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[Jeeper92]

I paid a guy I know, old "friend" from high school, to build my trailer base. He welded it all together and I started building the actual trailer. He was supposed to have sent pictures in for a title. Turns out he never sent them in. I finished the trailer and now I have no title............I cant get it from him because .......................he got locked up for a year!! Im in PA and they are a pain in the ass to do anything with a trailer. Suggestions????????
I was thinking of buying a smaller harbor freight trailer and applying for the title and tags through that then just slapping the tags on my trailer. I'm so frustrated right now as this has bee going on for months before I finally got him to admit he never sent the title in. PLEASE HELP!

[titanpat57]

People have done this in the past...I understand it works.

http://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/registration/trailer.html



https://mainetrailerregistrations.com/

[greygoos]

People have done this in the past...I understand it works.

http://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/registration/trailer.html



https://mainetrailerregistrations.com/

Last time I checked which was about a month ago you can still get your trailer registered in Maine if you dont live there but you have to use a service and costs roughly 60.00 for their services plus the cost of registration. From there you can register your trailer or vehicle in your state.

[dmdc411]

Your idea looks like the best bet! Or, find a prefab at Northern Tool, have your kids, or adult friends stand over the labels, snap a few pics. Then say," this is my homebuilt trailer"!

[S. Heisley]

Forgive me if this is an ignorant question. Can't you just lay on the ground underneath the trailer and take pictures?

[irgod32]

Can't you just tell them you built the trailer?

[Andrew Herrick]

I'm not from Pennsylvania, but this document ..

http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Public/DVSPu ... nstveh.pdf

... didn't mention anything about requiring in-progress pictures in order to license a "homemade" trailer?

Hope it helps.

[greygoos]

If you read any of Lens Posts you will see that he lives in Penn and has built over 150 trailers. He claims and I have no reason to doubt him that dealing with the DMV down there is very hard. I would heed the advice of getting it registered in Maine and then switching it over to Penn. As a matter of fact I believe he has a trailer on ebay now which is registered in Maine

[ae6black]

I am in Pa and did a new title on an old Pop Up that my father owned when I converted it into a utility trailer. He lost the title when the old camper was left to fall apart in the yard. It was a pain, but a friend who owns a garage and does inspections walked me through the process after I converted the frame to a utility trailer. A lot of pictures and what not back and forth, but the trailer is now titled as a utility trailer special construction. Actually this is the second special construction trailer that I have had titled this way. It's been quite a few years since I've done this but I still think it can be done. You just need to find an inspection station that will work with you. You probably also don't want to expect the title being issued over night. It's also possible that AAA could help out. I went through them on our first title of a special construction trailer. That one was back in 1985 and is the trailer that my removable TD sits on.

Art

[irgod32]

I'm in California, I guess things are different there. I just registered mine this past Thursday and all they asked for was receipts of my build. $120 later I had new PTI plates and I was on the road.

[working on it]

I'm in Texas, and I had no problems re-licensing my original "scrap trailer", 50" x 60", that I had bought for $50 at a swap meet (to haul home the $50 mini-bike I also bought from the same guy). It was a derelict, but I fixed it up a little, in case I would ever need it. I had a bill of sale only, and a partial VIN tag (pasted on), and had no trouble talking the clerk into transferring it. That was 25 years ago. The trailer sat in my far back yard, covered in weeds and on swampy ground, since then, until the day I dragged it out to start my TTT build, using it as my starting point. I loaded it on the back of my car-hauler trailer, and took it to my friend's shop, where we turned the derelict (now even more so, after rotting away for 25 years) into a larger frame. When I went to the tax office this time to register it again, I had no VIN or old tag to use (when scrapping the old tongue, the VIN pasted on it was burnt off by the torch, and it's license plate was thrown into a scrap heap a month or so before); and my wife had long ago thrown away the bill of sale and registration, thinking it was now just junk metal. I went to the tax office anyway, and took with me two pictures- before and after- to show it was the same trailer frame (protruding cross-beams were identical), registered at the same address to the same person, from 25 years prior.

starting point, as registered.png (494.82 KiB) Viewed 6772 times

The clerk hesitated, even after she looked up my records in the state database, so I called over the older clerk (probably the supervisor), and explained my case. No problem! Gotta love the long-time employees (old, like me), they can make a decision on the spot. If that hadn't worked, we knew a trailer builder from racing circles, that could've fabbed a VIN and papers, if we'd asked, or I would've registered it in MAINE. I was Lucky to be a TEXAN. P.S. it's registered as a utility trailer; if I ever get questioned if it is "utility or travel", I'll open the doors to the cabin and point out all the cargo tie-downs in it.I probably will have something always strapped in anyway.

• e-track on the inside front wall of the cabin (transporting ice chests & water jugs)
• d-rings in the galley (bungee cords holding everything in place)
• d-rings under the mattress (when using the e-track, I fold back the mattress and strap it out of the way)

[QueticoBill]

I just recently registered mine in Maine and they did require an MCO in order to provide a title. It was under $100 for 5 years.

[tony.latham]

Jeeper:

I gotta tell ya. And this spoken with a smile and a beer:

Let me know if I have this straight; Your buddy goes to the crowbar motel for god-knows-what, and in the meanwhile, you're toying with title fraud. Is that what I'm reading?





Tony

[working on it]

... and my wife had long ago thrown away the bill of sale and registration, thinking it was now just junk metal. I went to the tax office anyway, and took with me two pictures- before and after- to show it was the same trailer frame (protruding cross-beams were identical), registered at the same address to the same person, from 25 years prior....The clerk hesitated, even after she looked up my records in the state database, so I called over the older clerk (probably the supervisor), and explained my case. No problem! Gotta love the long-time employees (old, like me), they can make a decision on the spot....

Well, guess what...funny thing, but I'm preparing to take the TTT on a trip next month, after letting it sit for a year and a half, and upon posting the above in this thread, a chill went up my spine. After a quick trip into the garage, I saw that my tags expired 14 months ago. My chilled spine later proved to be a fair warning, because, once again, the wife had once again either mis-filed the proof of registration, or thrown it out again. As well as the automatic renewal notices we get. I know you are thinking " Why don't you keep the records? "; she wanted to control the data, since her first husband hid everything from her. I had no objection to that, but in the case of my little trailer, I must be cursed. She never lost any paperwork for any other vehicle or trailer, even keeping the records for cars 20 years gone. Just for the little trailer (including notebooks of sketches and measurements for the build). I wonder if she has something against the little thing? Anyway, I'm going to try the same re-registration procedure again, without paperwork in hand, but I will have photos with me, and the actual expired license plate (with date sticker) this time. And after I get the new sticker, I'll keep the paperwork with my "ordnance", away from harm or loss. I don't blame her, just me, for letting it happen again. Postscript: took the sticker off the plate (license plate is too well secured) and went into the office. No questions, no problems, received new sticker for the plate. Wasn't even worth my worry.