Never EVER Buy An Untitled Trailer... Not even from ME!

I bought the BeeLine in Indiana with just a bill of sale, towed it home with no plate, and went through the process. Statement of facts, photos of all 4 sides, and application for title. It's been less than a month, and the new title arrived today! Feeling pretty lucky.

Switching titles happens but can be a real problem... First of all, the VIN is stamped into the metal frame and very hard to remove.

How I know this: we used a different frame on one of our trailers. The DOL required us to grind the old VIN off and stamp a new one, then inspected. Getting that old VIN off was hours! of work. They seem lightly stamped but hard to erase the footprint.

Personally, I wouldn't try to switch paperwork on a vintage trailer. IT IS NOT LEGAL and could come home to roost if you are caught. In a situation of "two into one" as above, contacting your local DMV before any work is done and learning the rules of titles and registration is the only way to go...

All discussions on illegal actions will be deleted.

Fifty eight Shasta,

Did you do your registration in 2013. Curious why you didn't have to pay back fees? 

Lucky, nonetheless.

Cheers,

Rod

Maine's law enables certain "Registration Agents" to register trailers in other peoples name (out of state customers) but using the agent's address. I have two trailers registered in Maine and I live in NJ. One is a utility trailer and the other is my camper. I did this because NJ's laws for registration make you leap through hoops over and over again. Next yr I can take my Maine registration to NJ and get proper NJ registration and plates.  I've done it a few times and it is perfectly legal. 

My experience is that salvaged titles aren't bad for vintage trailers the way they are for cars. At least not in Oregon, and not if your insurance company is State Farm. I had the misfortune of getting into a minor accident with my trailer on the way home to Oregon from its point of purchase in Idaho. I took the money that State Farm offered me for it (more than I paid for it), bought it back from them for the salvage price ($500), and had it retitled to me as salvaged. State Farm had no problem insuring it even after that. "It's 50 years old," my agent said. "Who cares?"

That was my experience, anyway. YMMV.

I'm in MA too and that's about where I got in the process. I did call a few different times and finally got someone who said I might be able to get a title. But the list of things I needed was so long, and required not just info from the previous owner, but also the owner before that, so I paused my story there. I'm curious to hear how things work out for you if you pick them back up!

So my last 4 trailers have not had titles. All BOS only. All 1980 and older. In Georgia anything older than 83 doesn't require title. I'll admit this does carry a risk as the buyer though. In case it helps anyone I'll give a rundown of my experiences. I offer this advice. If you do buy a trailer (title or BOS only) I suggest registering it before starting work. If you start work and there is an issue you could be in a big pickle.

One was a utility trailer I bought off my dad. He had it for maybe 10 years. The issues registering it was that it was under his business name. Not his personal name. The bill of sale had to be redone to show the company name and I think notorized. I had to have an officer come to the house to verify the VIN as the tag office said I was missing numbers because it was too short (I wasn't).

When I bought the Shasta Compact the seller told me it was registered. It wasn't. I went to register it and because it skipped registrations I had to have a cop come to the house again. Turns out the plate was expired off a gooseneck trailer. Cops again argued the VIN was too short. Again. It wasn't. Still have original vin sticker on side of trailer and very nicely stamped into frame.

I very briefly owned a 1969 Nimrod pop up. Ended up selling that off for a loss to a young couple just looking to get out of a tent. It needed a lot of work. The previous owner did register it and it's tag wasn't a big issue. I didn't do any work to it at all. Just sat around for a few months.

Our latest buy is the 76 Apache Ramada hardside pop up. He issue with it was the VIN. Last 3 owners had it registered under some random New Hampshire decal number on the back. It's not it's real VIN. So this trailer was repainted (dammit) and the side decal was gone. I took the paint off my hitch and found the VIN but it must have been stamped by a 4 year old. Very faint and hard to read. Had a cop come out and he couldn't confirm. So I tried to clean the VIN up more with no luck. I also took my door apart having heard a rumor that some plants taped a build sheet in there with the VIN on it. No luck. Ended up having to have a new VIN issues as homemade (sigh).

During the process with the Apache I learned just how easy it is to steal and reregister a trailer. Seems like you can steal a trailer, fake a bill of sale, remove any VINs, have a cop come out and confirm there is no VIN and they just issue a new one. It's really sketchy and scary at best.