Vehicle registration exemptions - West Virginia

Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, and recreational vehicle when driven or moved upon a highway is subject to the registration and certificate of title requirements except:

• Any vehicle driven or moved upon a highway in conformance with the provisions relating to manufacturers, transporters, dealers, lienholders, or nonresidents or under a temporary registration permit.
• Any implement of husbandry upon which is securely attached a machine for spraying fruit trees and plants of the owner or lessee or for any other implement of husbandry which is used exclusively for agricultural or horticultural purposes on lands owned or leased by the owner of the implement and which is not operated on or over any public highway of West Virginia for any other purpose other than for the purpose of operating it across a highway or along a highway other than an expressway from one point of the owner’s land to another part of the owner’s land, irrespective of whether or not the tracts adjoin: Provided, That the distance between the points may not exceed 35 miles, or for the purpose of taking it or other fixtures attached to the implement, to and from a repair shop for repairs. The exemption also applies to any vehicle described herein or to any farm trailer owned by the owner or lessee of the farm on which the trailer is used, when the trailer is used by the owner of the trailer for the purpose of moving farm produce and livestock from the farm along a public highway for a distance not to exceed 35 miles to a storage house or packing plant, when the use is a seasonal operation:
  • The exemptions contained herein also apply to farm machinery, tractors, and mini-trucks: Provided, That the machinery, tractors, and mini-trucks may use the highways in going from one tract of land to another tract of land regardless of whether the land is owned by the same or different persons. For the purposes of this section, “mini-truck” means a foreign-manufactured import or domestic-manufactured vehicle designed primarily for off-road use and powered by an engine ranging in size from 550cc to 660cc and weighing approximately 1,800 pounds;
  • Any vehicle exempted herein may not use the highways between sunset and sunrise unless the vehicle is classified as a Class A motor vehicle with a farm-use exemption under the provisions of 17A-10-1 and has a valid and current inspection sticker as required by the provisions of 17C-16-1 et seq. and is traveling from one tract of land to another over a distance of 35 miles or less;
  • Any vehicle exempted herein may use the highways as provided herein whether the exempt vehicle is self-propelled, towed by another exempt vehicle or towed by another vehicle required to be registered;
  • Any vehicle used as an implement of husbandry exempt herein must have the words “farm use” affixed to both sides of the implement in 10-inch letters. Any vehicle which would be subject to registration as a Class A or B vehicle if not exempted herein shall display a farm-use exemption certificate on the lower driver’s side of the windshield:
    • The farm-use exemption certificate is provided by the commissioner and shall be issued annually by the assessor of the applicant’s county of residence. The assessor will issue a farm-use exemption certificate to the applicant upon his or her determination pursuant to an examination of the property books or documentation provided by the applicant that the vehicle has been properly assessed as Class I personal property;
    • A farm-use exemption certificate does not exempt the applicant from maintaining the security required by §17D-1-1 et seq. on any vehicle being operated on the roads or highways of this state;
    • No person charged with the offense of operating a vehicle without a farm-use exemption certificate, may be convicted of the offense if he or she produces in court, or in the office of the arresting officer, a valid farm-use exemption certificate for the vehicle in question within five days;
• Any vehicle which is propelled exclusively by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires though not operated upon rails.
• Any vehicle of a type subject to registration which is owned by the government of the United States.
• Any wrecked or disabled vehicle towed by a licensed wrecker or dealer on the public highways of West Virginia.
• The following recreational vehicles are exempt from the requirements of annual registration, license plates and fees, unless otherwise specified by law, but are subject to the certificate of title provisions regardless of highway use:
  • Motorboats,
  • All-terrain vehicles,
  • Utility terrain vehicles, and
  • Snowmobiles;
• Any special mobile equipment as defined in §17A-1-1(r) of this code.
  • “Special mobile equipment” means every self-propelled vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and incidentally operated or moved over the highways, including, but not limited to, road construction or maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, stone crushers, air compressors, power shovels, graders, rollers, well drillers, wood-sawing equipment, asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers, scarifiers, earth-moving carryalls, scrapers, drag lines, rock-drilling equipment, and earth-moving equipment.
• Mobile homes or manufactured homes are exempt from the requirements of annual registration, license plates and fees; However:
  • House trailers may be registered and licensed; and
  • Factory-built homes are subject to the certificate of title requirements;
• Low-speed vehicles will be titled and registered if the manufacturer’s certificate of origin clearly identifies the vehicle as a low-speed vehicle.
  • A “low-speed vehicle” is defined as a four-wheeled motor vehicle whose attainable speed in one mile on a paved level surface is more than 20 miles per hour but not more than 25 miles per hour.
  • Homemade low-speed vehicles or retrofitted golf carts and such vehicles do not qualify as low-speed vehicles and will not be titled or registered.
  • In addition to all other motor vehicle laws and regulations, except as specifically exempted below, low-speed vehicles are subject to the following restrictions and requirements:
    • Low-speed vehicles must only be operated on private roads and on public roads and streets within the corporate limits of a municipality where the speed limit is not more than 25 miles per hour;
    • Notwithstanding any provisions herein to the contrary, low-speed vehicles shall meet the requirements of 49 C.F.R. §571.500 (2003);
    • In lieu of periodic inspection, the owner of a low-speed vehicle must, upon initial application for registration and each renewal, certify that all lights, brakes, tires, and seat belts are in good working condition; and
    • Any person operating a low-speed vehicle must hold a valid driver’s license, not an instruction permit.