Registering a HDT as a motorhome in Georgia

[BlueLghtning]

Hopefully, you can add another one to the list. I went in today to the DMV office in Coweta and applied for my GA title for my HDT and walked out with my registration & license plate. I had chatted with GeorgiaHybrid a few times and although his was a little different since his was new, it certainly helped to chat with him and I was armed with lots of info if I had issues. However, I decided to approach this with the "less is more" attitude and see how that went first. I was going to just go into it like it was no big deal and not bring in pics and extra stuff that would just confuse them and maybe add suspicion that there was anything different with this transaction. I was just there to title and register my Volvo Motorhome which is basically as close as you can get in GA to the classification that we want. My HDT came from CA and although it was no longer registered commercially, it also didn't say anything about an RV on the California Title. My CA title just said it was a Volvo 610 automobile, but that didn't seem to be an issue.

I went in and just said I need to register my Volvo Motorhome and handed her the CA title and my Bill of Sale. She asked some questions like if it was the drivable type, color, and a few other things that weren't listed on the CA title. I realized the first time, she put it as a trailer so we had to go back and correct that and then noticed she put it as Gas instead of Diesel and left the mileage off the title which I wanted so got her to add that. In the end the title shows 2000 Volvo VN "HC" and HC is the code for motorhome in their system which she printed out and showed me. My registration shows the same thing at the top next to the VIN#. 

I should have the title in my hand in 7-10 days so I'll let you know. 

 

Edited April 19, 2017 by BlueLghtning

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

[BlueLghtning]

39 minutes ago, GeorgiaHybrid said:

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

Definietly! Thanks again for all the chats and assistance! 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Cool!  Plans coming together!

[BlueLghtning]

On 4/19/2017 at 5:36 PM, BlueLghtning said:

Hopefully, you can add another one to the list. I went in today to the DMV office in Coweta and applied for my GA title for my HDT and walked out with my registration & license plate. I had chatted with GeorgiaHybrid a few times and although his was a little different since his was new, it certainly helped to chat with him and I was armed with lots of info if I had issues. However, I decided to approach this with the "less is more" attitude and see how that went first. I was going to just go into it like it was no big deal and not bring in pics and extra stuff that would just confuse them and maybe add suspicion that there was anything different with this transaction. I was just there to title and register my Volvo Motorhome which is basically as close as you can get in GA to the classification that we want. My HDT came from CA and although it was no longer registered commercially, it also didn't say anything about an RV on the California Title. My CA title just said it was a Volvo 610 automobile, but that didn't seem to be an issue.

I went in and just said I need to register my Volvo Motorhome and handed her the CA title and my Bill of Sale. She asked some questions like if it was the drivable type, color, and a few other things that weren't listed on the CA title. I realized the first time, she put it as a trailer so we had to go back and correct that and then noticed she put it as Gas instead of Diesel and left the mileage off the title which I wanted so got her to add that. In the end the title shows 2000 Volvo VN "HC" and HC is the code for motorhome in their system which she printed out and showed me. My registration shows the same thing at the top next to the VIN#. 

I should have the title in my hand in 7-10 days so I'll let you know. 

 

My GA Title showed up today! It looks like I'm good!

 

 

[Cotreker]

I just completed my tags today in Colorado and will start a new thread, I had good luck.  I learned a great deal and will share.

[BlueLghtning]

1 hour ago, Cotreker said:

I just completed my tags today in Colorado and will start a new thread, I had good luck.  I learned a great deal and will share.

Good to hear! I'll look forward to seeing your thread. 

[Cotreker]

Congratulations on your purchase, I have been following what you have been writing.  I am also in a 10 speed Eaton and learning more everyday!  We should compare notes on taxes and plate fees, I was scared but came out pretty well in Colorado.  Insurance is something like $30.00 per month.  Now I need to sell the Powerstroke$

[BlueLghtning]

37 minutes ago, Cotreker said:

Congratulations on your purchase, I have been following what you have been writing.  I am also in a 10 speed Eaton and learning more everyday!  We should compare notes on taxes and plate fees, I was scared but came out pretty well in Colorado.  Insurance is something like $30.00 per month.  Now I need to sell the Powerstroke$

Yeah, CO is one of those states that my wife and I looked at moving to at some point. I'm curious how they do taxes and plate fees in CO?  You did really good on insurance. Mine is closer to $70/mo on the truck. 

