Prince Edward Island’s farmers, starting next month, will be able pay a one-time fee to register their farm trucks for as long as they own them.
The province until now has charged a cut-rate annual registration fee of $10 on trucks weighing at least one ton (10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight or more), if the trucks are registered by “bona fide” farmers.
Starting April 6, farmers will be able to pay a one-time-only fee of $100 to register each farm-plated vehicle. The fee then would not be paid again unless the vehicle gets a new owner.
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That said, a vehicle’s issued farm plate will remain transferable. A farmer who sells a farm-plated truck within 10 years of its one-time registration will also be able to get a partial refund.
Most farmers renew registrations on farm trucks and trailers in the spring, Transportation Minister Alan McIsaac said in a release Thursday, and “waiting for the processing of the registration can be very time-consuming for farmers, particularly for large fleets.”
Processing a vehicle’s registration documents just once, rather than yearly, could also help reduce the number of customers in Access PEI offices in the spring, which is their busiest time of year, the province noted.
“It is important to reduce the regulatory burden on farmers when possible, and now farmers will no longer have to take valuable time out of their day to renew these vehicles each year,” John Jamieson, executive director of the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture, said in the same release.
Over 2,600 trucks and trailers in P.E.I. are currently registered with farm plates, he noted.
A first-time applicant for a P.E.I. farm plate must provide line spec sheets to confirm a truck’s capability to haul the load required, as well as the tire load rating, before the plate is issued.
A farmer applicant is required to confirm he or she is “bona fide,” either by providing a “Marked Diesel” permit so its number can be recorded on the registration record, or by signing a VIF or registration to confirm it. — AGCanada.com Network
