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Registering an M1078 in Washington State

Oski1868

Member
35
6
8
Location
Eastern Washington
Yesterday was a seminal day in our little M1078 adventure .... I successfully acquired plates and registration for the old girl!

I have gained so much assistance from this site I thought I would share my experience in hopes it saves other folks the anxiety I felt prior to getting it done ...

I had previously filed for a title using the documentation I received from GL after the auction. With the WA title in hand I headed into my small town Department of Licensing office. Having lived in California where a trip to the DMV office was never something you looked forward to ... I always approach these offices with some trepidation. Fortunately it is a much different experience in rural Washington .... our town has really nice folks who genuinely want to help citizens accomplish what they are there for. So it was when I showed the clerk my title and a picture of the vehicle. At first she was genuinely confused as to what to do with a personal vehicle that has a stated GVW of 17,700 lbs! I guess their limit is around 12K. (I kept telling her it is just a big pickup truck) Her first thought was that I would have to register it as a commercial vehicle and go through the Department of Transportation for the correct registration. From there we looked at a multiple number of options (i.e.: farm exempt, RV, classic designation, etc.) Finally she called the central office in Olympia. After an interminable 20 minutes of a back and forth discussion with a supervisor she started tapping on her keyboard with a smile on her face. She hung up the phone .... said "that will be $295" and handed me some plates!!! Apparently their is a category "Commercial vehicle used for personal use".

I happily wrote the check ... took the plates and walked out with a very big smile on my face!

Anyway .... I hope this little story is helpful to someone out there ....
 

FloridaAKM

Well-known member
2,699
392
83
Location
Gainesville, Florida
Congratulations for getting thru a maze of bureaucracy to get your registration & plates. Small town mentality is always much nicer to deal with as they do care about helping move things along. big city; not so much!
 

saddamsnightmare

Well-known member
3,618
80
48
Location
Abilene, Texas
June 13th, 2015.

$295.00 for plates!!! Ouch! Better move to either Texas or Illinois as our FMV plates are much, much cheaper, and here in Illinois there is no mileage or use restrictions.....:sad:
 

Amer-team

Well-known member
1,706
28
48
Location
Centralia/WA
Depending on which plates he got, that is not a yearly fee. It is probably the initial license with title transfer, plate, possibly sales tax, and a Gross Vehicle Weight fee. Once you can get collector plates, there are no more fees.
 

PWM

Member
159
0
16
Location
Saint Maries, Idaho
Living in a small community has some advantages. I was in and out of my local DMV in ten minutes when I licensed my M923A2. Idaho is easy, you can get non commercial truck plates up to 60,000 pounds. My truck is registered the same as almost every large farm truck .
 

Kjswa

New member
4
0
0
Location
Orange County/CA
Yesterday was a seminal day in our little M1078 adventure .... I successfully acquired plates and registration for the old girl!

I have gained so much assistance from this site I thought I would share my experience in hopes it saves other folks the anxiety I felt prior to getting it done ...

I had previously filed for a title using the documentation I received from GL after the auction. With the WA title in hand I headed into my small town Department of Licensing office. Having lived in California where a trip to the DMV office was never something you looked forward to ... I always approach these offices with some trepidation. Fortunately it is a much different experience in rural Washington .... our town has really nice folks who genuinely want to help citizens accomplish what they are there for. So it was when I showed the clerk my title and a picture of the vehicle. At first she was genuinely confused as to what to do with a personal vehicle that has a stated GVW of 17,700 lbs! I guess their limit is around 12K. (I kept telling her it is just a big pickup truck) Her first thought was that I would have to register it as a commercial vehicle and go through the Department of Transportation for the correct registration. From there we looked at a multiple number of options (i.e.: farm exempt, RV, classic designation, etc.) Finally she called the central office in Olympia. After an interminable 20 minutes of a back and forth discussion with a supervisor she started tapping on her keyboard with a smile on her face. She hung up the phone .... said "that will be $295" and handed me some plates!!! Apparently their is a category "Commercial vehicle used for personal use".

I happily wrote the check ... took the plates and walked out with a very big smile on my face!

Anyway .... I hope this little story is helpful to someone out there ....
Because of the "commercial vehicle" registration are you required to have a WA CDL to drive it? I have a buddy in WA that owns an M1079 and I believe he registered his as a RV.
 

Oski1868

Member
35
6
8
Location
Eastern Washington
Not that I am aware of! :-D

My original plan was to re-register it as an RV once I have the requisite RV requirements installed. Of course that requires me to stop watching football and start fabricating the expedition box for the backend!
 

Kjswa

New member
4
0
0
Location
Orange County/CA
Not that I am aware of! :-D

My original plan was to re-register it as an RV once I have the requisite RV requirements installed. Of course that requires me to stop watching football and start fabricating the expedition box for the backend!

Thanks! Are you fabricating your own camper box or getting something 3rd party?
 

Oski1868

Member
35
6
8
Location
Eastern Washington
We plan to build it ourselves. If you are interested there are some great build chronicles over at Expedition Portal. My particular favorite is at:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/45835-C5500-TopKick-4x4-Crew-Cab-Build

I would love to build a composite box like these guys did .... super strong and super light. But the reality is that I have access to an expert welder (my son) so I am thinking we will go with an aluminum square tubing skeleton such as ....

M1078_box_01.jpg

That is the plan at least ....
 
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Kjswa

New member
4
0
0
Location
Orange County/CA
Wow those composite shells are incredible!!!! Unfortunately well beyond my budget as is fabricating a box for a 1078. Which means I'm looking for the right 1079, hopefully they will start showing back up on auction sites! Been a few months since I've seen one. Anyone have some insight on this?
 

gavland

New member
44
0
0
Location
Doylestown/Pa
still waiting on my PA title for my M1088, my first title they gave me 3 weeks ago said it was made buy Stanley Steam. Really!!!!! guess they couldn't read the Florida title ironplanet gave me.
around $880. for my reg. but is at 44,000 GVW and cdl to boot!! find out after PennDot gets there head out there butts and give me the rite title so I can get it registered.
 

lmtv98

New member
3
0
1
Location
Seattle
Hey Oski1868,
So far I'm having trouble with the registration process here in this big city Seattle. Would you be able to contact me and maybe point me in the right direction. I am willing to drive anywhere in the state to get this done. Mine is a LMTV And I have all the paperwork so it shouldn't be that hard. What city or town did you do your registration at?
Thank you.
 

Amer-team

Well-known member
1,706
28
48
Location
Centralia/WA
What seems to be the issue? I had a problem with an M923, but I didn't have a piece of paper from the auditors office when I went, so the inspector was in a snit.
 

lmtv98

New member
3
0
1
Location
Seattle
The person at the vehicle registration office wanted me to get emissions test first. When I got to the emissions facility they couldn't do a test because there's no Vin number. And they told me I needed to get it inspected by the state.
I found somewhere that these vehicles are except from the emissions. I'm going to try a different office.
 
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