Up untill about 2013, GA had a yearly ad valorem tax on any vehicle/trailer you owned. It was based on a certain percentage of what the vehicle was worth so it went down each year. This was often called the Birthday tax as your tags renew on your birthday, although at least you could write it off on your taxes each year. Having owned many bikes, vehicles, & trailers and the fact that my wife and I have a birthday only 1 day apart Sept was always a rough month for us sometimes owning 10+ vehicles, motorcycles, trailers at tag time. The nice thing about this setup was if you purchase a vehicle private party, there was no sales tax where as If you bought from a dealer, you paid the sales tax at the time of your purchase based on the rate in your county plus you still had to pay the advalorem each year. I used to buy and sell bikes a lot through private sellers and I could work it where I would sell them before my birthday and buy new ones after. If you had a current tag to register, you didn't have to pay the advalorem tax until your birthday the next year. 

Then a few years back GA went to what they call the TAVT (Title Ad Valorem Tax). There is no longer a sales tax on vehicles, but now you pay the TAVT on any vehicle purchase regardless if it's private or dealer. It's currently set at 7% and based on the fair market value or what you paid, what ever is higher. I got hit with a little over $1k TAVT on this truck. Now the good thing is going forward it will just be a $20 tag fee each year vs an the previous going tax so once you own it, you are good. But that ininial purchase does bite. This really took a dent out of me buying and selling bikes because you had to pay this each time you bought something. 

The sucky thing about the TAVT though is it hits anyone moving to GA. Even if you bought your vehicle in a state that you paid Sales Tax on it, when you come to GA, you basically have to pay what is effectively another tax on the value of a vehicle you already own. This could get costly if you have several high dollar vehicles you are bringing with you. I'm sure that is where this really makes money for the state. 

Now here's the really confusing part. When the TAVT tax came out, you had the opportunity to "opt in" on any vehicle you owned at the time meaning you paid the TAVT right there, then never paid a tax again. If you opted out, you would stay on the old system and continue to pay the yearly ad valorem until you sold the vehicle. The break even point was about 7 years so if you would own it less, it was best to opt outt. If you planned on keeping it, better to opt in. I have 1 car and 2 bikes I opted out on as I didn't think I'd keep them that long, but still do. It's getting a lot closer to that 7 year break even point.  

Something else I just learned though is that the TAVT only applies to vehicles you drive. So 5th wheel trailers and stuff still fall under the old Ad Valorem tax system, so my 5th wheel was around $400 ad valorem, but I'll have to keep paying that each year (it goes down some each year). I guess though that's better than maybe the $2500-$3000 tax it would have been for a TAVT purchase. 

Edited April 28, 2017 by BlueLghtning

[Cotreker]

Hello ____?

My truck price was $23500 and I paid $1800 in tax and then the $186 for the plates last evening.  Only had to pay tax in Co. and that happened 2 weeks ago because I was missing a Power of Attorney document from the seller.  I was the last one out last evening, so I think the clerk was just ready to get rid of me.  She needed the msrp on my truck but was looking in the RV Blue book because my sales receipt said it was a motor home.  Long story short the tax value was established on the sale price to me and not the 2006 msrp.  Most likely in my favor, I needed good news yesterday!

[Ferdinand2009]

On 3/29/2017 at 2:32 PM, GeorgiaHybrid said:

Will be back at the fiver later today. No problem helping you get it sorted out. Will send you some more contact info in a PM tonight.

Hey Georgia Hybrid, I'm in the process of trying to register my Volvo with an ARI box as a motorhome here in Georgia. I've already made one trip to the tag office, and like many on here have already stated, it causes a lot of confusion. I'm going to have to make another trip back up there. Any information you could pass along to help would be greatly appreciated! 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

9 hours ago, Ferdinand2009 said:

Hey Georgia Hybrid, I'm in the process of trying to register my Volvo with an ARI box as a motorhome here in Georgia. I've already made one trip to the tag office, and like many on here have already stated, it causes a lot of confusion. I'm going to have to make another trip back up there. Any information you could pass along to help would be greatly appreciated! 

