What Farm Truck And Trailer Regulations Should Mean For Your Company
If you are not aware of the typical farm truck and trailer regulations, you should continue reading this blog. If you are a farmer and you use a pickup truck to haul your own products, if the gross vehicle weight of the loaded truck is 10,000 lbs or below, and if you are plated at 10,000 lbs or a little lower than that, you do not have to comply with any state regulations.
However, if you decide to pull a trailer or a combination of vehicles such as a truck and trailer combination, and even if the combined weight of both the vehicles is less than 10000 LBS, you do not have to comply with any state rules and regulations whatsoever.
In case you have a trailer that has a gross weight of more than 10,000 LBS which means that if the truck and trailer combination or the truck by itself weighs more than 10,000 LBS, or if the license plates that you have on both your trailer and truck add up to more than 10,000 lbs in weight, you will be subject to certain rules and regulations laid down by your state. Also, if you decide to haul a trailer or a truck that has a GVWR of more than 10,000 lbs, you will be subject to those rules and regulations. If you intend to stay within the state and do not cross the state lines for your business, you may be required to apply for a US DOT number as per the rules laid down by your state. Other states may not require you to fulfill such a requirement. If you are working as not for hire and hauling your own products as a farmer, you must be using a farm plate on your truck and trailer. You will have to check with the state agency that is responsible for any DOT regulations in your state to understand your compliance requirements better.
Every state across the country has a set of individual DOT rules and regulations that they have laid down for farm plated vehicles. You should be aware of them before you start hauling goods within or across state lines.
Remember that as a farmer, if you choose to cross state lines with your truck or truck and trailer combination or truck and tractor combination that has a weight of more than 26,000 lbs, you must apply for a USDOT number right away. You must also register for your IFTA fuel tax with your home state.