Just registered my new trailer in Maine

[ElDorado]

zilch...

Yea, I know the one you're talking about. I am glad that non-commercial do not need to stop.

Up here we have the mobile weigh stations and I know a number of guys who were molested by the fine agents of NY State. I will have to look into whether they have commercial tags on their trucks or not. One guy is a contractor but has no markings on his truck or trailer. They checked everything, even made him disconnect from the ball and tow trailer with safety chains to test the breakaway system. He passed but, I don't do well with that stuff.....

Thanks for the first hand experience.

 

[davygp38]

Got my plates back yesterday, they have the date of expiration, in 2015, on them. All paperwork, including the title. Painless.

 

[Pops15]

I inquired about registering 2 of my trailers in Maine. They said I could leave them titled in Illinois and register them in Maine. That doesn't sound right but that's apparently how they do it. I plan on getting the 12 year tags. Between the 2 trailers it will save me almost $1500 over the 12 years! The savings will actually be greater because I currently have both trailers tagged at a lower weight than the trailers are rated for (to save on tag fees). If I register in Maine then I can haul what the trailers are rated at.
Does anyone know if Illinois will give me a hard time about this? The trailers are titled to me personally but I use them in my business. I don't want to register them in Maine if Illinois is just going to turn around and charge me some kind of user fee.

 

[zukota]

the staab agency is about 2 miles up the road from me. maybe 3.


<snip>

there is no weight noted on the trailer registration. my tow vehicle has to be registered for a weight that covers whatever is in/on the vehicle, along with the trailer.

<snip>The savings will actually be greater because I currently have both trailers tagged at a lower weight than the trailers are rated for (to save on tag fees). If I register in Maine then I can haul what the trailers are rated at.

This is exactly why I brought this up, and let me be the first to say that I also fell into this trap.


When you register a trailer in Maine, you register it with ZERO weight - that's why it's so cheap. You aren't paying the "tax" to haul anything around, just a regristration plate. This is typical? for commercial trailers, where the tractor is registered for 80k or whatever..

So to test my understanding: If you are hauling a 30k goose with Maine tags and a 1 ton truck registered at 10k; you are open for problems when the combo weighs more than 10k..... For this to be legit, you would need to register the truck at 40k? (or the weight you were expecting to be..)



(let's skip the cdl stuff, there are enough threads on that, these were just easy numbers)

 

[Duffster]

So to test my understanding: If you are hauling a 30k goose with main tags and a 1 ton truck registered at 10k; you are open for problems when the combo weighs more than 10k..... For this to be legit, you would need to register the truck at 40k? (or the weight you were expecting to be..)

That still wouldn't work here, we don't have combination registration. The truck and trailer need to be appropriately registered individually.

 

[Diamondpilot]

That still wouldn't work here, we don't have combination registration. The truck and trailer need to be appropriately registered individually.

Same thing here. You register the truck for the max weight it will carry and you do the same with the trailer.

Chris

 

[Pops15]

Here in Illinois we register the truck at a certain capacity and the trailer separately at another capacity. We can register at lower than rated capacity.

I like the idea of saving $1500 by registering my trailers in Maine but I don't want to rack up some kind of user fees or fines from Illinois. I'll have to do some more research.

 

[lostcause]

i dobn't know all the ins and outs, but here's a link that has a lot of information and a bunch of numbers to call. i'm assuming that the irp clauses have something to do with registering trailers here and trucks elsewhere. there's obviously a perk to doing it this way (legally) because it's a real common thing. the people doing it can't all be breaking the laws in their state.

https://www.maine.gov/mdot/freight/pdf/commvehicleLimits07.pdf

here's an line from it that tells a little about how it works when registering both in this state:

Non-IRP Vehicles Except for certain motor vehicles registered in IRP, motor vehicles based in Maine must register in Maine based on the combined gross weight of the vehicle and maximum load to be carried. For truck tractor-semitrailer combinations, the power unit is registered for the combined gross weight and the semitrailer is registered for a nominal fee. A motor vehicle may not be operated in excess of the maximum weight allowed for its configuration, (see Table 1), without additional permits.