len19070 wrote:Just another Horror Story from somebody from Pennsylvania....Not Mine.Well...today was a sad day for my pocketbook!
Title transfers for an out of state vehicle are made nearly impossible for Pennsylvania residents!!!
I jumped through all the hoops that Pennsylvania told me I had to;
1) go to notary (in my case, AAA) to get Title Transfer Application.
2) go to gravel yard (yep! That's where I had to take my little girl! No one else in this county can do it!!!) to get the TD weighed, and the TD/car weighed.
3) take proof of weight to a third place (the mechanic) to get the TD inspected (even though she just was, in NY)
4) THEN...drive all the way back to the first place to submit the APPLICATION...that, theoretically, can be denied by the state.
Congatulations! I just spent $600 (MORE) to find out I have a 1600# trailer! Funny...it weighs 1450.
Len,
First, let me say thank you for posting the information about Maryland.
I mentioned in my intro post that I had purchased an older (1968) Red Dale trailer from out of state. I had a signed title from the owner... a bill of sale that was notarized and PennDot STILL required me to get a special inspection.
Now, in that case, part of the issue was that it was so old that the VIN number no longer conformed to current standards and there was no weight tag on it (somebody had painted over the sticker and it had since come off).
So, like you , I needed to do all of the above. It didn't cost me any where near $600, though. A place just down the street from where I work does the inspections for $50. And, since I had just gone through a similar process getting a motorcycle I'd purchased with a salvage title done he just signed off on the paperwork for free.
Like I said, though, it would have only cost me $50 to have it done anyway. Although, most of the places I checked were closer to $100 for the same inspection.
Cost of getting it weighed was free. Like you, went to a gravel yard.
I forget what the paperwork cost me. Seem to think that I ended up, all totaled, spending about $150 to get a title on a $700 trailer. That included taxes of 7% (Pittsburgh).
At any rate, it's nice to know there is an easier way.
Just a couple of questions.
1. Do you get an actual title in your name from MD? Anything else and I'm surprised it would be that easy through PennDot.
2. Does this just work with trailers that are purchased, like those from HF or will it work with custom built frames as well, like the A-Frames that are used for the ultralights like the Pico-light?
Is there some kind of additional info that I'd need to provide to MD to have something like that certified?
3. PA didn't require any kind of inspection upon transferring the MD title to PA? That's really surprising.
Again, thanks for pointing me to this thread and providing the info. Just want to make sure I'm understanding it properly before I go any further.
Thanks,
TJ
