Some RVers are up in arms. As we pointed out, the effective ban of the sale of motorhomes in California will have far-reaching consequences. Washington state RV dealers acknowledge that following California’s lead, the Evergreen State may kill off motorhome sales as soon as the turn of the year. It’s a case of Washington “bans” motorhome sales.
Washington state “bans” motorhome sales—dealers caught off guard
According to a story carried by Seattle’s KIRO news, some RV dealers have been caught off guard by the news. Washington dealers were aware of the California engine changes that are essentially shutting down the sales of fossil-fuel-burning rigs with more than an 8,500-pound gross vehicle weight rating. But they somehow thought that Washington state’s government would provide RVs an exemption.
“It’s disheartening,” declared Will Rogers, General Manager at Poulsbo RV in Everett. Rogers told KIRO, “We thought there was a possibility that RVs wouldn’t be affected, but it turns out they are.” Washington state, following the California regulation, does allow for the sale of big fossil-fuel burners, but there needs to be a given percentage of zero-emissions vehicles sold. Engine manufacturers supplying the RV industry can either build such zero-emissions units, or buy “credits” from those that do.
Rogers told KIRO, “I don’t know of any manufacturers with an EV program yet.” Every brand of motorhome that Poulsbo RV sells in Everett will be hit by the new rules. Of the new rules, Rogers added, “It’s caught us all off guard.”
Washington “bans” motorhome sales—Why the California imitation?
So why is Washington rolling over to California’s regulation? In 2020, under the federal Clean Air Act, states could adopt either federal emissions standards or California’s stricter CARB (California Air Resources Board) standards. Washington chose to follow California’s standards because they line up more closely with the state’s goals on climate.
Washington is prohibited by federal law from setting its own independent emissions rules. While 17 states adopted California’s standards, only five—including Washington—adopted CARB’s rules almost exactly as written.
Effect on Washington RVers
For RVers who call Washington state home, things will be much like they are in California. They will likely find they can’t buy a new motorhome in Washington. Nor will they be able to do an “end run” by heading over to next-door Idaho and buying a new motorhome there. While Idaho is not one of the states that subscribed to the California rule change, Washington law prohibits the registration of a new motorhome that don’t meet the strict regulations.
The only option? Shop for a gently used motorhome. Once the odometer hits 7,500 miles, it’s considered “used” under the regulations. Used rigs are welcome to register in Washington—and California.
##RVT1184b
Being curious, I went and checked the door-jamb sticker on my ’15 Ram 2500 4wd MegaCab 6.7L Cummins. The sticker shows a 10,000 LB GVWR. According to the max 8,500 GVWR number shown in the article, I may be wrong but it appears there may not be any 2500 or 3500 trucks allowed to be sold.
If Stellantis is producing enough EV’s then the sale of larger Rams may not be affected which would also hold true (?) for Ford and GM. I’m looking at a future 2500/3500 purchase so am watching this news as it unfolds here in Oregon.
To bad the big 3 are cutting back on LOSING MONEY BY THE BILLIONS in the EV space by cutting back on producing EVs that almost no one wants. Gonna be tough for Stellantis or anyone else to meet the needed volume percentage of offsets if they are making fewer units not more units.
Oregon still seems like 2500/3500 country to me. 🍻😎✌️
Hey everyone on the west coast. If I drove my 2006 Tiffin Phaeton 40 QSH DP with a Cat C7 with 80.000 miles on it maybe I could make some big bucks selling it. And I have a piece of prime real estate in Florida for sale- Honest.
We have a Ford F350, GVW is 11,000 with a package we purchased when we had it built. The way I read the rules it is not allowed to be sold as Ford has now stopped virtually all EV manufacturing as the company was losing about $30,000 a vehicle and dealers were losing about $8,000 a vehicle. Dealers were begging Ford to stop making them take the EVs, which Ford did and now is stuck with a lot of EVs sitting in storage lots. The EV is a disaster financially for all three manufacturers and will continue to be in the future. After 01/20 all Federal mandates will be removed. We do not live in CA or out on the left cost and no longer visit the area.
The whole left coast is becoming three states I won’t be traveling to . . .
