GA. registration by weight

Has anybody IN GA. had to deal with this issue when they renewed there antique vehicle registration, I have been told that ALL vehicles OVER 15,000 lbs due to the NEW law as of 1/7/2015 has to be registered as a COMMERCIAL vehicle????, This is just another way for the state to get MORE fees for a out of control DOT, the excuse is that the roads and bridges are in need on a lot of repair, they do, but green ways, bike paths ect. where the money DOES go is not needed and "could" have gone to where needed .

73m819 can you get the law they are referencing that has triggered the change. We need the GA Code reference section

Found it: House Bill 170 Highway Impact Fees

Here is a summary

Vehicles with a gross vehicle vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 15,500 lbs and greater, excluding IRP registered vehicles. All vehicles in the following weight classes will be assessed annually:


Some vehicle owners may be required to provide Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) upon registration or renewal. On the vehicle, the GVWR can be found on the door pillar or door jamb of the driver's side of the vehicle.

Found the actual Bill.


(b) In conjunction with the payment of fees for the licensing of the operation of vehicles pursuant to Code Section 40-2-151, certain heavy vehicles registered in Georgia shall pay a highway impact fee. The annual fees shall be as follows for each such vehicle registered:
(1) 15,500 lbs. up to 26,000 lbs. ............. $ 50.00
(2) Greater than 26,001 lbs. ...................... 100.00

(c) It is the intention of the General Assembly, subject to appropriations, that the fees collected pursuant to subsection
(b) of this Code section shall be made available and usedxclusively for transportation purposes in this state.

I went through it s few weeks ago. I came prepared with data sheets, and pictures. They also have to re-issue plates for this category. I had 4 tellers tied up for a few min to try to figure it out.

A highway impact fee, although bad in itself on us, would be a fee and not a commercial registration? Commercial registration would greatly impact our insurance and possibly our drivers license class.

73m819 said:

Has anybody IN GA. had to deal with this issue when they renewed there antique vehicle registration, I have been told that ALL vehicles OVER 15,000 lbs due to the NEW law as of 1/7/2015 has to be registered as a COMMERCIAL vehicle????, This is just another way for the state to get MORE fees for a out of control DOT, the excuse is that the roads and bridges are in need on a lot of repair, they do, but green ways, bike paths ect. where the money DOES go is not needed and "could" have gone to where needed .

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swiss said:

Found the actual Bill.


(b) In conjunction with the payment of fees for the licensing of the operation of vehicles pursuant to Code Section 40-2-151, certain heavy vehicles registered in Georgia shall pay a highway impact fee. The annual fees shall be as follows for each such vehicle registered:
(1) 15,500 lbs. up to 26,000 lbs. ............. $ 50.00
(2) Greater than 26,001 lbs. ...................... 100.00

(c) It is the intention of the General Assembly, subject to appropriations, that the fees collected pursuant to subsection
(b) of this Code section shall be made available and usedxclusively for transportation purposes in this state.

Click to expand...

Well it IS obvious that the tag people in GAINESVILLE, GA. have NO idea what they are talking about, should not surprise me, bunchofcraps (another way to spell bureaucrats) are not hired for there smarts.

I have an old RV and that took them 30 min to figure out. I don't think they are singling out MVs.

73m819 said:

Well it IS obvious that the tag people in GAINESVILLE, GA. have NO idea what they are talking about, should not surprise me, bunchofcraps (another way to spell bureaucrats) are not hired for there smarts.

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Actually when I was in the Oakwood main office they are very helpful a few months ago. I had to register the Tractor and now that I think about it that is why they were asking me the weight information. If you remember we did discuss that they did say "Commercial registration" but now looking at the law it is not a commercial registration but a new plate type and Impact fee.

Amazes me on how Politically Correct and sweet smelling they make all them words sound just to get even get more tax dollars from the bottom of the pickle barrel - Ga already had a fuel tax increase last year of almost 26% to cover INFRASTRUCTURE.

Look and see where you CID funding going locally - (community improvement districts) using fuel tax money to pretty up local area's.

Folks - all ya gotta do is follow the money - your putting in already to fix infrastructure - find out where it is exactly going to the penny - ITS YOUR MONEY.

Thanks I have been looking for answers all day, finally e-mailed the man that sponsored the bill.

