Travel Trailer Inspection

by Joe C
(Delaware)

If full timing, do you have to go back to the state that the trailer is registered in every time the registration expires?

Comments for Travel Trailer Inspection

Click here to add your own comments

Apr 11, 2012

Travel Trailer Inspection
by: Cowgirl Kathi

The answer depends upon which state you originally registered the trailer in, as the inspection requirements differ from state to state. Here in Maryland, for instance, you have to have a trailer inspected for initial registration. After that, tags renew every two years, but that is more of a tax than anything else; you just renew the registration by mail or via the internet and the new registration card and tag stickers arrive in the mail.

The only time a new inspection would be required would be when that same trailer is sold; it would have to be inspected to be registered to a new owner and most sellers have that inspection completed as an incentive to prospective buyers.

As you travel on interstate highways, take note of how many COMMERCIAL TRAILERS are registered in MAINE. No residency requirement is necessary to register a trailer there and tag renewals occur every 5 years, so you may want to think about that as an alternative to your home state. It's also MUCH CHEAPER to register a trailer there (don't know if travel trailers apply, but it's worth checking into). When my horse trailer is due for renewal in 2013, I plan to register it in Maine; just have to remember to get the paperwork moving a month or so ahead of the actual expiration date on the tags.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to RV Q and A.