I could go on, but I won’t. [WINK]
Tommy, your state is close to becoming the 4th.
Hi, Bill and Tommy. I’m sitting here working in the dark! This is fun! Just me and my computer. Got this “bomb cyclone” goin’ on and the power went out while I was up walking at the track (in the dark) an hour ago. We saw very colorful (all different colors) light shows of transformers blowing up all around us. Very exciting! Others are getting hit much worse, unfortunately. Not gonna complain, however, because others have it, and have had it, soooo much worse, like on the East Coast. Y’all take care and have a good night.🤗🤗 (One for each of you.) –Diane
Holy cow, Diane! Sounds rough up there.
Yes, and hopefully everything is back to normal(?) up there this morning, Diane..aka MM
Thanks, Bill and Tommy. Yes, my power was only out for 4 hours. There are still more than a half-million without power in Western Washington today, and some of those may not get their power back for several days. I’m in a good neighborhood which doesn’t lose power for long, thanks to our hard-working power folks. Have a great day.🤗 –Diane aka MM
Could be, Bill, but at least we went Red on the last Governor’s election. There’s hope – at least for now.
We won’t get that chance to try again for another 2 years
Washington, Oregon, and California all could benefit from new Governors.
New governors alone will not resolve problems like this. The voters in these states will have to understand what laws their legislatures are passing for the governors to sign into law. We know what these states are trying to do & it will only get worse.
or perhaps they like clean air
I don’t think that clean ‘anything’ has anything to do with it.
The air was cleaned decades ago. This is agenda driven.
Truth!!!
So, as a WA resident currently, and a 30,000 lbs DP in my driveway, I can still sell in the used RV market statewide? Can a dealer sell it on consignment for me?
From my understanding, anything with over 7500 miles is considered used and can be sold by anyone, consignment or otherwise.
“Elections have consequences” -Barack H. Obama
In other words – “you get what you vote for.”
Right. They’re getting the government they deserve. Although it seems they might be waking up by ousting some of the anti law enforcement officials and passing prop 36. What a weird combo of ignoring crime and vagrancy while regulating the life out of old energy.
Is there a model year restriction? I see an opportunity here to put 7600 miles on the odometer of a new motorhome so it can be sold as “used”.
Challenge these rules under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Any restraint of commerce between the states is subject to such common sense.
If you look at the details, RV manufacturers can buy “emissions credits” that allow them to sell in California (and other states blindly following). It means the price will go up accordingly.
Does anyone know how this came to be? It was either written by one of our ‘rule-makers’ or voted on by the legislature.
June 2020
California ruins everything! CARB is a joke. They do things that are not voted on. They implement rules and add on things to the rule that shouldn’t be in the rule. Like SORE small of road engines was meant to change the lawn care industry and they lumped in generators into it. You can’t have a generator in a trailer cause its not stationary. Why we don’t have a say in what rules they implement is beyond me. We have people in positions of power that probably never went camping or used a generator or rv so it doesn’t matter to them what the effects are for everyone else. The company’s that sell these items are screwed. Carb says “Oh well.” Do as they say, not as they do!
Compare the air quality of Los Angeles today to the dense layer of “brown air” in the 70’s. There is no comparison and I shudder to think what that toxic soup would look like if CARB hadn’t come about.
While CARB can be terribly inconvenient with a cost, it’s far from a joke. There’s a correlation as to why just about every new RV is “CPAP Ready” and why COPD deaths are increasing. It’s not a coincidence, it’s payment for our indulgences.
This legislation just now being “discovered”, it feels a bit like hyperbole to drive sagging RV sales since nobody in the industry mentioned it when it was drafted into law. They didn’t bother to look or ????
In the 1500’s the Spanish explorers name the LA Basin “Baya de los Fumos”, the Indians called it the “Valley of Smoke”. The air wasn’t any better then. Look it up.
That “brown” air was cleaned up by the late 80’s.
So true! My husband and I grew up in Southern California and the smog was so bad Inland your eyes would water. We would get Santa Ana winds on the coast that would change the direction of wind that caused the smog to cover the Coast. There would be “smog alerts” where my husband went to high school inland in the 70s. By the 90’s the air had taken a 180 degree turn and the “smog” was gone! We still freak out when an old car is in front of us blowing all those fumes of yesteryear! Catalytic converters worked!