Representative Roberts,
Sir I have two M35a2 army trucks I have for a hobby and personal use. I do not use these trucks for commercial ventures. I use them in parades, camping including transporting camping equipment and sometimes transporting other items. I put less than 3,000 miles on each of these trucks each year. These trucks weigh about 13,500 lbs. empty and were rated by military to transport 5,000lbs. cross country and 10,000lbs. on highway. I do not know if these trucks are subject to this fee or not. My birthday is September 17 went to renew registration one invoice required fee and one invoice did not. Confusion, no one could explain or correct. I ask Tax office in Bibb Co. and they referred me to State Dept. of Revenue, State Dept. of Revenue referred me back to Tax office. Regardless I think both trucks should have about same bill. I am trying to do what is correct but no one has answer. I do feel that the bill should be more specific and read gross vehicle weight rated if that is what it means.

Respectfully,

SSG Rock said:

Thanks I have been looking for answers all day, finally e-mailed the man that sponsored the bill.

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Your gvwr is 23500

You pay the tax

NEED to READ WHOLE post before answering.

Not real expensive, but if you have a few or a lot of trucks it really adds up. Too bad. Taxes never go down

swiss, thank you I understand my gvwr is 2350, if you read hb170 it referees to vehicle weight not gvwr. the department of revenue put out a flyer titled important information and gvwr is defined on that flyer not in the bill

SSG Rock said:

swiss, thank you I understand my gvwr is 2350, if you read hb170 it referees to vehicle weight not gvwr. the department of revenue put out a flyer titled important information and gvwr is defined on that flyer not in the bill

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Sorry I get it, the law to start was poorly written. Now that opens an interesting loophole. I am going to go back and read in more detail.

I do remember now I think when reading the complete ga code when I was working on the law change they define weight already in the code.

I had a long discussion with m73819 who helped clarify why tractors are including trailers in the gvwr, while cargos only include their payload

Interesting stuff when you dig down deep

Also seem gov agencies and cities and states are not exempt so everyone is paying

What I am trying to get to the bottom is the fact the local dmv is calling the registration a commercial registration when it is not

I went into the Bartow tag office today to get my title and tag for the Deuce I purchased from Clintogf. I went armed with everything I could think of. I wanted to transfer my Amateur Radio tag to the vehicle and the tag office initially said no problem. They entered all the data for the title, insurance verification and then started to transfer the tag and it threw up a red flag.

The lady stated that the system would not let her transfer the tag. She asked the weight and I pulled out the data I had and then it became well which weight rating should we use. She questioned the department manager who suggested that she call the state to clarify things. That's when it got odd. The vehicle had a proper GA title and when the person at the state office got involved they said the issue was because it was incorrectly listed as a Jeep for the make. She said it had to be truck. So sadly they changed the title to now read 1968 Kaiser Truck M35A2. Then the state office said the weight had to be the 23,535 as listed in the spec sheet for the truck.

Then they tried to see if being an antique military vehicle they could do the amateur radio plate. System wouldn't take it. Then they tried to see if I could do vintage plates which also would not work. At that stage they said per the law and system I had to have a commercial license plate. So I got stuck with commercial plates that say "Not For Hire" for the gross vehicle weight. The lady at the local tag office went to bat for me and even asked if maybe I could get a 1968 GA plate and associate it to commercial plate. That way I could just run the vintage plate on the truck and keep the commercial in the glove box.

So when I am due to update my tag in Jan I am going to go in with a 1968 plate and see if that is possible. My major concern is the neighbor across from my house is a lawyer in the county. He has made a stink about things in the neighborhood that he doesn't like before and will press the issue legally at times till he gets what he wants. I'm worried now that I have to run commercial plates he might feel its an eyesore and push the issue that because its a commercial vehicle I cant keep it at my residence. The neighborhood is way out off Hwy 411 old farm land that was sold to build neighborhoods. Nothing around. I will hate if I cant keep the truck at my residence so that I can work and use it at my leisure. I cringe reading stories of other members not allowed to keep vehicles they own on their own private property for whatever reason.

I'm to the point now I want to try and find a way for us all to be able to get a special exempt tag that denotes historic vehicle, or hobby vehicle I dont care how its termed as long as its not lumped in with commercial vehicles. I will gladly pay the weight tax I just dont want to be lumped in with commercial vehicles when its a personal/hobby/off road vehicle. Anyone have any connections at the state DMV to find out what we can do to push for special plates or designations?

way to go getting law changed.