We pay our val based on engine displacement in case of passengers vehicle or non commercial vehicles if you prefer. As long as the empty weight is under 3000kg we do not need to register the vehicle as commercial. Also, you can't can't fine for excessive weight if you're driving a non commercial vehicle.

 

That all depends on the state here - on one end of the scale you have Kentucky which requires the use of car plates on anything under 9,000 pounds no matter what it is (People kept buying pickups down there to get around the stupid smiley face license plates a few years back so they got rid of the lower truck weight plates), and on the other end of the scale you have Wisconsin that requires a truck plate for anything with a truck bed. The cost is the same as for a car plate for 4,000 pounds or less, and then it goes up in 1 ton increments. The F-150 is properly in the "C" weight class between 6,000 and 8,000 pounds, with licensing costs somewhere around $150 a year. The HD option F-150 is in the X class, vehicles between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds, licensing is something like $200 a year for it.

I believe you can be fined for being overweight, but you don't have to stop at weigh stations with non commercial vehicles - so who's going to catch you?

Also, Cat scales are accurate to within 20 pounds if I remember correctly - they are calibrated fairly frequently.

My 2011 F-150 XLT 4x4 with Offroad package and chrome step bars weighs 5700 pounds empty.

IMPORTANT though -
For anywhere in the USA, a vehicle being used to make money that has a gross weight RATING of over 10,000 pounds *IS* a commercial vehicle. So if you're using your F-150 to pull a car to the drag strip and you're racing for prize money, you ARE a CMV (Unless you managed to somehow keep the combined weight RATING under 10,000 pounds). If your trailer weighs over 10,000 pounds (which the F-150 is perfectly capable of pulling), you will actually need a Class A CDL. Note that if the vehicle actually weighs over 10,000 pounds, they will use the real weight instead of the rating to determine if it's a CMV or not.

 

The problem with that logic is while you don't have to register as commercial if you're under 3000kg, once you exceed 3000kg you just made yourself a commercial vehicle, and now you're not properly registered. In Ontario the very definition of a commercial motor vehicle is a pick up truck so every pick up on the road is a "commercial motor vehicle", notwithstanding the fact that "commercial vehicle" has no bearing on an overweight charge. If you have passenger plates and weigh over 3000kg, you're overweight, if you have commercial plates (like every pick up on the road in Ontario SHOULD have) and you're only reg'd for 3000kg and you weigh over that, you're over weight again.

Anyway, that was my point; most of us have these trucks reg'd for 3000kg and they seem to be pretty porky rides. If you've got a 4x4 Screw with 6.5' box and you're reg'd for 3000kg, it won't take a hell of a lot to put yourself over weight. Every state/province in North America writes their traffic law differently, but thats how it works in Ontario.

 

That's good stuff to know, wasn't aware of all this. Anyway, I don't think I should worry about this even when I go to Ontario as my vehicle is registered in Québec. I might have to stop at the scale (will verify that) but that's okay.

Thanks

 

I've been gone on vacation for the past month; haven't been here in a while. Anyway, when you go into Ontario, technically speaking, you should be going into the scales. That being said, I don't know a single officer anywhere in the province that would drag you into the scales for a weigh-up if you went past one. The only time I could see you getting weighed up is if you got pulled over for something and you were a real dick to the officer, haha. In that case he might say "you know what BUDDY?? You're gonna follow me to the scales and I'm gonna make your day REAL BAD!" hahah. Happy travels.