes down to the area where you work. There was towns id avoid going through knowing they had it out for landscapers. If you plan on sticking with the business i would def recommend getting a dedicated work truck and getting it all legal. Those fines can be huge. Also go for LLC status, itll protect you private assests in case anything bad happens and u get sued etc.


Just to give you an idea, i took over the business from my father, who started the business in 1962, i ran it for 5 years before i realized it wasnt for me and competition up north here is insane. So i know a lil bit about the industry... lol

avoid bergen county!! BCPD 'highway patrol' goes after commercial trucks alllllllll dam day all over 17 and 4

[FlyingDutchman]

Originally Posted by maroman88

avoid bergen county!! BCPD 'highway patrol' goes after commercial trucks alllllllll dam day all over 17 and 4

and 208

[miketa95]

well I'm from the south so I don't go to those places. But I've heard the state troopers won't cut you a break if they see you.