Registering a trailer in West Virginia

Ran into a bit of a problem getting my trailer titled and registered in West Virginia. Bought my '96 Tracker Sportsman 16 and '06 Valu-Line trailer back in July. Boat came with a title and trailer came with a certificate of origin from the dealer since the PO never got it titled. He bought the trailer and basically parked it in his yard. Thats great since the trailer is in awesome condition, but sucks when trying to get it registered. When I went to the DMV I was told the PO needed to get a bill of sale from the dealer to have the trailer titled and then transfer that title over to me. Problem is the place he bought the trailer from is out of business and since he never got it titled he can't just get a duplicate title printed out. The PO and his wife have been really helpfull in trying to get this squared away for me, but they keep running into dead ends as well. I'm hoping they can eventually get a title, but just in case I'm looking ahead as to what other options I have. So far I've come up with 2 options.

1. Register the trailer in Maine. From what I've been researching this is perfectly legal, and according to the West Virginia DMV a trailer needs to be registered and titled. Doesn't say it must be by the state of West Virginia.
https://www.transportation.wv.gov/dmv/vehicles/pages/titleinformation.aspx
So once the Maine registration ran out I should be able to just transfer that to West Virginia. Problem is it looks like in Maine if the trailer is under 3000 lbs. they do not title it. So, I'd be back at square one.

2. My Dad lives in Maryland so I have been thinking about having him register the trailer as homemade and then I can transfer his Maryland title to West Virginia under my name. I haven't been able to find any information that says you can register a trailer as homemade in West Virginia. Not the most honest way to go about it, but it is getting pretty ridiculous that the West Virginia DMV won't issue a title to the previous owner even though he has a certificate of origin from the dealer he bought if from with his name AND a notary stamp.

Any other ideas you guys have? Anyone else ever dealt with a similar situation in West Virginia?

I'm just trying to find the best way to get this thing registered, titled and tagged in my name in West Virginia. You would think a certificate of origin with the PO's signature would suffice. Crazy!! :shock:

You can get a title for a homemade trailer in WV. My uncle just got one on a car trailer we built. He said a state trooper comes to your home to look at the trailer but didn't say anything else about how to go about it or what needs to be done. I'll try to give him a call tonight and find out.

mikejames said:

You can get a title for a homemade trailer in WV. My uncle just got one on a car trailer we built. He said a state trooper comes to your home to look at the trailer but didn't say anything else about how to go about it or what needs to be done. I'll try to give him a call tonight and find out.

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Sweet. I would really appreciate that. I've been scouring the WV DMV website and couldn't find a single thing that even mentioned titling a homemade trailer. Only problem I forsee is it currently has a VIN number as is obviously not homemade. Not sure how that would go over with the trooper.

I'll ask about that but I believe he mentioned something about them giving him a new vin plate. May have to remove it.

mikejames said:

I'll ask about that but I believe he mentioned something about them giving him a new vin plate. May have to remove it.

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Thanks!!!

You will probably run into problems trying to register it as homemade if it has a vin plate. They usually stamp the vin in a couple places (axles, frame). I tried to do that in CT and got kicked out of inspection....
Now I have a 5 year Maine registration for $99.00 on my utility trailer. No title though, but it doesn't matter here. Got stopped once, forgot to secure the rear hatch on the trailer, cop never questioned my CT license and Maine registration. It lists my name and the company's address on my reg certificate. You should be all set with the bill of sale and certificate of origin, as long as it has the GVW.

I used https://www.mainetrailerregistrations.com/

"You just bought the trailer and it is a 1995 or newer and weighs 3,000 lbs. or less...
We need a copy of the Bill of Sale plus a copy of the title or some document showing the trailer weight and a check for the number of years you wish to register the trailer. Maine will not title that trailer due to its weight (sales tax might be due)"

Sucks to have to run the end game, but they make it so difficult for us sometimes.

Good luck.

BigTerp said:

mikejames said:

I'll ask about that but I believe he mentioned something about them giving him a new vin plate. May have to remove it.

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Thanks!!!

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He worked late last night so I couldn't talk to him. As soon as I do I'll let you know.

He said you have to get a hold of the dmv and tell them you want to register a homemade trailer, they will send out a state police officer to look at it to make sure it is safe for the road. Then I can't remember if the officer will give you a paper or they will send you one in the mail and you can register it once you get that paper. He has done it a few times and said the officers that showed up didn't really give a crap whether it was homemade or not.

mikejames said:

He said you have to get a hold of the dmv and tell them you want to register a homemade trailer, they will send out a state police officer to look at it to make sure it is safe for the road. Then I can't remember if the officer will give you a paper or they will send you one in the mail and you can register it once you get that paper. He has done it a few times and said the officers that showed up didn't really give a crap whether it was homemade or not.

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Thanks for the help!!! I may give this a try if all else fails.

