Wis. Stat. § 341.05 — WI Code / Chapter 341 / Section 341.05
When vehicles exempt from registration.
Status: in_force

A vehicle, even though operated upon a highway of this state, is exempt from registration if any of the following applies:

(1) The vehicle is operated in accordance with the provisions relating to registration of dealers, distributors, manufacturers, transporters or finance companies.

(2) The vehicle is operated in accordance with the provisions exempting nonresident or foreign-registered vehicles from registration.

(3) The vehicle is operated in accordance with s. 341.405 .

(6) The vehicle is operated exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

(7) The vehicle is a farm tractor used exclusively in agricultural operations, including threshing, or used exclusively to provide power to drive other machinery, or to transport from job to job machinery driven by a farm tractor; used for special occasions such as display and parade purposes or for participation in tractor or antique vehicle clubs, including traveling to and from such events; or used for testing, maintenance, and storage purposes.

(9) The vehicle is a trailer or semitrailer used exclusively for the transportation of farm machinery, implements, produce or supplies on a farm or between farms.

(11) The vehicle is a trailer or semitrailer permanently equipped with a well-drilling outfit or designed for moving pea viners and used exclusively for either of those purposes.

(12) The vehicle is a fork-lift truck, a specially constructed road or truck tractor used for shunting trailers or semitrailers in terminal areas or a trailer that is used principally off the highway.

(13m) The vehicle is a trailer, semitrailer or camping trailer having a gross weight of 3,000 pounds or less and not used for hire or rental.

(14) The vehicle is a trailer or semitrailer not operated in conjunction with a motor vehicle.

(14m) The vehicle is a new motor vehicle being operated only across a highway from its point of manufacture or assembly.

(15) The vehicle is a motor vehicle being towed, except that when the person operating the vehicle supplying the motive power is a transporter, that person must be registered as a transporter.

(16) The vehicle is a piece of road machinery.

(17) The vehicle is an implement of husbandry or an agricultural commercial motor vehicle.

(18) The vehicle is a motor truck that is operated upon a highway only when directly crossing the highway.

(19) The vehicle is a repaired salvage vehicle operated to or from a location where it is to be inspected as required by s. 342.07 , or is an unregistered vehicle operated to or from a location where it is to be inspected as required by s. 110.20 .

(19m) The vehicle is owned by a technical college district board, used exclusively to instruct students in techniques of automotive repair and maintenance and is operated only within 5 miles of the technical college to transport the vehicle to or from a technical college. The operator of the vehicle shall, when operating the vehicle upon a highway, carry in the vehicle a letter from the district director of the technical college stating that the vehicle is exempt from registration.

(20) The vehicle is an amphibious motor vehicle capable of carrying 10 or more passengers when used for sight-seeing purposes, registered as a boat with the department of natural resources and operated upon a highway for a distance not to exceed 5 miles.

(21) The vehicle is owned by the United States.

(22) The vehicle is registered by a federally recognized Indian band or tribe and is exempt under a reciprocal registration exemption agreement under s. 341.409 .

(23) The vehicle is a motor bicycle, electric bicycle, or bicycle, except as provided in s. 349.18 .

(24) The vehicle is a golf cart being operated in accordance with s. 349.18 (1) (b) or (c) or (1m) .

(25) The vehicle is a wood harvesting slasher, as defined by the department by rule, that is used principally off the highway.

(26) The vehicle is a manufactured home, as defined in s. 101.91 (2) .

(27) The vehicle is an off-road utility vehicle being operated in accordance with s. 346.94 (19) .

(27m) The vehicle is a lightweight utility vehicle, as defined in s. 346.94 (21) (a) 2.

(28) Notwithstanding s. 341.26 (3) (ar) , the vehicle is a farm truck tractor being operated solely in intrastate transportation and is transporting manure, grains, silage, haylage, or equipment between fields or between a farm and a field at the time of operation or is being operated from its point of purchase to the operator’s farm. This subsection does not apply to transportation by a common motor carrier or contract motor carrier.

History: 1971 c. 207 ; 1973 c. 90 ; 1977 c. 29 , 43 , 418 ; 1983 a. 50 , 180 , 243 , 288 , 538 ; 1985 a. 187 ; 1985 a. 197 s. 7 ; 1987 a. 349 ; 1991 a. 39 , 316 ; 1993 a. 288 ; 1995 a. 138 , 189 ; 1997 a. 27 , 269 ; 1999 a. 9 , 53 , 85 , 186 ; 2003 a. 192 , 237 , 327 ; 2007 a. 11 ; 2009 a. 157 ; 2013 a. 13 , 20 , 377 ; 2015 a. 55 , 232 ; 2019 a. 34 .