Sent you a PM

 

[pltmarty]

On 7/25/2016 at 11:23 PM, GeorgiaHybrid said:

As some of you already know, registering a HDT in Georgia is an exercise in frustration. I have been dreading going down with the paperwork on the Kenworth but the time had come about two weeks ago to get it down. Georgia does not recognise what we do with our trucks and they don't have a category to place us in. I gave the tax assessor the paperwork from MHC, plenty of pictures of other trucks that are "motorhomes" in other states, pictures of our truck at Larry's place being "converted" to a RV hauler truck and the cover of our build sheet. The build sheet turned out to be very helpful as it plainly said the truck was "non commercial, recreational use only"

 

She didn't have a clue what to do as Georgia only has tags for private trucks to 26,000 pounds. Over that limit you have two choices, commercial or farm use inside of Georgia only. None of those would work so I suggested a motorhome registration. She took all of the info and said she would forward it to Atlanta and see what they wanted to do. 3 days later, she called and said every single supervisor in the tag and title office refused to give her an answer.

 

Hmmm..... They sent the problem over to a group of 4 lawyers who debated over a 2 day period what to do with the truck. They responded later that week with "register it as a Georgia private farm vehicle with a 36,000 pound tag and give him a letter stating that it would be OK to drive on that tag outside of Georgia". Our tax assessor knew that would never work as she knows we will be traveling all over the USA with this truck. She told them to try again as she didn't want to be a part of us getting busted driving a Georgia use only tag across the country as no one would be stupid enough to believe a "letter" stating it would be OK.

 

They next told her to give us a 26,000 pound tag and let us go. Again, no way was I going to accept that nor was she willing to do it. We got by on the Freightliner as it looks similar to a M2-106 that might have a 26,000 pound GVWR even though that trucks GVWR was over 30,000 pounds but I didn't have any options with it.

 

She couldn't write a commercial tag (they are all issued in Atlanta) and agreed that was not correct either so she called back and asked again about a motorhome tag. They said no, as soon as you unhook the trailer, it is no longer a motor home. That is when I asked what is considered a motor home as the truck has a fridge, microwave, shore power and shore power heating and air and even cable TV when hooked up in a campground. The fact that it could pull our trailer and carry a Smart car was a bonus.

 

She called yet again to the state and they told her to do whatever she thought it should be. After that call, she told us that she might get screamed at by someone from Atlanta but that she would send the paperwork in as a motorhome. She also warned us that it would have to be sold as a motorhome in the future and could not be converted to a commercial truck and I assured her that was not a problem.

 

We got the paperwork back from Atlanta today and we are now the proud owners of a Kenworth T680 "motorhome". A far as I know, this is the first HDT in Georgia to be registered this way and should help others that are wanting to register their HDT as a motorhome in Georgia as well.

Can you please pm me the forms or form you used. Because I'm going through the same thing right now and I tried showing them and explaining you post without success. Thanks Marty 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Marty, Georgia has become a pain with our rigs in the last few years. If you are lucky and get a helpful clerk at your local tag office, they might be able to slip it past Atlanta and get it registered.

Most are getting turned down if the truck has EVER been registered as a commercial vehicle. In my case, we had a new truck, never before registered and a copy of the build sheet with " not for commercial use, recreational use only" stamped all over it.

That pretty much forced them to accept it as an RV. There have been a few others that got one registered as an RV in our county but the gal that was getting it done retired a few years ago.

Just keep trying and point out that the options they offer do not fit the intended vehicle use.

[ddm502001]

Missouri is NO different.  HDT UNLESS is to be Registered as RV ONLY, no semi or straight truck capabilities, has a Kitchenette a place to do your toilet business, sleeping accommodations, and I forget the last aspect then is Registered as well titled RV, then receives a General Automobile License Plate.  Cannot be a Towing Vehicle Only, Must have appropriate self contained accouterments.  Now a One Ton can be registered as a RV Towing Vehicle, HOWEVER, is noted on the registration may ONLY be used to tow a RV and personal travel while Using that RV, also receives a Auto Tag and God alone can help you when try to haul ANYTHING in it even for your own home.  Is No LONGER a Pickup or Ton Truck, is STRICTLY a RV Toter.  Something about the HDT does not reflect same conditions within the DOR guidance. 

