Trailers / Titles / Requirements

SHINTON

SHINTON

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Triad area of NC
I wanted to start this thread off and make this something we can turn into a STICKY thread.

Here is what I wanting to know / we can organize:

Steps to get a homebuilt trailer titled

What requirements are in place for Trailers (such as break away boxes, lighting and such)

Is there a group of trailers / where you do NOT need to put a license tag on them (such as small utility trailer and tow dollies?)

Please help keep this thread clean and organized, if you have some of this information elsewhere already, please copy it here OR post a direct link.
 
The only trailers that do not need to have tags on them are trailers that Do Not haul anything.. IE: RTI ramp, pig cooker (long as there is no pig inside), concrete mixer, etc..

if your trailer can haul something then it is required to have plates.. if you are caught with a pig cooker and no tags and have a pig inside you are carrying something and then can be fined.
 
Build trailer
Go to DMV inspector and obtain paper for application
Stamp number from paper on tongue and axle
take back to inspector, o in some cases any highway patrolman.
He inspects it, signs off, and you take the paper to the tag office and get a tag.

Towing a trailer without lights is legal, if you have something on it and the lights of tow rig is not visible, then it's not legal.

Brakes are not required
 
I guess my question next will be, U-haul does not tag their tow dollies? Does that have to do with the vehicle being towed is tagged?

I think the same question came up recently with the flat-towing.

In that case I believe the answer was the vehicle being towed would need to have a tag on it! I believe if the tow dolly DOES have a tag on it, then the car / vehicle being towed would NOT need one!?

---

We are looking at buying a trailer that does NOT have a title on it. When speaking with the NCDMV today, they told him he would need us to get a notarized bill of sale, then follow the same set of instructions as above to get that titled.

(Essentially same process as building our own except having notarized bill of sale too)
 
I have a homemade 5x8 trailer that my dad and I built. He got the paper with a vin and put the number on the axle and tongue. I took the trailer and paper to one of my trooper buddies and he told me that as long as I was within 50 miles of home (address on DL) I didnt need a tag. I have pulled that trailer for 3 years now at least once a week with no problems. I also have a 5x8 enclosed with no tag and havent had a problem. I need to get a tag for it though.
 
upnover said:
Build trailer
Go to DMV inspector and obtain paper for application
Stamp number from paper on tongue and axle
take back to inspector, o in some cases any highway patrolman.
He inspects it, signs off, and you take the paper to the tag office and get a tag.
Towing a trailer without lights is legal, if you have something on it and the lights of tow rig is not visible, then it's not legal.
Brakes are not required
Click to expand...

That's not quite the process I went thru a couple months ago.
It was:

Pay $5 and get paper from the tag office with NCX # to stamp on the trailer.
Stamp # on tongue and rear axle
Go to HP Inspector and he verifies the # is stamped on. That is the only thing he looked at.
Go back to tag office, pay $70 and get tag. Title comes in the mail a few days later.
 
myself, bret(marvilusone), and pappa jon have towed a ton of cars with a towdolley, no tag on it and no tag on the vehicle without issues for a while
 
When we had our tow dolley DMV told us we were wasting our money putting a tag on it every year. It wasn't needed on a dolly.
 
Digging up the old thread. I have the chance to buy a 16' trailer for $250. It needs new wood and tires. It is not titled. My question is requirements to pass the inspection. I know it needs serial number stamped on Tongue and Axle. I know it needs lights cause I will be hauling my full width Cherokee and you wont see the lights on the Excursion.

Is it required to have Trailer brakes to pass the inspection?

If so then I would probably need new axles for it. I haven't seen this thing yet so I have no idea what kind of axles are on it.

Where can I get axles with Brakes to bolt in it with minimal work.?
 
by the time you buy good new axles, wood, and tires and re wire the thing, you will have 70% of the cost of a new one.

Axles are what really cost.
 
family xj said:
True but are brakes required on the trailer or is that something I can do as I get more money?
Click to expand...


I am pretty sure it depends on what you classify it as when you bring it there..
 
In SC
Two axle trailers one must be a brake axle. Single axle does not need brakes.
Any trailer leaving the state MUST have a tag.
Mobile Home axles are not outlawed in SC to build trailers.
 
upnover said:
Towing a trailer without lights is legal, if you have something on it and the lights of tow rig is not visible, then it's not legal.
Brakes are not required
Click to expand...

I was told by the DMV in Asheville this same information, but they told me if the trailer has lights on it, they have to work, even if you can see the tail lights of the tow vehicle.

To me I think it's crazy to have a trailer without lights. I want my trailer to be as visible as possible, to keep my trailer from being hit, and to keep someone from having that as grounds for a law suit if they hit me.
 
In NC you do not need lights on the trailer as long as the tow vehicles lights are visable. Personally I think lights are the only way to go with any trailer. If you have more than one trailer and you dont use them much just get a set of magnetic lights ( http://www.harborfreight.com/automo...volt-magnetic-led-towing-light-kit-66186.html ). You can catch them on sale for like $20. I keep a set in my truck and eventually in my tongue box (after I finish it) just in case the trailer lights give me troubles.

To anyone getting a trailer tag go for the permanant tag. It is $75 instead of the annual $20 but it will be good as long as the trailer stays in your name and it is a one time fee. So you do not have to pay anything annually. Not sure about taxes on a trailer though. I am military so I don't pay taxes. Both my trailers have them. I think DMV is allowing Personal/vanity plates with trailer and weighted tags now.
 
gmcjimmy88 said:
To anyone getting a trailer tag go for the permanant tag. It is $75 instead of the annual $20 but it will be good as long as the trailer stays in your name and it is a one time fee. So you do not have to pay anything annually. Not sure about taxes on a trailer though. I am military so I don't pay taxes. Both my trailers have them. I think DMV is allowing Personal/vanity plates with trailer and weighted tags now.
Click to expand...

Still have to pay the yearly property taxes.
 
For those that have done this in NC. Do you stamp the NCX also on the trailer or just the digits? DMV has sucked so far on explaining this.
 
I bought a used [2007] 2 axle car trailer, that has No #, stamped on the tongue. There is a manufacturers sticker on the inside of the tongue, with all the normal info & vin # on it. I've tried to look at the axles, & see nothing, unless it's stamped on top. I'd have to use a mirror. Vin #s match the former title, & DMV issued me a new title. I've been wondering if the manufacturers, had become exempted from Stamping the #, & just stuck a sticker on them? It's similar to the sticker in the door jamb of cars.
 
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