Trailer Plate Requirements - Help ???

Hi There

I am currently listing a boat shipment from Maryland to Seattle . I bought the boat from Maryland and now want to ship it to Seattle !! It will be towed across country through several states , I have clear boat and trailer titles, ( From a dealer ,used boat) The Boat and trailer is still on there lot , with a Virginia plate on it ( Previous owners , I guess ) I am from Vancouver , Canada , and can't register it until I get it here . I would be having it dropped off at a cousin's house in Seattle , I will be trailering it across the border from their myself !! ( needs to be inspected here first , ) Here in Canada , we have registration papers that we take to our auto insurance agent once a year, they give us a sticker that goes on our trailer plate , annually. When it expires , we renew. It is not transferable to the new owner if it's sold , the new owner gets a new plate and tag. We cannot drive this trailer around without a current annual sticker !! What does the U.S. do ?? I want to keep this simple. A Transporter is asking me to have a current plate on it , and registered to myself , is there not an easier way to do this ???? Please Help !!

Re: Trailer Plate Requirements - Help ???

A temporary tag?? Don't know if Maryland has provisions for this or not.

Re: Trailer Plate Requirements - Help ???

KOSI99, I just bought and towed a trailer and boat from Florida to Ontario. The boat they did not care about. But if the trailer is more than 15 years old it was cheap and easy and I did not need title for the trailer. What I told border crossing was that Ont registry told me that if it was older than 15 years and no numbers on it that I just had to pre register it as a home made trailer. (small white fib)

I found out that by calling ahead there was no communications between the 2 and it was a free for all!

Although in ONT (and QUE) we only register a trailer once for life. It seems that BC is annual.

If the trailer was less than 15 years old, I needed title and they charged me $208 right off the bat and gst.

I would talk to your license bureau there and see what they can work out. They must have a way of pre registering it. Is there anyway you can just drop on a current trailer plate on it?

p.s. or is the Virginia plate current? Can you not leave that on it?

Re: Trailer Plate Requirements - Help ???

if buying from a dealer he should be able to get it registered, for the trip.

Re: Trailer Plate Requirements - Help ???

Two possibilities, and I'm not sure either applies.

1) In most midwestern states where I've lived, when I buy a vehicle not in my immediate area, I can drive / tow it without a license to my home county, where it must be titled / registered. However, I MUST have the previous title signed-off and a bill of sale. The fact that you're doing this from one side of the continent to the other, through several states, and by a commercial hauler may make this not possible. ... Hmmm... is the hauler putting it on his flatbed or merely pulling your [new] trailer? If it's on his flatbed, there shouldn't be any problem as long as he's got proper paperwork.

2) Don't know if BC and Maryland folks can do this, but 10 years ago my folks bought a new car in Minnesota (summer residence) and had it titled/registered in Texas ("permanent" residence). The Minnesota dealer called the Texas county about what needed to be done, and it was all taken care of by phone and fax. I've read several posters here that Canada requires inspections, etc, but you may want to talk to a supervisor at the licensing place about transit or temporary tags, etc.

Re: Trailer Plate Requirements - Help ???

It varies from state to state. Here in Oklahoma, trailer plates are not required. My understanding is, the trailer must meet the requirements for the state that the tow vehicle is registered in.

Just because you are travelling from state to state, you don't have to adjust to each state's laws for trailers. Just like some states require front and rear plates for your car...people from out of state, don't need a front plate if they are just passing through...

no clue about crossing national borders...sorry.