Ottawa County
A row whose name and operator both point across the river
One point sits in the record here, a petroleum port 0.68 miles out, and it is a curious one. Its name says Grand Haven Marina and its operator field says the City of Grand Haven — and it is assigned to this town, which is the city on the other side of the Grand River.
Two independent fields both pointing at the neighbour is a shape the research had not recorded before. Elsewhere it is usually just the name that is wrong while the operator or the coordinate settles it; here both of the human-written fields agree with each other and disagree with the assignment. Nothing was degraded by it, because both cities hold pages of their own.
What the port handles could not be determined from anything we read, so no claim is made about that. The practical version is the one that matters anyway: this is one waterfront with a river through the middle of it, and which side a truck is parked on has never mattered to us.
Michigan weight law
A statute that counts axles, not trucks
Whatever moves off that waterfront moves under a state weight statute that is not the one the rest of the country uses. Michigan permits a maximum gross of 164,000 lb on a combination of up to eleven axles — the highest regularly usable truck weight in North America, with eleven the ceiling since 1967.
It reaches that the opposite way round from how people assume. Michigan’s axle limits are lower than the federal ones: 18,000 lb on a single axle against 20,000, and 32,000 lb on a tandem against 34,000. More axles, each carrying less, because pavement damage climbs with axle load rather than with gross weight. A loaded tank truck is dense enough to reach those limits well before the tank is full.
So an eleven-axle Michigan combination is a physically different vehicle rather than a heavier one, and that follows the truck when it is sold. The same statute then reduces axle and wheel loads through March, April and May — 25 percent on concrete pavements and concrete-based roads, 35 percent on everything else.
On paper the rule is one sentence. We need a title — unless the truck is old enough that it never had one. Everything after that is a fix rather than a category: a lost title has a counter replacement, and where none exists there is a bonded route. Neither one stops a sale.
Gross and axle limits at MCL 257.722, read from the Michigan Vehicle Code and the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Maximum Legal Truck Loadings and Dimensions. Information, not legal advice.
What we buy here
Those rules cover trucks we are glad to buy. Tank trucks off the waterfront work. Day cabs and road tractors. Dump trucks off the road jobs and the gravel, flatbeds, box trucks, straight trucks and rollbacks out of the trades, and service bodies, work trucks and pickups off crews across Ottawa County.
Whatever you drive, the offer doesn’t change. We buy all of them.
We can come to you and drive it away, come to you and tow it, or buy it remotely and arrange the tow with nobody visiting at all. You are welcome to bring it to us too. Either side of the Grand River is the same answer.
We buy complete trucks. If the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. Small things — a missing bumper — are fine. A truck that has stood through a few lakeshore winters is a normal starting point.
Straight answers
The questions we get asked in Ferrysburg
- Does it have to run?No. It does have to be complete — if the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. Rust is not a disqualifier.
- Am I in Ferrysburg or Grand Haven?The one row on this page cannot agree with itself about that — its name and its operator both say the city across the river while it is assigned here, 0.68 miles out. It makes no difference to us at all.
- It is a tank truck and I am told that is awkward.It is not awkward for us. Tell us what it last carried and whether it has been cleaned, because that changes the handling rather than the answer.
- It has sat outside through the winters.Expected this close to the lake, and not a disqualifier. Tell us how long it has stood and whether anything has come off it. Salt and cold find brake lines and air systems first.
- How am I paid?Cash or electronic payment. That is the whole list.
- What about the title?We need one unless the truck is old enough that it never had one. A lost title has a counter replacement; where none exists there is a bonded route.
Why people call
None of those questions is usually the reason for the call. Retiring. A medical that went the wrong way. A season that ended and never started again. A tank truck standing on an Ottawa County lot within sight of the water 0.68 miles from the middle of town, that has not moved since the work stopped and is still costing insurance every month.
Most of those aren’t happy reasons, and we don’t treat them like they are. Somebody wants a straight answer and the truck gone by the end of the week. That’s what we’re here for.
Michigan weight rules read from MCL 257.722 and Michigan Department of Transportation publications in August 2026 — verify with the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Michigan Secretary of State before acting on them. Node facts from the city-pages node list, county attribution from its own county field.