CA Reg

[tgtrotter]

Howdy,

Does anyone have current 2017 reliable info on legally converting our KW T2000 in CALIFORNIA :

I have read about losing the third axle and 5th wheel and airlines and possibly some sort of deck. And getting the  VIN altered to reflect MH status.  BUT I also read these options are not valid anymore ?? My reg agent knows nothing.

I do have the CDL and not sure i want to reg in another state while we live here. Just want to be able to pull a nice toy hauler and keep my beloved KW. Been researching off and on for 19 months but can't seem to find the answer. 

 Is there a local converter and registration agent currently doing conversions ?

Thanks, Tim

[Big5er]

Tim...slow down. You have 4 posts on this forum and they are ALL identical. Just hang on. Someone will answer if they can but asking the same question in 4 threads is a bit of overkill.

[Chad Heiser]

I posted this in one of the other threads, but it was buried in a different topic so i will put it here too:

 

You might get lucky and be able to convert it in CA, but technically it is not currently possible.  It has nothing to do with the law, but rather it is because of a rule in the DMV handbook.  Chapter 13, page 5 of the DMV handbook talks about Truck Tractors.  It specifically says,

"Truck tractors must always be registered as commercial vehicles, even if they have living quarters.
• The living quarters are secondary or incidental to the primary function of the vehicle, which is still drawing other vehicles.
• Truck tractors with living quarters cannot be registered as housecars."

There was a time when people were able to get lucky on their own and go to a DMV and find a clerk that was unaware of this rule and that clerk would allow a title conversion from truck tractor to housecar.  This was fairly hit and miss though.  Several people were able to do it and several people were stopped dead in their tracks doing it this way.  Then for a while there was a broker (Brakken Tax and License) who dealt with trucks and other commercial vehicles and had a relationship with their local DMV.  People used Brakken quite successfully for a while to get titles converted.  Unfortunately, several years ago, the clerk that Brakken used found the rule I mentioned above and stopped doing the conversions.  As a result, Brakken got out of the business of trying to get it done.  Since that time, there are only two HDT registrations as housecars in CA of which I am aware.  They were both simple transfer of ownership between two parties of HDT's that already had housecar titles.  In other words, these were not new conversions.

There is no issue with registering the HDT as a commercial vehicle in CA and using it to tow your RV.  It is no different than registering a pick up in CA, which is also by default registered as a commercial vehicle.  It simply will cost more because the commercial registration has weight fees involved on top of the registration.  It will also mean that you will have to stop at weigh stations because you will be registered as a truck and be over the magic weight that triggers the law which states trucks over that weight rating must stop at scales.  If the HDT is solely used to haul an RV, it would be exempt from CARB requirements so emissions equipment and age of the HDT are not at issue.