So I hope this means that all these CARB state politicians will no longer be using large SUV’s, helicopters, or jets to travel in. They should be transported in Priuses. After all, they want to save the planet.
Since California is implementing so many regulations that hurt us Americans in other states. Let’s start boycotting all California products. Money talks to politicians.
Don’t like the CARB laws? Move. I was born in California. Haven’t been back for over 30 years. Won’t drive into the state. Won’t visit. Won’t bring our RV there let alone my diesel truck. We live in the land of low taxes and low cost of living – Tennessee. No emissions checks. No vehicle inspections. No annual tax on vehicles. No CARB type controls. And only seen one Tesla in the last year. Thought is was a new VW bug. And don’t get me started on the “Cybertruck”.
Tom, my wife and I visited CA back in 2022. We paid $7.059 for a gallon of diesel. Gas for our toad was over $5/gal. One and done for us, we will never return to the land of tax and greed.
Hi, Tom. That reminded me of a close-call I had a few weeks ago. I was driving my red ’97 T-bird, with the headlights on during the day, as usual, on a two-lane road to the local high school track for my daily walk. A Cybertruck was stopped at the stop sign on a small road to my right. Just as I got up to him he pulled right out in front of me to get to the other side of the road. I slammed on my brakes and just barely missed him. Wouldn’t that have been an interesting picture of an old T-bird T-boning a futuristic silver Cybertruck that was totally in the wrong.🤣 I’ve driven on that road for 51 years, and have seen lots of things, but nothing like that Cybertruck illegally pulling out right in front of me. Good thing I still have excellent reflexes (at 78!). Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Ha! Just the other day my wife came home from the grocery store here in Florida, in her 1996 Lincoln Town Car, and she told me about a car she saw that looked like someone had built in their back yard and tried to explain it to me. I asked if it was a Tesla truck? She said that it looked nothing like a truck, and nothing that a factory would build, just a sloppy home-made vehicle that she didn’t think could be licensed for the road. I pulled up a picture of the Tesla truck from the internet and showed it to her, and by golly that is what she saw. She is “sticking with her ’96 Lincoln because it does not catch fire when it goes thru water.”
Your wife and I think alike, Kelly–regarding the looks of the Cybertruck and sticking with our vintage, reliable vehicles.👍👍 Have a good evening/night. 😀 –Diane
Whoa, whoa! VINTAGE!?? If 1996 and ’97 are now considered “vintage”, what does that make you and me? “Reliable”, yes, but is “vintage” really the right word?
Well, now I’m confused. I was thinking vintage was anything over 25 years. But I just found this on the website Americancollectors.com (insurance for old cars): “Vintage Car: Manufactured between 1919 and 1930. Antique Car: Manufactured 1975 or earlier (>45 years old).” So, according to them, and some other websites, our cars are antiques. A classic motors website says: “[V]intage cars are 25 years or older. Antique cars are even older, at least 45 years old.” Another classic car website says: “A car is considered vintage if it’s 25 years old or more. An antique car is a vehicle that’s 45 years or older.” Yep, I’m confused. I thought vintage-anything was this side of antique. Which would make you and me antiques. But at least we’re reliable.👍 Take care, Kelly.🤗 –Diane
Sorry I asked. I should have accepted that I was Vintage rather than finding out I was an Antique.
👍🤣 Decades ago I would occasionally go to a bunch of antique shops in Snohomish, WA, with my best friend from high school. We made the comment a few times that it was bad enough that we were vintage but at least we weren’t antiques yet. I think we’ve “arrived.”😱 –Diane
“In 2020, under the federal Clean Air Act, states could adopt either federal emissions standards or California’s stricter CARB (California Air Resources Board) standards. “
Well, hopefully the Clean Air Act can be modified and require States to only adopt federal emissions standards, not some abstract rules dreamed up by the bureaucrats in Kaliphoney.
If all else fails, the western border of ID needs to be moved to the crest of the Cascade range.
