Do Trailers Under 25000 Lbs Get Registered

Reprinted with Permission from the May/June 2018 issue of Tracks, the official publication of NATM (National Association of Trailer Manufacturers).
Past Kim Mann, Full general Counsel to NATM, Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary

NATM headquarters receives frequent calls from trailer manufacturing members asking why the local police are insisting on commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) for drivers operating tow vehicles pulling their trailers. They then describe their particular set of circumstances. Prompting these questions are complaints the members take received from their customers and dealers about land troopers and local enforcement officers pulling over drivers towing their trailers they thought did not require CDLs and their customers had purchased with that aforementioned understanding. So, what's going on here? Overly-aggressive law enforcement at piece of work? Dealers and/or customers ill-informed about CDL laws? A combination of both?

What appears to exist backside these inquiries is the vagueness of the CDL laws and the general confusion and disagreement this vagueness naturally generates. And then, let's attempt to clear up some of this confusion. Starting at the beginning, Congress has charged the U.Due south. DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Assistants (FMCSA) with responsibleness for implementing the federal CDL laws through federal regulations and has directed the states to issue CDLs in conformity with these regulations. The FMCSA'due south CDL regulations announced in the Code of Federal Regulations, 49 C.F.R. Part 383. The FMCSA requires drivers to have a CDL – either a Class A, a Class B, or Class C (for transporting passengers or hazardous materials) – in order to operate defined types of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate, intrastate, or strange commerce.

CDL Requirements

FMCSA's graphic illustrating the various vehicle configurations constituting the groups of CMVs requiring a Class A or Course B CDL (Click to enlarge)

To analyze its regulations, the FMCSA publishes a graphic illustrating the various vehicle configurations constituting the groups of CMVs requiring a Class A or Class B CDL. That graphic can be found to the right. State and local law enforcement ofttimes refer to information technology for guidance.

The FMCSA requires drivers to take a CDL to operate a motor vehicle if that vehicle meets the FMCSA definition of a "commercial motor vehicle" and is used in "commerce." The FMCSA defines both terms in 49 C.F.R. § 383.5. The great misunderstanding out there, within the trailer industry and probably within the police enforcement community, about the CDL requirements springs from those 2 definitions, particularly of "commerce."
The FMCSA defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as a motor vehicle, or a combination of motor vehicles, in certain GVWR-based configurations, when used in "commerce" to send "property or passengers." The physical configuration component of the CMV definition is very mechanical, very objective. When dealing with a tow vehicle-trailer combination, you look at the gross combination weight rating (GCWR) of the tow vehicle if the tow-vehicle manufacturer has assigned information technology a GCWR and displays it on its cert label. With regard to the familiar combination, a tow vehicle (whether truck, automobile, or tractor) towing a trailer, the driver needs a CDL if the tow-vehicle manufacturer'southward assigned GCWR exceeds 26,000 lbs. (as shown on its cert characterization) and the trailer'southward GVWR exceeds 10,000 lbs. If there is no assigned GCWR, the FMCSA requires a CDL simply if the sum of the GVWRs of the tow vehicle and the trailer together exceeds 26,000 lbs. and the trailer's GVWR exceeds 10,000 lbs. In either instance, the driver volition need a Course A CDL.
With regard to a unmarried vehicle, the FMCSA requires the driver to have a Course B CDL to operate that truck, motorcoach, van, or automobile if that vehicle has a GVWR of more than 26,000 lbs. Information technology is required even if that truck, motorcar, or van is towing a trailer and that trailer has a GVWR of ten,000 lbs. or less (If the trailer's GVWR exceeds 10,0000 lbs., a Class A CDL is needed).

The 2d component of the CDL requirement, and of the CMV definition, is much more than troubling, much more subjective, and the primary source of the confusion. To qualify equally a CMV requiring a CDL, that vehicle, even in a qualifying GCWR/GVWR configuration, must be used in "commerce." "Commerce" has its own dissever definition in § 385.3 of the FMCSA's regulations. The FMCSA defines it broadly as any trade, traffic, or transportation between points in ane land and points in another land or whatsoever merchandise, traffic, or transportation that "affects" trade, traffic, or transportation in the U.Southward. between points in i state and points in another. Not exactly an enlightening definition, to say the least. How this "use" assessment turns out often varies depending upon who is doing the assessing. And that is often the law enforcement officer on the scene.

Equally a starting point, the proper inquiry, then, is whether this questionable CMV is transporting holding (across state lines) for some commercial purpose, every bit opposed to for the personal utilize of the owner, driver, or another person. What the trailer owner considers his or her own "personal use" may, upon close examination, in fact plough out to be for a "commercial purpose" when viewed through the disquisitional eyes of the state or local constabulary enforcement officer. Allow'southward examine several tricky examples:

The trailer possessor is towing his ain horses to a equus caballus evidence or his livestock to the land fair where monetary prizes are awarded. That familiar scenario is likely to be seen as a commercial undertaking or commercial purpose from the vantage indicate of the diligent state trooper who pulls the commuter over looking for that CDL.
Suppose instead those horses belong to a stable whose possessor charges the public by the hour to ride them. Another commercial purpose according to a strict interpretation of the term. It does not matter that no business name or logo is displayed on the side of the truck or trailer towing these horses.
Now suppose it is a higher student behind the wheel of Dad's 16,000 lbs. GVWR truck towing his family's backyard mower around the neighborhood in Dad's utility trailer to earn a few bucks mowing lawns to off-set that college tuition. He may need a Class A CDL if that trailer's GVWR exceeds x,000 lbs.

Complicating the question of whether a CDL is necessary could be a hodge-podge of state CDL laws at variance with the federal law. States are not prohibited from enacting their own state CDL laws, applying them to not-interstate movements (i.e. the trailer does not cross the country line), if those state laws are stricter than the federal law. In theory, the country law of Land A might require its residents to have a different class of CDL, maybe designated equally a "Grade D," to tow a 26,000-lbs. GVWR trailer when used for personal employ.

Country A must, withal, accolade the out-of-state license issued past State B to its residents: for example, if State B does not require a CDL for its residents to operate a vehicle for personal use, then State A may not crave State B residents to accept a CDL while operating a vehicle for personal utilize in State A even if Country A requires its ain residents to have a "Class D" CDL for this purpose.

The "CDL" complaints that NATM fields typically revolve around the smaller trailers (between 10,000 lbs. and 26,000 lbs. GVWR) and the contend over personal vs. commercial use. In sum, assuming commercial employ, when the GVWR of the truck exceeds 26,000 lbs., a CDL is required, regardless of the GVWR of the trailer, and when the GVWR of the truck is less than 26,000 lbs., a CDL is required only if that truck's GVWR and the trailer'due south GVWR, added together, exceed 26,000 lbs. and the trailer's GVWR exceeds 10,000 lbs.

View the Original article "Shedding Light on Foggy CDL Requirements" in NATM'south Tracks Mag here.

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