We see a lot of that around here with race cars and big boats. People have the "NOT FOR HIRE" magnets on their doors.

 

Yeah we passed a guy with a Freightliner Sportchassis and a big gooseneck attached. Had the ''NOT FOR HIRE'' stickers and either the truck or his name is BUBBA, displayed in the proper 2 inch lettering on the doorsSweet setup.

 

I'm not sure of Florida, but in Michigan, if it's for personal use, I could drive a semi loaded up to 80K on a normal license if it didn't have air brakes.

I collect a particular brand of car. This year I picked up a Wally mo, 4 car trailer to haul the cars I collect west to my parents ranch on my summer vacation. I talked to every authority between here and home (1400 miles away, 5 states) and bottomline, I'm legal as long as I don't exeed the GVW of the truck or the trailer (so combined 32,500) and I don't exceed any federal axle ratings. My truck GCW came in at 27,750 and I had zero issues. Given I am legal in Michigan and non-commercial, other states have to honor my license. I merely took the titles of the cars with me to show ownership if I did get stopped. Most stations just waved me through and were more concerned with semis than me.

 

according to my trailer mfg (load trail) once a trailer has been registered as over 10,000 it is against the law to derate them. if i could get mine de-rated that sure would be nice.

 

This issue is a bit stickier than you might think. If you want to license your vehicle for more weight than normal (maybe 5000kg, or 12000lbs), you need to get a National Safety Code Registration. To do so, your vehicle must be registered with commercial plates. Trailers over a certain weight also need to be registered with commercial plates. This requires annual inspections, paperwork and fees, lettering on the doors, an upgraded driver's license (heavy trailer endorsement in BC- requires medical). The kicker is, once you've registered commercially, you need to keep a log book. This has to have (I think) at least the last 7 days available at all times, and 14 on request. You are then also open to audits by NSC to make sure you're in compliance.

All this being said, Alberta and BC think the log book rule is stupid and are arguing with the federal government about the requirement. There are so many 1 ton trucks in the oil and gas industry that almost every daily driver would be subject to this. I haven't been pulled over, but what I do is this- ignore the parts I don't like. I have an NSC number, and commercial plates, but I don't run logs or lettering. If they ever decide to stop me on a whim, I intend to claim ignorance, pay the fines, put a magnetic sign on my door for a week, and go on with life. For me, time is money and I will not waste my time with this, or the scales.

If you want the best information, call the 2-3 of the nearest weigh scales. Write down the time and date of the call, the name of the person, and the story they tell you. Most times that you call, the story will be different. Keep the one or two that you like best in your truck for the next time you're pulled over. Good luck!

 

I would ask for him to write you up a ticket and then present your case to the judge at the appointed court date and see what he has to say.

We had local by law officer that used to harass people with "friendly warnings". A few commercial drivers got ticked off after being stopped 3-4 times a week and started demanding a ticket so they could have their day in court. That combined with a call to his supervisor asking for their ticket was enough to smarten him up.

 

Make a video of you taking your Ribbon to the bank to deposit it into your account (business account of course). I'm sure that should be enough proof that there is no monitary gain.

 

This won't help out you guys in The Great White North, but it might help out a few in the states. It seems to me that the TRANSPORTING of your own horses (whether for profit or not) is NOT your primary business. You are merely transporting the horses from one place to another in order to further your primary business. As such, it seems that you can claim exemption to all FMCSA rules and regulations based on this bit of the US Code, which trumps the FMCSA regs:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/u...5----000-.html

It says, in part:

§ 13505. Transportation furthering a primary business

(a) In General.— Neither the Secretary nor the Board has jurisdiction under this part over the transportation of property by motor vehicle when—
(1) the property is transported by a person engaged in a business other than transportation; and
(2) the transportation is within the scope of, and furthers a primary business (other than transportation) of the person.

So I am not a lawyer, and I cannot say that this is the answer, but I would like to hear what a DOT enforcement officer had to say about that after he put that in his rules pipe and smoked it! You will notice that it doesn't even specify that the property being transported must belong to the transporter, does that mean that you could haul someone else's horses for them?