What a total scam! Buying “credits?” Sounds like you can pollute all you want as long as you can PAY someone else for those so-called credits. Didn’t a previous U.S. vice-president perfect that scam once he was out of office and had no real means of support, then somehow made himself the “keeper of the credits?” Bottom line: It’s NOT about saving the planet, it’s ONLY ABOUT THE MONEY! But, thanks for the addition to the list of states I use to assure I’ll never visit, or spend a penny of my cash in.
Yep, I compare it to the California Water Board that regulates water throughout the state, corrupt and thieving.
Class C and Class B motorhomes built on the Mercedes Sprinter and Ford Transit chassis can still be sold. Both Ford and Mercedes sell enough EVs in their overall fleet to cover the law’s fleet requirements.
Ah yes, yet another case of our lackey Commie suck-ups in Olympia cowing down to their Masters in Sacramento. “Whither thou goest, we shall too” is their pledge…to Cali, not to the people of Washington. They couldn’t care less about us and our individual freedoms. Been like this for way too long…
Yet, just like in Kaliforniastan, those same clowns STILL win elections term after term!
Excellent retort, Bugman!
I thought this only affected Freightliner and Spartan diesel chassis as the Big 3 also sell EV’s and can sell diesels in Kalifornia. Maybe Freightliner and Spartan should look into putting a Big 3 diesel in their DP’s.
Sounds to me like California will SOON have a law all vehicles will have pedal power.
Silly comment.
I believe I saw a Netflix show describing how bad the cattle industry affects the climate. Anyone know why the govt doesn’t address that issue?
😂
All this commensurating and complaining below about how bad government regulations and taxes are ain’t gonna help a thing. The RV industry should have seen this coming and had it’s lobbyists (if any) at the table to make sure these onerous rules for RV’s are exempted. If not then, they must start now on the state level to educate legislators and lobby to insert legal exemptions in the new rules through legislation. Saying this, I have not even heard if there is an active RV Industry Lobbyist(s) in Olympia or Sacramento. If not shame on the Industry for not working hard enough for it’s customers.
Another example of government overreach.
When the state is run by a bunch of socialists, who have relatives that run the state of CA (into the ground), would you expect any different? We face daily barrages of socialist laws hitting us. They continue to erode our freedoms and liberties.
Do the manufacturers of Class B chassis’s (Ford, Ram & Mercedes) have sufficient credits to continue making diesel versions or will diesel Class B van be subject to this as well?
I asked basically the same thing. No answers.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! Well, if one wants a “new” RV in Cali or Washington, it won’t be long until it can only be a towable. I also can foresee a cottage industry emerging in which used motorized RVs from all around the west find their way into Cali as the odometers hit 7,500 miles. Have a great weekend and safe travels!
Have you ever marveled at the way this country is organized? There is an overreaching government for sure but also 50 state governments, most of whom are trying to do their own thing. This mechanism allows and reveals a lot of different ways to approach a similar problem. Some good, some not so good. But through it all, by examining the different approaches, a better way is revealed. Take California for example, in general their approaches are not so good, hence people are leaving. States looking to do better can use those failures to better guide their own state. In other words, California makes a very good bad example. This motorhome restriction is just another brick in the wall.
Well said, Ray! 🙂
Thank you, Russ and Tina! Unintended consequences are always interesting to find. Unfortunately, they are not exclusively unexpectedly good. Clearly not good for RV dealers who traditionally sell diesel motorhomes. Happy new year and safe travels!
California gets more heavy-handed every year. Just look at CARB, starting with cleaning up LA smog and growing to encompass Saving the Planet. My forecast is that it won’t be long before California assaults used motorhomes as well as new ones.
We just experienced getting our 2002 Newmar Dutchstar smogged! What a joke. No comprehension of motorhomes & who owns them. Difficult finding someone to smog us that wasn’t difficult to get to and then in to. Fortunately found the nicest mobile guy doing fleet work but helping out us RV’ers. He also thinks it’s a joke, even though he’s making money. Cars are every 2 yrs. MH every year. 250,000k miles of which maybe 40k are in California. Can only be done w/i 60 days of registration. We passed. Joke.