[pltmarty]

On 7/25/2016 at 11:23 PM, GeorgiaHybrid said:

As some of you already know, registering a HDT in Georgia is an exercise in frustration. I have been dreading going down with the paperwork on the Kenworth but the time had come about two weeks ago to get it down. Georgia does not recognise what we do with our trucks and they don't have a category to place us in. I gave the tax assessor the paperwork from MHC, plenty of pictures of other trucks that are "motorhomes" in other states, pictures of our truck at Larry's place being "converted" to a RV hauler truck and the cover of our build sheet. The build sheet turned out to be very helpful as it plainly said the truck was "non commercial, recreational use only"

 

She didn't have a clue what to do as Georgia only has tags for private trucks to 26,000 pounds. Over that limit you have two choices, commercial or farm use inside of Georgia only. None of those would work so I suggested a motorhome registration. She took all of the info and said she would forward it to Atlanta and see what they wanted to do. 3 days later, she called and said every single supervisor in the tag and title office refused to give her an answer.

 

Hmmm..... They sent the problem over to a group of 4 lawyers who debated over a 2 day period what to do with the truck. They responded later that week with "register it as a Georgia private farm vehicle with a 36,000 pound tag and give him a letter stating that it would be OK to drive on that tag outside of Georgia". Our tax assessor knew that would never work as she knows we will be traveling all over the USA with this truck. She told them to try again as she didn't want to be a part of us getting busted driving a Georgia use only tag across the country as no one would be stupid enough to believe a "letter" stating it would be OK.

 

They next told her to give us a 26,000 pound tag and let us go. Again, no way was I going to accept that nor was she willing to do it. We got by on the Freightliner as it looks similar to a M2-106 that might have a 26,000 pound GVWR even though that trucks GVWR was over 30,000 pounds but I didn't have any options with it.

 

She couldn't write a commercial tag (they are all issued in Atlanta) and agreed that was not correct either so she called back and asked again about a motorhome tag. They said no, as soon as you unhook the trailer, it is no longer a motor home. That is when I asked what is considered a motor home as the truck has a fridge, microwave, shore power and shore power heating and air and even cable TV when hooked up in a campground. The fact that it could pull our trailer and carry a Smart car was a bonus.

 

She called yet again to the state and they told her to do whatever she thought it should be. After that call, she told us that she might get screamed at by someone from Atlanta but that she would send the paperwork in as a motorhome. She also warned us that it would have to be sold as a motorhome in the future and could not be converted to a commercial truck and I assured her that was not a problem.

 

We got the paperwork back from Atlanta today and we are now the proud owners of a Kenworth T680 "motorhome". A far as I know, this is the first HDT in Georgia to be registered this way and should help others that are wanting to register their HDT as a motorhome in Georgia as well.

Can you please pm me the forms or form you used. Because I'm going through the same thing right now and I tried showing them and explaining you post without success. Thanks Marty 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Marty, the only form that was sent to the state the last time was the registration form from Georgia. That is the one with the mileage, VIN, make, model, etc.

She sent mine to the state as a Kenworth T680 motorhome, color blue, and the other information required on the registration form.

I think they issued the title as a motorhome because it had never been registered anywhere and they just accepted her placement of the truck in the motorhome classification.

[pltmarty]

On 5/7/2023 at 12:31 PM, GeorgiaHybrid said:

Marty, the only form that was sent to the state the last time was the registration form from Georgia. That is the one with the mileage, VIN, make, model, etc.

She sent mine to the state as a Kenworth T680 motorhome, color blue, and the other information required on the registration form.

I think they issued the title as a motorhome because it had never been registered anywhere and they just accepted her placement of the truck in the motorhome classification.

What county did you do it In. Maybe I can go there and deal with the same lady you did 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Marty, I am in Dade county but like I said in a post above, the lady that was doing that in our county retired a few years back. I doubt that the youngsters in that office now would know how to word everything and get it by the state.

[gkbikers]

I know this is an old thread, but I just saw it today. We have a Kenworth T2000, we live in Georgia and we registered ours as a motorhome in 2004 when we purchased it. It took about 3 or 4 hours at DMV, but we brought a notebook full of information and went up the chain of command until we got to the DMV manager. When we showed that our vehicle had all the attributes of a bona fide motorhome, the manager told the supervisor and the clerk that we knew what we were talking about and to register it as a motorhome!

