MTFCA Forum

Has anyone done this and what is required? What are the benefits?
Keith Billet, PA

I have no clue as to requirements, but benefits might include a better chance of recovery if the trailer were to be stolen, and having it registered might put you in a better position with an insurance company if it were to be involved in a mishap. It might also facilitate selling the trailer, especially to someone out of your area.

Most all states have requirement to register and to get a trailer license plate too. In some states you will be pulled over by authorities without a plate on the trailer too. To police could be a sign the trailer is stolen. So, IMO, get your trailer registered, titled if allowed, and license plated.

Do a web search for requirements for Maine. They should be on line. Not going to ask why your location shows Pennsylvania and you want to register in Maine.

There is a catch or so about registering a trailer in Maine.

There is a way to do it and you can only find out how, if you call or Email the Augusta DMV office.

The only advantage is the annual plate fee is about $5 and the plate costs $5.

You can pay for up to 7 years when you register the trailer.

The Augusta DMV will assign you an agent to work with you.

Trailers do require an annual inspection in Maine.

Small trailers do not get titles. I'm not sure of the minimum weight required for no title.

When I was a Maine resident living in Virginia, I had Maine plates and was stopped at the Maine Turnpike entrance and given a ticket for an expired inspection sticker on my car windshield, after I showed them my Military ID Card and Leave papers.

I was in the Navy at the time and had 10 days to get the car inspected or pay the fine.

Registering with any of the local DMV offices available in each county requires you to either own land in that county or show proof you have an annual lease for rental property and spend summers in that county.

Many state troopers in several states often stop the vehicle towing the trailer with a Maine plate and do an on the spot inspection of the trailer and tow vehicle that is good for a fine if a defect is found.

A soft tire in Maryland got my brother a $70 fine a few years ago. His argument was it was not flat, only soft.

There is no place to check for a soft tire, the pressure is correct, or the tire is checked off as flat.

There might be a slight allowance, but his 70 % inflation did not make it.

He was not born in Maine but he has lived there for 55 years and owned a home there for 40 years.

He is still considered "from away" by most local residents!

I checked on the Maine trailer registration about a year ago. It's cheap which is why you see a surprising number of Maine plates on big rig trailers. Maine will accept a registration application from just about any state. I live in Florida, and Florida requires a trailer that lives in Florida to be registered in Florida. For the money it saves, it's not worth putting myself into a potentially ugly situation.

Then look at the number of those semi-tractors registered in Florida and ask why.

There are a couple of reasons!