Vehicle registration exemptions - Nebraska

Nonresident vehicles operated under reciprocal agreements

Reciprocal agreements with the duly authorized representatives of other jurisdictions, including states, districts, territories, or possessions of the United States and foreign countries, states, or provinces, granting to trucks, truck-tractors, trailers, or buses or owners of trucks, truck-tractors, trailers, or buses which are properly registered or licensed in such jurisdictions, and for which evidence of compliance is supplied, benefits, privileges, and exemptions from the payment, wholly or partially, of any fees or other charges imposed upon such trucks, truck-tractors, trailers, or buses or owners with respect to the operation or ownership of such trucks, truck-tractors, trailers, or buses under the laws of Nebraska.

When no written agreement or arrangement has been entered into with another jurisdiction or declaration issued pertaining thereto, any trucks, truck-tractors, trailers, and buses properly registered in such jurisdiction, and for which evidence of compliance is supplied, may be operated in Nebraska and shall receive the same exemptions, benefits, and privileges granted by such other jurisdiction to trucks, truck-tractors, trailers, and buses registered in Nebraska.

Vehicles transported under an “In Transit” sticker

Any motor vehicle dealer or trailer dealer who is regularly engaged within Nebraska in the business of buying and selling motor vehicles and trailers, who regularly maintains within Nebraska an established place of business, and who desires to effect delivery of any motor vehicle or trailer bought or sold by him or her from the point where purchased or sold to points within or outside Nebraska may, solely for the purpose of such delivery by himself or herself, his or her agent, or a bona fide purchaser, operate such motor vehicle or tow such trailer on the highways of Nebraska without charge or registration of such motor vehicle or trailer.

Such sticker shall allow such owner to operate the motor vehicle or tow such trailer for 30 days to effect proper registration or transfer of plates of the new or used motor vehicle or trailer.

Nonresident owner registration reciprocity

A nonresident owner of any motor vehicle or trailer which has been properly registered in the state, country, or other place of which the owner is a resident, and which at all times, when operated or towed in Nebraska, has displayed upon it the license plate or plates issued for such motor vehicle or trailer in the place of residence of such owner, may operate or permit the operation or tow or permit the towing of such motor vehicle or trailer within Nebraska without registering such motor vehicle or trailer or paying any fees to Nebraska.

Any nonresident owner who operates a motor vehicle or tows a trailer in Nebraska for 30 or more continuous days shall register such motor vehicle or trailer in the same manner as a Nebraska resident unless the state of his or her legal residence grants immunity from such requirements to residents of Nebraska operating a motor vehicle or towing a trailer in that state.

Any nonresident owner of a film vehicle may operate the vehicle for up to one year without registering the vehicle in Nebraska.

Nonresident owner of a motor vehicle or trailer

Except as otherwise provided in section 60-366, the registration requirements do not apply to a motor vehicle or trailer owned by a nonresident of Nebraska, other than a foreign corporation doing business in Nebraska, if the owner thereof has complied with the registration provisions of the law of the foreign country, state, territory, or federal district of his or her residence and conspicuously displays his or her registration numbers.

Dealer operation of motor vehicle without registration

Each licensed motor vehicle dealer or trailer dealer as defined in sections 60-1401.26 and 60-1401.37, respectively, doing business in this state, in lieu of registering each motor vehicle or trailer which such dealer owns of a type otherwise required to be registered, or any full-time or part-time employee or agent of such dealer may, if the motor vehicle or trailer displays dealer number plates:

• Operate or tow the motor vehicle or trailer on Nebraska’s highways solely for transporting, testing, demonstrating, or using in the ordinary course and conducting business as a motor vehicle or trailer dealer. Such use may include personal or private use by the dealer and personal or private use by any bona fide employee, if the employee can be verified by payroll records maintained at the dealership as ordinarily working more than thirty hours per week or fifteen hundred hours per year at the dealership; or
• Operate or tow the motor vehicle or trailer upon the highways of Nebraska for transporting industrial equipment held by the licensee for purposes of demonstration, sale, rental, or delivery.

Each licensed manufacturer as defined in section 60-1401.24 which actually manufactures or assembles motor vehicles or trailers within Nebraska, in lieu of registering each motor vehicle or trailer which such manufacturer owns of a type otherwise required to be registered, or any employee of such manufacturer may operate or tow the motor vehicle or trailer upon the highways of Nebraska solely for purposes of transporting, testing, demonstrating to prospective customers, or use in the ordinary course and conduct of business as a motor vehicle or trailer manufacturer, upon the condition that any such motor vehicle or trailer display thereon, in the manner prescribed in section 60-3,100, dealer number plates as provided for in section 60-3,114.

