Licensing a Trailer Problems

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

gogittum

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 27, 2020
Messages
251
Reaction score
11
Location
Nature Coast of Florida
I've got the little 12 ft Mirrocraft boat that sits on a small trailer and also an 8 ft utility trailer I picked up a while back. Neither trailer had plates, but several people told me all you need in Florida is a bill of sale, since they're registered but not titled. OK, I believed them.

When I titled the 12 ft, the 16 ft and trailer, all was well and I had the right paperwork, but they balked at plates for the 2 little trailers, since all I had were the bills of sale.

Today I tried again and made a serious effort, since I want to sell the small boat and start using the utility trailer. Neither has a read-able spec plate. Not a chance. I need the old registration. The people I bought them from told me I just needed the bill of sale, and a couple of neighbors agreed with that. They were wrong, and being new to the state, I had no idea.

I have no idea how to get in touch with those people now and they don't have registration anyway, so what can I do ?? Surely there must be a work-around ?? I'm willing to be some creative at this point.
 
Agreed ^^
Here in Iowa, it's just a registration for anything 2000 pounds or less, with no inspection. One can build a trailer in thier backyard out of salvaged metals and get it registered.
You might want to see if Florida has that option.

Roger
 
Thanks. Several people I've talked to have suggested that, but one guy on another forum said that DMV required him to submit materials bills to prove he'd built it. Don't know what state he's in and don't know how tough Florida is on that. If it's a slam-dunk, I'll give it a go.
 
grind off the vin or weld a plate over it. tell dmv you bought trailer from a flea market and it had never been registered. most states will have a state police come , inspect, stamp a new vin plate and rivet it to the frame. then take troopers papers back to dmv.
i have done salvage motorcycles, hurricane boats and campers, a pond boat, and a harbor freight (used) utility trailer like that. its easy.
the trick is to erase its history by making the vin disappear. if you have to, pay a thug at the liquor store corner to write you a bill of sale. lolololol
 
Some states are tougher than others when it comes to homemade trailers. Used to be here anything under 16' could be inspected at any vehicle inspection station and registered, anything longer had to be done by the highway patrol. They changed the law now and all need to be done by the highway patrol or the sheriff's office in your county. They will not pass anything that is not obviously homemade, or at least heavily modified.

It's worth noting that altering a VIN is a felony. An argument could be made that you are not "technically" altering the VIN if you cut off the fixture it's welded to and replace it, wink wink.

Unfortunately trailers are especially tricky since the numbers are usually just lightly stamped and easily rendered illegible. If that happens and you don't have a plate, it's impossible to track down the last registered owner.
 
I take it the previous owner had not kept the registration up to date, or even worse, had not registered it.

I can't help you with Florida. In California when the title is missing, it is the previous owner's responsibility to fill out forms for the DMV to process the transfer. Yet, it is not uncommon to see folks sell a boat saying all that is needed is a bill of sale. Buyer beware.

In California, unlike a motor vehicle, a boat/trailer is not exempt from registration for non-use. So in many of these situation, back registration fees may be due. I'm not sure what Florida does.

I'm sorry to hear you are having to go through all of this mess. Be careful about grinding or altering the place where the VIN should be. If the authority sees an obvious attempt then things could get even more dicey.

This kind of issue seems to come up every so often. It just seems like common sense that every jurisdiction should have a process to deal with these issues.
 
yall have to remember, in the south, there are countless boats , trailers, vehicles etc, that were lost or abandoned after hurricanes. they were freely sold and traded for years until not so long ago where most states made laws to profit from those transactions. then it became complicated, as you see. i am not advocating altering a stolen trailer or any other thing with a vin or hid. i am simply showing the very common work around that has been adapted to keep YOUR property that you paid for and make it legal to use on the roads. no different than buying a trailer that was wrecked, and the tongue was mangled. you bought it, you welded a tongue or boxed the original and had to have a new vin assigned. that is all.
i used to buy insurance salvaged motorcycles with payment receipt only......from florida. had them shipped to alabama. same story, you have a trooper inspect, issue a vin and attach vin plate to chassis.
peace
 
yep, and the work around actually helps to identify stolen property before you spend any time or money. that is the first part of the troopers inspection. i once bought a 68 passenger bus to build as a camper. trooper inspection took awhile as he had to look all over and under to find numbers stamped and confirm. there was no title and it had been used for yours to shuttle refinery workers from front gate to their work areas. the trooper gave me the papers, i went to dmv, paid minimal fee and walked out with tags and title in the mail.
 

Latest posts

Top