BigTerp, try these two links from WV-DMV.

https://www.transportation.wv.gov/dmv/Forms/DMVForms/MB-12-13_Owner-and-Purchasing-Affidavit-wf.pdf

VIN verification, this completed by any Law Enforcement Officer. It does not have to be the State Police.

https://www.transportation.wv.gov/dmv/Forms/DMVForms/DMV-1B-Verification-of-VIN-wf.pdf

Hope this helps.

Jeff

I'm in wv as well.. When I bought my skiff, the po didn't register the boat or the trailer in his name. I have we had to call his dad, and get permission to buy it and use his son as a gift receiver then sign it over and had a friend notoriety the bill of sale. The only went directly to dmv and had no issues. I've heard the homemade trailer idea works only if you mod the trailer the same grind the serial numbers down.

Thanks guys!! I'm still waiting for the PO who is working on getting a title in his name. I'm not really in a huge rush to get this done, but at the same time want to get it done ASAP so I can stop worrying about it.

Thanks for the links to those forms WVMEDIC. It looks like completing those may be the best way to go about getting this thing squared away.

just remove the present VIN , spenta few bucks replacing rusty hardware on the trailer,replace bunks, painted, etc..etc...
take 3 pictures of the trailer (side view, rear view and one showing the whole trailer), keep all your receipts, and come straight to maryland to get the new VIN,the title and the registration, plus the temporary tags...everything for $139,00 dollars.......I just got mine yesterday.....no big deal....
The trailer that I've "fixed'....was sold to me with=out a title,and obviously was previously registered, but I removed the VIN plate ,paint the trailer and replace some hardware and claimed as a home-made trailer..took me 2 hours to get everything.....

Thanks for the suggestion. It is now April and I'm still without a title for the boat and trailer. Spoke with the PO last week and she said she had FINALLY gotten the titles back from the DMV and she'd be mailing them to me last week. Still waiting though!!! :evil:

The PO has really went out of her way to get everything squared away. It's just been a frustrating process for me when all I can do is sit and wait. But HOPEFULLY I'll have titles in hand sometime this week and can finally get on with my build.

My cousin ran into almost the same problem. What he did was had it titled under homemade trailer. You will have to have a state police look at it etc. But he did and got his trailer titled. Hope this helps.

In va I had a problem like this I just got a bill of sale from the guy I got it from and all was good to go pm me if you need some help

Usually states will honor the registration of another state. For example when I bought my ATV in NC they dont issue titles for ATV's. When I moved to VA and brought it up there I went in to register it so I could ride it on the public trails. They said since I bought it while I lived in another state that doesn't issue titles they would create one for me. I just had to fill out a form saying I was the owner and blah blah blah. So you may be able to go that route if you dont receive the title. Just register it in Maine, wait a few months then go to DMV and say you bought it in Maine and they dont issue titles. They will look up the code for Maine and verify it... then issue you a title.

Thanks for the replies. The PO assured me today that the titles were mailed to me. So HOPEFULLY I"ll have them shortly. My situation was a bit weird. I'll try to explain it as shortly as possible.

Trailer - The PO never got it registered. Only had a certificate of origin for the trailer, which I thought would suffice. The WV DMV wanted a receipt before they would issue a title. Well, the place where the PO bought the trailer went out of buisiness. So the PO had to submit paperwork, pay some fees and wait for the DME to locate the receipt amongst their archived files. Took a solid 4 months for this to happen. Then the PO had to go back to the DMV to get the title. Which was another time consuming paperwork mailing back and forth.

Boat - The PO bought the boat off his brother and signed the title, but never got it registered. So the PO had to go through the process of getting it titled in his name before he could transfer it to me. After numerous trips to the DMV and extra paperwork the DMV STILL required more paperwork. This was a several month process as well.

When I bought the boat, I had a certificate of origin and a title. Figured I was good to go. Not even close!! I'm just getting sick of not being able to tear into my boat for fear that I won't be able to get it titled in my name. Hoping all is resolved soon!!

Dang... what a pain in the butt! I bet you wont be buying anymore boats like that again, right?

NLaudy said:

Dang... what a pain in the butt! I bet you wont be buying anymore boats like that again, right?

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You got that right!! Both the PO and myself thought everything was in order. No ones fault and I'm just lucky the PO has been so helpfull. Good news is I got the boat title in the mail last night, FINALLY!!!! Just hoping I don't have any issues when I go to the DMV to get the title transferred into my name. Been a 7 month process. Still waiting on the trailer title though. I'm guessing she may have mailed it seperately.

The WV DMV is quite the pain in the butt. My wife and I bought a travel trailer back in February. We had the PO's sign the title over to us. When we went to the DMV they said the PO's couldn't sign there names on the same line as sellers. They had to sign it seperately. We had to take an affidavit back to the PO's for them to sign to say they were not trying to commit fraud and get it notorized. All because they signed the title over to us on the same line. Craziness!!! :roll: