Questionim in Florida, i had a call to pick up a f-350 which turned out to be a wrecker hauling a vehicle on its wheel lift. the truck blew a motor so could not release vehicle on interstate. i put the truck on my wheel lift, got stopped and was told i need a triple license and was also told that the gvwr of my vehicle is 15200 and the vehicle being towed is 15000 so i needed a class a. is this true, ive never heard of a such thing, this means that in order to tow a dually pick up you need a class a.
AnswerYes, No and sometimes.
Vehicle weight laws go with the GVWR and GCVWR which the federal government uses.
The gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and the gross combination vehicle weight rating (GCVWR) are what is the area they were talking about.
But I have to say that if your vehicle that you are driving is rated at 15200 (sounds like a F 350 or F450 ford 1 ton) then your towing the other vehicle of the same weight rating means that not only did you exceed the safety rating of your truck axles, tires, brakes and such you also exceeded the boom and wheel lift capacity of your tow truck.
Yes I know that it was an emergency and that happens at times, and there tend to be "emergency move exemptions" and such but weight still is the key here.
How much front tire did you have on the ground when you were doing this tow? Did you have to hit the brakes to get your front end to come down so you could turn ???
The Class A CDL is great as it allows everything, and even a Class B works, but you will then be moving into more regulations such as medical cards, log books, daily vehicle inspection records and such.
Go to the Florida DVM web site or the US Department of Transportation (DOT) web site and check out the laws on "COMMERCIAL VEHICLES DRIVERS LICENSES" and you will find most of your answers there.
