A reason not to live in Massachusetts!!

[GF7PE]

A friend of mine have a F-250 super crew as a daily driver and uses it to tow his boat and go out on the beach. He has a diamond plate tool box in the bed and keeps some stuff in there like a tow rope, shovel, board, jack, jumper cables, and a few other odds and ends. Well a few weeks ago he gets pulled over. The cop had followed him for a few miles and he knew he hadn't done anything wrong. When he asked the cop what the issue was, the cop said, " you have the wrong plates on your truck." He went a bit further to explain to him that if he wanted to keep his tool box he would have to get commercial plates. My friend tried to explain to the cop that it was his daily driver and he does not use it for work at all. But, the cop gave him a ticket anyway. So he decides to go to court and fight it. When he did, he lost and was given 7 days to comply and an officer would be sent to his residence to make sure he did comply. So he hung his head, went to the registry and got the commercial plates. Seven days later there is a knock on the door. When he opened the door he saw the cop who gave him the ticket in the first place. They went out to the truck and he showed him that he did in fact get the commercial plates. But, just as all seems cleared up, the cop says "hmmm". then he went on to write my friend a ticket for $1500 for having a commercial vehicle without lettering. He again went to fight it and lost again. When he was told this, he went into a sort of rage. Said how the F@&k am I supposed to letter a vehicle with a business name if I don't have a business!! He was told that he had to put on either side of the truck " not for hire ".

 

is it just mass or is this the case elsewhere??

[pacodiablo]

WTF!!! That cop must not like trucks or something. He should look into laws and see if there is in fact a law against tool boxes. That is BS. Why would he have to say it is a commercial truck over a tool box? Something is not right. I drive by cops several times a day and have never been pulled over for my tool box (never been pulled over at all actually).

[ToeJam]

I've never heard of that in my life. I'd hire a lawyer and fight that one. There is no way in heck that a tool box makes you a commercial anything. I bet if he didn't have a tool box the cop would have given him a ticket for not having the stuff secured in the bed of the truck.

[Wingnut]

Wow....I think that's one of the most asinine things I've ever heard in my entire life.

 

For a $1500 ticket, I might just have to procure some legal representation.

[GF7PE]

well thats just it... he did and sure enough its in the law books. (the lettering that is) still workin on the plates though

[silverado man]

You wouldn't have the law number because I would have to see that one for myself. I have not heard that if you have a toolbox on it you need a commercial tag that's just a bunch of . Your friend must not have a very good lawyer or the judge must not be having good days lately. That sucks for your friend though. I would be if I was in his shoes.

[Frank S]

Seems to me that there is officially nothing good going on in Taxachussettes.Time to move IMO.

[GF7PE]

You wouldn't have the law number because I would have to see that one for myself.  I have not heard that if you have a toolbox on it you need a commercial tag that's just a bunch of  .  Your friend must not have a very good lawyer or the judge must not be having good days lately.  That sucks for your friend though. I would be     if I was in his shoes.

he is still fighing the plate issue and it keeps coming up to the "interpretation" of the law. All commercially registered vehilces have to be lettered in massachusetts.

 

p.s. Not too sure if the plate issue is a town, county or state requirement. Also it goes a bit further too. He lives in an area of Cape Cod that is requlated by the Cape Cod Commision. Basically if you live in this area and you have a black mailbox and want to replace it with a white one then you have to go in front of a committee first and see if they will allow you to change it. They also dont allow commercailly registered vehicles to be parked in the front of your property. The vehicle has to stay behind the front line of the house. Same goes for boats too

[deduncan]

This is, by far, the stupidest law I've ever heard of. Sometimes I'm thankful I live in li'l ol' Idaho.

[scooter70]

I spent the first 20 years of my life in Mass and throughout most of that time, if you had a pickup truck of any kind, you had to have commercial plates. My mom's daily driver '89 stepside had them. I believe that changed a few years ago because my dad now has regular plates on his '04 Z71 Sierra. In all of the time that he did have commercial plates on his trucks, he never had the business name on the truck even though it technically was a "business expense" for tax purposes. (FYI: Your insurance company will charge you more if you have company lettering.)

 

This whole thing is BS and probably just the cops at the Cape with nothing better to do. Man.... am I glad I moved to Michigan. We don't even have safety/emmissions inspections!!

[Tfin]

Man, I can't believe that crap! It's got to be a Cape thing. I lived in Boston for 2 miserable years back in 1994-1996. I had a S-10 pickup with a tool box in back. I didn't have commercial plates, nor was i harassed about the toolbox.

 

Thank God I live in Maine! Good luck to your buddy.

[SxViper]

First of all you friend was driving around illegaly to begin with.. That truck is rated over 1/2 ton and must be registered as a Commercial. Now for the lettering bull my dad had a 3500 1986 and had commerical plates but no lettering. Thou he didn't have a tool box in the bed. He also should look into if he needs a commerical inspection. I live in Maine now and must register my 2500HD as commerical even thou I never use it for anythign other than towing snowmobiles. We go by weight out here too. I am rated lower than what my truck can really haul (by about 200 pounds) but if I weigh the truck down they can and will pull me onto the scales... It happens... I don't feel bad at all for your friend... That is the law he should have read up on it before he bought the truck. Anything over 1/2 ton needs commerical plates(that was about 3 years ago when I had a S10 so unless they changed it)... Use to be all trucks including S10...

[pacodiablo]

What a stupid state! I am glad I don't live there! Here if it isn't commercial, it doesn't need commercial plates.

[GF7PE]

First of all you friend was driving around illegaly to begin with.. That truck is rated over 1/2 ton and must be registered as a Commercial.

 

Anything over 1/2 ton needs commerical plates(that was about 3 years ago when I had a S10 so unless they changed it)... Use to be all trucks including S10...

well not too sure about that one. Most of my friends drive 2500HD's and not one is registered commercially or have a tool box. When I regd my truck, there was no mention of commercial plates either.

[SxViper]

You might want to check that out. They almost allowed me to register my 2500HD up here in Maine no commerical but then they figured out that I was over weight limits for non commerical. The people doing the registry work dont' always know the laws too well... You don't want to get baged for not having commerical plates or you will be going through the same crap as your friend... The law when I went to register in 98 my S10 down there was anything over 1/2 ton had to have commerical plates. So its been a few years and they might have changed that. Here in Maine we still have the stupid law.. But it really does not cost that much more than a regular plate.