In no event shall such plates be used on motor vehicles or trailers hauling other than automotive or trailer equipment, complete motor vehicles, or trailers which are inventory of such licensed dealer or manufacturer unless there is issued by the department a special permit specifying the hauling of other products. A dealer may not operate a motor vehicle or trailer with dealer number plates for delivering parts inventory. However, a dealer may use such motor vehicle or trailer to pick up parts to be used for the motor vehicle or trailer inventory of the dealer.

Vehicle purchased from state or political subdivision

Any purchaser of a motor vehicle or trailer from Nebraska or any political subdivision of Nebraska may operate such motor vehicle or tow such trailer without registration for 30 days.

Upon demand of proper authority, satisfactory proof of ownership, which must be either the certificate of title to such motor vehicle or trailer with assignment thereof duly executed or a bill of sale which describes the motor vehicle or trailer with identification number, must be presented by the person in charge of such motor vehicle or trailer for examination.

Dealer owned motor vehicles or trailers operated or towed by prospective buyer or service customer

Motor vehicles or trailers owned by a dealer and bearing dealer number plates may be operated or towed on the highways for demonstration purposes by any prospective buyer thereof for 48 hours.

Motor vehicles or trailers owned and held for sale by a dealer and bearing such dealer number plates may be operated or towed on the highways for 48 hours as service loaner vehicles by customers having their vehicles repaired by the dealer.

The dealer must deliver to the prospective buyer or service customer a card or certificate giving the name and address of the dealer, the name and address of the prospective buyer or service customer, and the date and hour of such delivery and the products to be hauled, if any, under a special permit.

The department will charge 10 dollars for each special permit issued under this exception.

All-terrain and utility-type vehicles modified or retrofitted with after-market parts

All-terrain vehicles and utility-type vehicles which have been modified or retrofitted with after-market parts to include additional equipment not required by sections 60-6,357 and 60-6,358 may not be registered under the Motor Vehicle Registration Act, nor may such modified or retrofitted vehicles be eligible for registration in any other category of vehicle.

“All-terrain vehicle” means any motorized off-highway vehicle which is:

• 50 inches or less in width,
• Has a dry weight of twelve hundred pounds or less,
• Travels on three or more nonhighway tires, and
• Designed for operator use only with no passengers or is specifically designed by the original manufacturer for the operator and one passenger.

“Utility-type vehicle” means any motorized off-highway vehicle which:

• Is 74 inches in width or less;
• Not more than 180 inches, including the bumper, in length;
• Has a dry weight of 2,000 pounds or less; and
• Travels on four or more nonhighway tires.

A utility-type vehicle does not include all-terrain vehicles, golf car vehicles, or low-speed vehicles.

Truck-tractor and semitrailer combinations operated by farmers or ranchers under a special permit

Special permits may be supplied by the department and issued by the county treasurer for truck-tractor and semitrailer combinations of farmers or ranchers used wholly and exclusively to carry their own supplies, farm equipment, and household goods to or from the owner’s farm or ranch or used by the farmer or rancher to carry his or her own agricultural products to or from storage or market.

Such special permits will be valid for periods of 30 days and must be carried in the cab of the truck-tractor.

The fee for such permit will be equivalent to 1/12th of the regular commercial registration fee as determined by gross vehicle weight and size limitations as defined in sections 60-6,288 to 60-6,294, but the fee will be no less than $25.

Nonresident licensed vehicle hauling grain or seasonally harvested products

If a truck, truck-tractor, or trailer is lawfully licensed under the laws of another state or province and is engaged in hauling grain or other seasonally harvested products from the field where they are harvested to storage or market during the period from June 1 to December 15 of each year or under emergency conditions, the right to operate over the highways of Nebraska for a period of 90 days shall be authorized by obtaining a permit therefor from the county treasurer or his or her agent of the county in which grain is first hauled.

Such permit shall be issued electronically upon the payment of a fee of $20 for a truck or $150 for any combination of truck, truck-tractor, or trailer.

Citations

• R.R.S. Neb. 60-362 Registration required; presumption
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-339 Motor vehicle, defined
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-3,180 Nonresident vehicles; reciprocal agreements authorized, etc.
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-376 Operation of vehicle without registration; In Transit sticker; records required; proof of ownership
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-366 Nonresident owner; registration; when; reciprocity, etc.
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-367 Nonresident; applicability of act
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-373 Operation of motor vehicle without registration; dealer; employee or agent; licensed manufacturer; conditions
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-369 Operation of vehicle without registration; purchase from state or political subdivision; proof of ownership
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-374 Operation of vehicle without registration; prospective buyer; conditions; special permit; fee
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-305 All-terrain vehicle; defined
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-6,355 All-terrain vehicle; defined; utility-type vehicle; defined
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-3,111 Farmers and ranchers; special permits; fee
• R.R.S. Neb. 60-3,112 Nonresident licensed vehicle hauling grain or seasonally harvested products; permit; fee