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$500 fine for towing another truck need help understanding!!!!

10K views 26 replies 9 participants last post by  steve604 
#1 ·
so today, my buddy got a ticket from a surrey by-law officer for exceeding his licensed GVW

the truck pulling was a 2003 Chevy 2500HD

the trailer had a 94 f350 PS Reg cab long box

trailer has two 5000lb axles

I have towed my 4x4 and many others and never have heard of this??

any info would be greatly appreciated
 
#7 ·
I was pulled over just the other day for this. luckily i bumped my gvw up to cover the TRUCK AND TRAILER fully loaded so i got off. but over 5500 your sapposed to move your rear plate to the front. I didn;t know this. that was the reason he pulled me over.

the guy next to me at the insurance place was pulled over the same day, f350 with gooseneck, was followed down to a scale. when it was over was given $1000 ticket.
 
#8 ·
yes he was put onto a scale, and ticket is in attachment above

what should a guy bump his GVW up to?

I have been trying to understand this system for the longest time and how to go about everything legally but even ICBC doesn't have a clue as to what is required
 
#10 ·
my gvw is at 7200kg, you can go up 8200kg then you need an nsc number. Just because you have raised it up doesn;t mean your trucks rated to tow that much.

like how every beater toyota has a gvw of over 5000kg to not go through aircare. I would not be towing 5000lbs with my toyota. the toyota weighs about 5000lb.
 
#14 ·
i raised the gvw on my toyota to tow a small work trailer, doesnt make it any safer :finger_1: just legal!

just a money grab as far as im concerned, i can tow as big a recreactional trailer as i want since it has its own gwv, and if i pay more and raise the gwv i can tow as big a commercial trailer as i want, no concern for public safety whatsoever.

if you insure it for more than 5000 than you need the nsc number, but there again its just a money grab, $250 and a yearly inspection if i remember correctly and it doesn't make your tow vehicle any more suited to towing heavy loads.
 
#15 ·
Would definetly have to go over 5000 (to legally tow another P/U) and I remember the lady at ICBC said they started doing the NSC because of all the people bumping there GVW to avoid air care, so I would imagine your right about yearly inspection,

And let's face it depending on your VI guys mood, they can basically fail anything they want
 
#16 ·
if you needed a NSC and inspection, their computers wouldn't allow them to insure it at that level without the papers and numbers in front of them. i have a truck insured at 8199 KG and they're not asking for anything. to do 8200 was not possible without proof of inspection and NSC. many autoplan agents... maybe even most, make up the rules as they go. if they're unsure if something is allowed, they find an excuse to not let you do it to cover their own asses.

insuring at 5500 KG for commercial use might require inspection and NSC but i'm not sure. my truck is insured for pleasure use. i have a flatdeck trailer insured at 6400KG for pleasure use that doesn't require inspection. if i insure it for commercial use at that GVW it needs an inspection.

i think this is why you see guys driving old tow trucks around with stickers on the side that say "not for hire"
 
#18 ·
The fines pay their wages so you're going to get nowhere. Consider the fine to be a BC user fee. Commercial drivers all over north america dread the thought of crossing the border into BC because they know they're going to get fined for something... especially if they have out of province plates.
 
#19 ·
If you don't carry anything except a vehicle on your trailer you can run a Utility plate and therefore the trailer carries it's own GVWR. The only disadvantage is that you're not insured to carry any other type of commodity

Unless you lower the GVWR to 1400 kg, lol that's what I did to legally bring home a load of lumber, why raise the GVW of the truck and pay more for insurance when you can lower the GVW of the trailer and save money on insurance.

Yes it's a stupid system.
 
#21 ·
His insurance is up august and I think it only cost about 50$ more so around a 100 a year which isn't terrible I guess,

Not considering the fact how much ICBC already makes but I guess we have no control over that one
 
#22 ·
I tried to raise the GVW on my 3/4 ton Suburban and was unable too because they are classified as passenger vehicle's and not trucks. Same would be true for a Ford Expedition. So I guess there is no way of towing a trailer full of lumber or gravel etc. and still be legal even though the truck is capable of pulling large loads. The whole thing confuses the fuck out of me.
 
#26 ·
I just looked at the door jam of my 1997 dodge ram 2500 diesel. gvwr is 8800lbs. the truck weighs around 7500lbs. so legally I am able to tow or put in my box ONLY 1300lbs. then i am over my gvwr. I do have it raised to 7200kg which is 15840 lbs. so I can tow my toyota. "LEGALLY"

buddys 2002 f350 dulley gvwr is 11500lbs. so he can tow about 3500lbs.


the factory has the trucks under rated and icbc has the trucks under insured. And some how its the owners fault.
 
#27 ·
you can put 1300lbs in the back or have a tongue weight that puts 1300lbs of weight on the back wheels. max trailer tow is 150kg/hp but a trailer over 4600kg requires an extra endorsement on your driver's license.

i believe that the owner's manual for my f350 says "max recommended trailer weight is 10,000lbs" which means this is just what they recommend. actual law is 150kg/hp

so my 3.4 v6 tacoma could legally tow 28,500kg as long as the tongue weight doesn't put the truck over it's GVW on the door jamb but icbc will still let me insure my tacoma at 8199kg without inspections.

I think the main reason the BC regs are like this is to protect certain bigger logistics companies in BC. the rules for BC are known all around north america as being the most complicated and drivers are constantly warned of crossing the BC border. the ones that do business out of BC know the steps they need to take to be legal.
 
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