So the key is to show the facts concerning your vehicle as it operates as a motorhome and meets those Motorhome/RV definitions and you should have no problem.  Having said that, be prepared for a long visit at Georgia DMV offices. Best wishes!

[rickeieio]

gkbikers, WELCOME!!!!  It's nice have some new faces here.

Tell us more about your rig and experiences.

[gkbikers]

Thanks for the welcome! 

There's really not much to tell about our rig. The reason we bought the Kenworth is we discovered that a normal pickup truck just does not have enough mass/brakes to safely pull a toy box fifth wheel (IMHO).

There's a small mountain in Northwest Georgia and a state park at the top of it . . .  Fort Mountain. We pulled our 35 ft toy box with our year 2000 Cummins powered Dodge diesel outfitted with a six-speed manual, exhaust brake, etc. We had absolutely no problem in pulling our toy box up that mountain, but I told my wife before we even got to the top that coming back down was going to be exciting. Boy, did I ever speak a prophetic truth. We came down in first gear, i.e., "granny gear" and I would let the engine and the exhaust brake slow the trailer as much as possible between curves, breaking hard only just before each curve, slowing the trailer down to approximately 5 to 10 miles an hour. We did this all the way down the mountain and the trailer brakes still overheated. When we got to the bottom, I told my wife "we will never pull our camper in mountainous terrain with this pickup truck again. We're going to get a bigger truck".  So, I started doing the research which led me to the same place most other HDT owners have reached.   We bought our Kenworth from an owner operator. It was in Very Good shape, only had 500,000 miles with an Eaton 10 speed autoshift (it has a clutch to start/stop)and a Cat 3506E. We've only towed in the southeastern United States and really not that much before other events in life sidelined our RV travels. We're now ready to resume some travel again and to that end we have purchased a new-to-us New Horizons Motomover toy box (2007).  It's approximately twice the weight of the toy box we had before @ 26,250# GVWR.  

However, we are very confident that our "T2 Motorhome" will be more than enough to handle that trailer in any situation! Thanks again for the welcome.  We have been around for years, but mostly in the background. 😁

[gkbikers]

Should be "3406E"! 🥴

[rickeieio]

I believe one of our regular antagonists, er, contributors, lives very close to that mountain, and also has a Kenworth.

[Danfreda1]

2 hours ago, gkbikers said:

Thanks for the welcome! 

There's really not much to tell about our rig. The reason we bought the Kenworth is we discovered that a normal pickup truck just does not have enough mass/brakes to safely pull a toy box fifth wheel (IMHO).

There's a small mountain in Northwest Georgia and a state park at the top of it . . .  Fort Mountain. We pulled our 35 ft toy box with our year 2000 Cummins powered Dodge diesel outfitted with a six-speed manual, exhaust brake, etc. We had absolutely no problem in pulling our toy box up that mountain, but I told my wife before we even got to the top that coming back down was going to be exciting. Boy, did I ever speak a prophetic truth. We came down in first gear, i.e., "granny gear" and I would let the engine and the exhaust brake slow the trailer as much as possible between curves, breaking hard only just before each curve, slowing the trailer down to approximately 5 to 10 miles an hour. We did this all the way down the mountain and the trailer brakes still overheated. When we got to the bottom, I told my wife "we will never pull our camper in mountainous terrain with this pickup truck again. We're going to get a bigger truck".  So, I started doing the research which led me to the same place most other HDT owners have reached.   We bought our Kenworth from an owner operator. It was in Very Good shape, only had 500,000 miles with an Eaton 10 speed autoshift (it has a clutch to start/stop)and a Cat 3506E. We've only towed in the southeastern United States and really not that much before other events in life sidelined our RV travels. We're now ready to resume some travel again and to that end we have purchased a new-to-us New Horizons Motomover toy box (2007).  It's approximately twice the weight of the toy box we had before @ 26,250# GVWR.  

However, we are very confident that our "T2 Motorhome" will be more than enough to handle that trailer in any situation! Thanks again for the welcome.  We have been around for years, but mostly in the background. 😁

Did you buy the new horizon toy hauler that was on their lot? All white one, flex armor roof I think it was a 2007.