Mhorvath1218
Cadet
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2018
- Messages
- 8
Hey guys, long time lurker but first post here. I have a bit of a registration issue and was hoping someone had a little insight that could help.
I recently purchased a boat and trailer in PA, but live in NY. I went to register the trailer at the dmv today. I have the PA title and all forms filled and ready, wait over 2 hours at the dmv, and get promptly turned away because the PA title doesnt have a model year on it and NY simply will not accept the title without the year.
I believe what happened was the previous owner lost the original title or lost the original vin sticker/plate on the trailer and had to register the trailer as if it were homemade in order to get a new title. It now has a Pennsylvania plate riveted to the tongue with an assigned vin number (the one on the title I currently have).
Problem is, it seems when PA does this for homemade trailers, they do not assign a “build year” on the title.
The NY dmv wont accept the title at all unless I can prove it is a 1996 and I have no idea how to prove the year. It is not on the trailer anywhere.
They gave me 2 possible options (but the staff seemed fairly clueless and extremely unprofessional about the situation) - first would be to register it in NY as a homemade trailer again. But that would involve getting an official weight without the boat on it and I don’t have a good way to do this as I keep the boat on the trailer in my driveway and dont really have any place I can leave it at a dock for a few hours. Even if I can work that scenario out, they also require receipts/bills of sale for all materials used to “build” the trailer. Considering what a huge pain in the *** the NY dmv is, I have a feeling my bill of sale for the trailer itself wont cut it somehow.
2nd option would be to go through the registration process as if I had no title at all. That involves having the seller fill out and sign a form as well as providing all previous bills of sale from when he purchased the trailer/boat and even before that, and he lives 3 hours away and I have no way to contact him other than mailing the address that is on the title. And theres no way in hell he’d have that I’m sure. It would be extremely lucky if he even had a bos from when he bought it 5 years ago.
On top of all that, I had a temp cardboard plate on the trailer from PA that would be good until late August, but when I got home after using the boat yesterday, I discovered it had flown off on the way home and is gone. So now I have no license plate at all and dont want to get a ticket for it, but I want to use my new boat!
Sorry for the long explanation, but any thoughts/help would be much appreciated.
I recently purchased a boat and trailer in PA, but live in NY. I went to register the trailer at the dmv today. I have the PA title and all forms filled and ready, wait over 2 hours at the dmv, and get promptly turned away because the PA title doesnt have a model year on it and NY simply will not accept the title without the year.
I believe what happened was the previous owner lost the original title or lost the original vin sticker/plate on the trailer and had to register the trailer as if it were homemade in order to get a new title. It now has a Pennsylvania plate riveted to the tongue with an assigned vin number (the one on the title I currently have).
Problem is, it seems when PA does this for homemade trailers, they do not assign a “build year” on the title.
The NY dmv wont accept the title at all unless I can prove it is a 1996 and I have no idea how to prove the year. It is not on the trailer anywhere.
They gave me 2 possible options (but the staff seemed fairly clueless and extremely unprofessional about the situation) - first would be to register it in NY as a homemade trailer again. But that would involve getting an official weight without the boat on it and I don’t have a good way to do this as I keep the boat on the trailer in my driveway and dont really have any place I can leave it at a dock for a few hours. Even if I can work that scenario out, they also require receipts/bills of sale for all materials used to “build” the trailer. Considering what a huge pain in the *** the NY dmv is, I have a feeling my bill of sale for the trailer itself wont cut it somehow.
2nd option would be to go through the registration process as if I had no title at all. That involves having the seller fill out and sign a form as well as providing all previous bills of sale from when he purchased the trailer/boat and even before that, and he lives 3 hours away and I have no way to contact him other than mailing the address that is on the title. And theres no way in hell he’d have that I’m sure. It would be extremely lucky if he even had a bos from when he bought it 5 years ago.
On top of all that, I had a temp cardboard plate on the trailer from PA that would be good until late August, but when I got home after using the boat yesterday, I discovered it had flown off on the way home and is gone. So now I have no license plate at all and dont want to get a ticket for it, but I want to use my new boat!
Sorry for the long explanation, but any thoughts/help would be much appreciated.
