Easy, Painless and Cheap way to Register your Trailer

[jwlambert]

Great news for anyone building their own in Ontario. You can simply register it as a home built at any MTO office, no inspections required or annual licence or tag fees.

[Wellcraft290]

does this work for a homemade camper with a frame you build?

[Aguyfromohio]

It was effortless for us here in Ohio.
Homemade frame, homemade coach.

All they asked for was a certified weight ticket. Mine was 1,468 lbs, as weighed at a local junkyard.
Took the scale ticket to the BMV, paid my 50 bucks, and we have tags.

She asked me the VIN.
I said "one". She wrote it down.

[rjgimp]

She asked me the VIN.
I said "one". She wrote it down.

Absolutely brilliant!!!

[1KCLC]

All things change, I called the Maine mv office this morning and they do NOT do this any more. The person I spoke to said he would send me an Email explaining this, but 3 hours later, no Email.

[pace]

Maine still does the tags just not for any trailer with sleeping quarters.... I have a Utility trailer. And I'm building a Pod for the trailer. So I have a Maine tag in Ohio for a Utility trailer $103 for 5 years. Took 2 weeks. No one said I cant haul a House.....

Edit. I got my tag in February 2021. So if things have.cha God regarding tags since then I would not know. When I looked this up for a friend in April 2021. The rules do Specifically say We DO NOT do this for trailers with sleeping quarters. The devil is in the details. Good Luck

[nbcarey]

Here in the state of Washington, you can do a year in the county jail for registering your trailer in another state. That's in conjunction mandatory fines of $1,529. Do it again, and the fines increase to $5,529 (and more jail time).

[Might be easier/cheaper to just jump through the state patrol's hoops.]

RCW 46.16A.030

Registration and display of plates required—Penalties—Expired registration, impoundment.

(1) Vehicles must be registered as required by this chapter and must display license plates or decals assigned by the department.
. . .
(6) It is a gross misdemeanor for a resident, as identified in RCW 46.16A.140, to register a vehicle in another state, evading the payment of any tax or vehicle license fee imposed in connection with registration. It is punishable, in lieu of the fine in subsection (4) of this section, as follows:

(a) For a first offense:

(i) Up to three hundred sixty-four days in the county jail;

(ii) Payment of a fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars plus any applicable assessments, which may not be suspended or reduced. The fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars must be deposited into the vehicle licensing fraud account created in the state treasury in RCW 46.68.250;

(iii) A fine of one thousand dollars to be deposited into the vehicle licensing fraud account created in the state treasury in RCW 46.68.250, which may not be suspended or reduced; and

(iv) The delinquent taxes and fees, which must be deposited and distributed in the same manner as if the taxes and fees were properly paid in a timely fashion, and which may not be suspended or reduced;

[rjgimp]

Here in the state of Washington, you can do a year in the county jail for registering your trailer in another state. That's in conjunction mandatory fines of $1,529. Do it again, and the fines increase to $5,529 (and more jail time).

[Might be easier/cheaper to just jump through the state patrol's hoops.]

RCW 46.16A.030

Registration and display of plates required—Penalties—Expired registration, impoundment.

(1) Vehicles must be registered as required by this chapter and must display license plates or decals assigned by the department.
. . .
(6) It is a gross misdemeanor for a resident, as identified in RCW 46.16A.140, to register a vehicle in another state, evading the payment of any tax or vehicle license fee imposed in connection with registration. It is punishable, in lieu of the fine in subsection (4) of this section, as follows:

(a) For a first offense:

(i) Up to three hundred sixty-four days in the county jail;

(ii) Payment of a fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars plus any applicable assessments, which may not be suspended or reduced. The fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars must be deposited into the vehicle licensing fraud account created in the state treasury in RCW 46.68.250;

(iii) A fine of one thousand dollars to be deposited into the vehicle licensing fraud account created in the state treasury in RCW 46.68.250, which may not be suspended or reduced; and

(iv) The delinquent taxes and fees, which must be deposited and distributed in the same manner as if the taxes and fees were properly paid in a timely fashion, and which may not be suspended or reduced;

Huh... I coulda sworn Washington was still in the United States of America, land of the free and home of the brave.



<checks map>

Weird.

[nbcarey]

Here in the state of Washington, you can do a year in the county jail for registering your trailer in another state. That's in conjunction mandatory fines of $1,529. Do it again, and the fines increase to $5,529 (and more jail time).

[Might be easier/cheaper to just jump through the state patrol's hoops.]

RCW 46.16A.030

Registration and display of plates required—Penalties—Expired registration, impoundment.

(1) Vehicles must be registered as required by this chapter and must display license plates or decals assigned by the department.
. . .
(6) It is a gross misdemeanor for a resident, as identified in RCW 46.16A.140, to register a vehicle in another state, evading the payment of any tax or vehicle license fee imposed in connection with registration. It is punishable, in lieu of the fine in subsection (4) of this section, as follows:

(a) For a first offense:

(i) Up to three hundred sixty-four days in the county jail;

(ii) Payment of a fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars plus any applicable assessments, which may not be suspended or reduced. The fine of five hundred twenty-nine dollars must be deposited into the vehicle licensing fraud account created in the state treasury in RCW 46.68.250;

(iii) A fine of one thousand dollars to be deposited into the vehicle licensing fraud account created in the state treasury in RCW 46.68.250, which may not be suspended or reduced; and

(iv) The delinquent taxes and fees, which must be deposited and distributed in the same manner as if the taxes and fees were properly paid in a timely fashion, and which may not be suspended or reduced;

Huh... I coulda sworn Washington was still in the United States of America, land of the free and home of the brave.



<checks map>

Weird.

We don't have a state income tax. As a result, registration fees are a very significant chunk of the state's revenues.

Most every state has laws that require one to register your vehicle in-state within 30 days or so of taking up residence, albeit perhaps without the draconian penalties.

[tony.latham]

albeit perhaps without the draconian penalties.

That bit where one could be sentenced to 364 days in jail --one day short of a year-- is the breakpoint for misdemeanors/felonies in the U.S. I'm sure it's based on what's called old English or common law.

There's no judge in the country that's going to put someone in the crowbar motel over a trailer registration. Just my experience from wearing a badge most of my adult life.

Tony

[tomhawk]

When I finished the floor and chassis of my trailer, I went to the county assessor and was awarded an Iowa license plate sight unseen for $20. I was actually a bit disappointed they did not want to even look at it.

I think a lot of farmers make homebuilt trailers. I have seen a few at the farmer's market in town. Some of them don't seem to bother getting plates.

Tom

[John61CT]

Most every state has laws that require one to register your vehicle in-state within 30 days or so of taking up residence, albeit perhaps without the draconian penalties.

Of course that only applies to vehicles actually present in the state for X days.

If you have vehicles located at "secondary homes" etc they need to be registered, fees paid and property taxes if any and insured
based on their "usual garaged" location

nothing to do with the legal domicile residence of the owner.

Such laws are not well enforced in most jurisdictions, but even if you live and drive where they are, pretty easy to work around them if they are actually trying to prevent you doing what you want.

Avoiding fees and taxes would be a pretty stupid motivation for going to that effort though.

[Buddy-and-Missus]

I'm not sure if it's the same in Canada or each province could be different, here the camper requires a full inspection.
This is one of many reasons we are building a slide-in camping pod. If the utility trailer is already registered the camping pod is just cargo.