Be Part of the Ultimate Safety & Compliance Community
Trending news, knowledge-building content, and more – all personalized to you!
All motor vehicles used upon the highways of this state must be registered except those vehicles that are exempt under Title 75 C.S. 1302 and 1303 (among others, includes vehicles moving under special permit and implements or trailers of husbandry used exclusively for agricultural operations and only incidentally operated on the highways).
Registration period extends from June 1 to May 31 for apportioned vehicles. All other registrations are staggered.
A single registration plate must be located on the rear of the vehicle so as to be illuminated by the license plate light.
The plate of a truck-tractor must be located on the front of the vehicle.
If two registration plates are issued for a single vehicle, plates must be displayed on the front and rear.
An apportioned registration plate must be mounted on the front of every tractor and truck tractor and on the rear of every truck, trailer, and other apportioned vehicle.
Pennsylvania is a member of the International Registration Plan (IRP). The IRP is a base state system for vehicle registration fees, allowing a carrier to apply for vehicle registration and pay fees to a single jurisdiction.
This plan provides for all carriers from participating jurisdictions, operating as a fleet, to prorate fees. A fleet is defined as one or more vehicles with three or more axles or having a gross vehicle weight in excess of 26,000 pounds operating in one or more participating jurisdictions.
Temporary Permit: Registrants whose apportioned accounts are paid in good order and who pre-pay the required security deposit may purchase a Pennsylvania temporary permit. The temporary permit is valid for 30 days. The temporary authorization covers a specific vehicle and cannot be transferred to another vehicle. There is a fee that the state bills. Only one temporary permit may be issued per unit.
Hunter's Permit: Pennsylvania will provide a means of temporary registration for owner-operators not operating as a lessor. Such registration is a restricted permit issued for a registered gross weight not in excess of the empty weight of the vehicle. An owner-operator may apply for a 20-day hunter permit with a fee.
Agency: The Bureau of Motor Vehicles; see Regulatory Agencies for address(es).
In this state, commercial vehicles are registered on the basis of gross weight.
The Pennsylvania fee is a total of the gross weight fee in Schedule I and the gross weight fee in Schedule II.
Registration fees are prorated for IRP apportioned registration. PA Fleet registrants may prorate registration fees in order to establish their vehicles in the month they choose to have them expire. All others pay full year registration fees.
Pennsylvania offers the option of a permanent registration plate for trailers with a gross weight of 10,001 pounds or more. The fee for the permanent trailer plate is paid one time only in lieu of the annual fee. The new permanent plates carry the words “Perm-Trailer” at the top, followed by a tag configuration of two alpha characters followed by five numeric digits.
Permanent trailer registrations may be transferred to another trailer one time upon payment of a transfer fee.
Pennsylvania requires converter gears to be registered and display a license plate.