No IRP/IFTA, under 26,001 State specific permits

Wow thanks man this is super helpful! Patchwork of regulations is right. And here I am avoiding IRP and IFTA to avoid these sorts of complications yet it sounds like my avoidance of them may have become the complication...

Maybe it's worth just filing IRP and being done with it. I'll have to crunch numbers

 

I'm not sure how that works if you are under 26k whether you can voluntarily register IRP or not. If you're not you can buy fuel in cheaper fuel states and pay no penalty for that if you have a slip tank. Depends where you plan to operate. With IRP you don't have to worry about the trip permits but you have to track your mileage in all states and submit a quarterly IFTA where they figure out if you owe fuel tax or are due a refund. I have not made it that far yet as everything I have done thus far has been under 26k.

 

I got curious and looked it up...you can voluntarily opt into IRP/IFTA even running 26k and under. Above that it is mandatory.

Depends where you plan to operate as to whether it would be worth the extra hassle. If you plan to run out west a lot it probably would be. If you plan to stay in the Midwest or down south probably not.

 

Yes, it may be worth it in the end. I'll run this setup for some time to see how it goes and if ifta and IRP will be worth it. I'm guessing that longer and heavier loads will be the deciding factor. 48' 11k lbs short hauls are paying halfway well here..

Right now my biggest worry is the officer that stops you but doesn't know the law correctly, or was trained poorly. I've already talked to one that thought IFTA and IRP are required when your vehicle/trailer gvw rating is over 26,001. Wrong. Based on actual scaled gvw and registered gvw. It's the CDL A/B that looks at ratings, IFTA and IRP don't. .. but anyway, tell that to the king of the roadway three States away from home in the rain...

 

That’s right. I screwed up last year I had IRP For decades, I’m based out of California, and I failed to run a load out of state last year. So this year when I went to renew my IRP, California told me I’d have to wait until next year before I could get it again. A couple of weeks ago I took a small load in the back of my pickup to Saint George, UT. I had to buy a permit for Nevada, Arizona, Utah didn’t want anything, might of been because I wasn’t even pulling my trailer? I think I paid $145.00 for Nevada, and Arizona. I purchased those permits through JJ Keller. Using a service, it costs more to get permits but I didn’t have time to deal with it myself. It was a expedited run.

And that was with having MC, USDOT, etc.

in my opinion, you’re better off having IRP, and IFTA. Buying permits on a regular basis would suck.

 

Not sure if you guys realize it but you don’t really save anything per gallon buy not buying fuel in some states. The higher price for fuel from one state to another is mostly all tax. Under IFTA, each state is going to tax you on the miles you ran, and gallons of fuel you burned driving through their state. Under IFTA, I always made it a point to buy some fuel in each state. By doing that IFTA typically owed me a little money every quarter.

 

Right idea is that it evens it out and ideally you owe a zero balance at the end of the quarter. Or you could be due a refund theoretically if you bought a lot of fuel in higher fuel tax states and ran a lot of miles in lower tax ones. Only running without IFTA do you really save any money buying a big tank of cheap fuel and stiffing the high tax states. That’s how the RV haulers do it since most of them do not have IRP and IFTA.

 

That's basically what I'll try to do during the first few months of my 'trial'. Just want to see what works and what doesn't.

As an update, I've been ready to bind insurance and go since last week. Ran into issues with the adot examiner when going from B to A. ... Third attempt this morning, wish me luck

He was adamant I'd lose airbrake on my class B because I was testing for A with a non-airbrake combination. Finally got that cleared up after citing fmcsa examiner training material and az revised statutes.

So the next test he failed me yesterday during pre-trial.. this is exactly why, no exaggerations: I failed to mention the steps (running boards) on my f350 are secure, when talking about reflectors I failed to mention the red ones are red, and Amber is Amber, and I failed to mention the trailer headboard is secure... God help me

 

The hoops you have to jump through. Have your stuff always squared away. Anything that looks out of the ordinary will draw attention. Good luck.

 

What a dink, sounds like he got butt hurt after you proved him wrong on the air brake thing, good luck on the next one..