Have Apportioned Registration?

Get Ready for the Full Reciprocity Plan

A major change will occur next year for all trucks registered under the International Registration Plan (IRP). The change will automatically make your base plate valid in all IRP jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada. Changes will also eliminate the need for “adds” or trip permitting in jurisdictions where you are not currently registered to operate.

Beginning on December 31, 2014, any fleet renewing its IRP registration for 2015 with its base jurisdiction will be granted full reciprocity in all IRP jurisdictions and your cab card will automatically reflect this change. For example; if you only registered your truck(s) now to operate in twelve western states, next year your cab card will show all 48 states, the District of Columbia, Canadian provinces plus both the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Mexico does not currently participate in the IRP but is in open dialogue about entering the IRP.

The process of moving towards full reciprocity for all registered vehicles with apportioned registration has been a goal of IRP, Inc. for many years and required compromises on both the part of states and industry to come to fruition. Granting full reciprocity is being touted as more economical for motor carriers and states to administer – we’ll see.

Increasing Apportioned Fees for Most?

If you currently have an IRP account, you will no longer enter estimated miles for jurisdictions you did not operate through during the previous year. You will simply enter mileages for jurisdictions you actually operated through and pay the apportioned fee based on those miles traveled. This can have the effect of actually increasing your apportioned fees if you have maintained cheaper southern states on your registration even though you didn’t operate in those states. The FRP eliminates using estimated miles for jurisdictions where there were no operations thus eliminating the softening affect that had on your overall registration fees.

New IRP account holders will still use their base-state estimated mileage chart to establish the fee to be paid, however, the estimated miles will include ALL IRP jurisdictions and the apportioned fee paid to your base state for a first year plate is likely to be higher than current first year registration. For example; a new California IRP plate today for all 48 states cost approximately $2,300 currently. By adding Canadian jurisdictions estimated miles to a first year application there will definitely be a bump upward in first year registration fees.

Since estimated mileage charts from states are based on the average miles traveled into jurisdictions by all IRP plated vehicles based in that state, states that border Canadian provinces are likely to have higher first year apportionment costs simply because fleets based there will have higher exposure to cross-border trucking operations. California’s current estimated mileages for the four western Canadian provinces are: British Columbia – 209; Alberta – 208; Saskatchewan – 85; and Manitoba – 35.

Read the Full Reciprocity Plan, at: www.irponline.org/?page=FullReciprocity