Re: Titling a Trailer in Illinois
It sounds to me like Illinois is worse than even PA when it comes to trailers. Here in NJ they don't title trailers at all, all you have is a registration card. I'd venture to guess that more than half of the trailers are registered as homemade. When you go to buy a trailer, no one ever has a title for them, the process they make you go through to transfer a trailer the right way pretty much forces everyone to just call it homemade. Years ago if you bought a new trailer, they took the certificate of origin in lieu of a new registration. When you sell it, you have nothing but a registration card. Those often got lost by people who had old boats just sitting not used or registered for many years. If I sell a boat to someone in PA, they need a title that we in NJ just can't provide. There's nothing illegal about it, we just don't title trailers. Besides, what are the chances a 30 year old boat trailer that's sitting in some old guys yard is stolen? I've got four trailers which I bought new now, not a one has a title, all are registered as homemade from day one. None are stolen. There's just no good reason to make people jump through hoops like some states do for a simple boat trailer. It's not like thieves are chomping at the bit to rip off old trailers either.
If your in a titled trailer state, your best bet is to go register the thing in another state and bring it in as a transfer. I believe Nevada may be an option. You may want to give one of the title services a call and see if they can help. I've used ITS Title Services in Nevada before with good results.
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