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

The previous owner of my Oregon-bought trailer was dead and there was no title. I had to dig up an obituary and get the daughter to fill out a form, then they issued one with no fuss.

They didn't ask me for anything, I registered mine with a 5 year-old bill of sale and nothing else.

Anyone from Kansas? I want to buy an old Shasta but of course the owner doesn't have the title.

I know It's a dice roll to buy without a clear title. That said, in the Midwest , it's hard to find a sub $1000 trailer with a clear title. I have run into titles not transferred, bill of sale, no title because of age or state of original purchase , weight etc. This has not stopped me from buying. I have received titles from the state for each trailer purchased. In Minnesota, ithere are forms available for multiple circumstances on line to " force the title " They will verify the chain of custody through the VIN. A bond can be required during the search process if the value exceeds a set limit .

Newbie here! Bought an Eirba Puck with no title in CA. Went to DMV today. The trailer was declared irrepairable salvage last month! Does this indicate someone took an insurance payout? It is NOT damaged or burned. Any ideas on how to proceed?

Hey all! I have purchased, with Bill of sale, untitled, unregistered trailers from Minnesota , Iowa and Wisconsin. When buying without good documentation, The two rules I live by are: 1. NEVER pay more than Your willing to lose. 2. NEVER start a restoration until the title is in your name . What I have gleaned from
Multiple data sources is that Minnesota is a more lenient and somewhat less risky place to get clear titles for trailers with lost or expired documentation. I keep the answers short on the "statement of facts" form . Title lost , seller never transferred title, seller purchased with bill of sale . No stories of title not surviving fires , floods , deaths in the family , estate.. dog ate it, etc etc..... Just short honest answers.

My last purchase was a worst case scenario. No title , no serial number , Either SN plate or frame numbers. There were brackets for either sway or weight distribution welded to where I thought the SN should be on frame . When I bought it , the old Minnesota license plate was still on the trailer, so I ASSUMED the DMV could track down the PO' s title through the license plate and get the serial number from it . WRONG ! My heart sank when at the counter, the DMV said they "throw out " title information for trailers after so many years of dormant registration ( not getting new tabs) . I gave them my " statement of facts " form , bill of sale and pics showing the trailer exterior and areas the SN should have been . I was pretty sure at that point I just bought an overpriced parts trailer . 60 days later, a Title and a VIN assignment sticker showed up in my mailbox. This was a relief ! Even with this "win" my assumptions about the SN left me taking on more risk than I thought I was taking on when I bought it . Only one of the three trailers I purchased this year had a "title in hand". I have said it before on VTT , in Minnesota it's harder and harder to find sub $1000 vintage trailers that are both restorable AND have clean titles ready to transfer .

Titles in Minnesota are more like ice skating than quick sand right now. We will see what happens as they rolled out new software for the DMV this year . We are in a period of huge backlogs as they work system bugs and are manually processing and entering to get caught up . My first experiences are the system is more rigid and won't allow as much flexibility at the DMV counter. That is a bad thing.