m101a2 recovery

[dubois9837]

titling and registration in PA

By the way, do any of you Pennsylvania owners have any experience getting these trailers titled and registered in Pennsylvania? I sent my SF-97 form in yesterday and I realize it takes awhile to get it back. My experience with PennDot in other matters has been poor at best. What kind of hassle can I expect when I try to get the trailer a PA title and plates? Any tips or suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Preacherboy]

I picked up my M101A2 from Letterkenny on Thursday ( 08/11/11 ). It was my first GL purchase and I am pretty happy with the trailer I got for $276. I rented a UHaul car hauler to tow it home ( 3 1/2 hour drive ) and the set up worked well. Had to add some plywood and boards on the Uhaul crossbeams so the trailer tongue would be secured. Not a ideal set up but it only cost $55 to rent.
I thought the people at Letterkenny were pretty nice. The forklift operator did a good job and didn't cause any damage to the trailer during loading - something alot of people complain about at other sites. Would not hesitate to make another purchase there.

I think we have accounted for 12 of the trailers ( if my math is right ) in this thread. If my memory is correct, I think there was only around 15 trailers in the auction total. It's a small world!

There was auctions of trailers 3 weeks in a row, so I believe there was a lot more than 15...maybe 15 in each auction.

 

[Preacherboy]

Ok, me and cjtroutt are leaving tonight around midnight to recover 4 trailers from Letterkenny. We are as ready as we can be. I have never been to this sight, so hopefully they are as nice as the guys in Lansing, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Ft. Indiantown Gap.

I will let you know how things go!

 

[koolex11]

By the way, do any of you Pennsylvania owners have any experience getting these trailers titled and registered in Pennsylvania? I sent my SF-97 form in yesterday and I realize it takes awhile to get it back. My experience with PennDot in other matters has been poor at best. What kind of hassle can I expect when I try to get the trailer a PA title and plates? Any tips or suggestions? Thanks.

You may already know some of this, but here goes:

1. Find an "online" tag place. Start calling around now and see if anybody has experience titling a trailer won from a US gov't auction. Ask them if they are an online notary, they will know what you are talking about. If you are REALLY lucky you could get your title in a week. The online speed is really only important if you plan to resell quickly, but the online notaries tend to know the most about the system because they stay up on procedures.

2. Take a rubbing of the VIN plate to the notary, or take the trailer to them so they can verify the VIN.

3. Back to the REALLY lucky part: The VIN# you put on your SF97 must be valid to the state of PA, meaning it must fit the computer's format and must not share a VIN with a vehicle already in the system. For example, my A1 had a 4-digit VIN and it came back a 1906 Cadillac! So the state has to reissue a new VIN which adds 8 weeks to the process. Either way, you will get a plate and the paper window tag immediately and you can legally tow your trailer around.

4. Expect to pay the sales tax at this time. Total bill around $100-125 for a $275 trailer. Crazy I know.

So, remember to bring:
A. Rubbing of Vin or Trailer
B. Bill of Sale from GL
C. SF97
D. Certificate to title (probably from state of Florida (which is why you need the rubbing)
E. Driver's License

If the notary is competent, you should walk out with tags in about 20 min.

Good luck!

Steve

 

[dubois9837]

Thanks, for the advice. I hope the process goes as smooth as yours did. I also have a 4 digit S/N so I guess I can expect them to issue a new S/N. But, at least I should be able to get plates the same day and I don't plan on selling the trailer so a eight week wait should not be that big of a deal. Thanks, again for the help.

 

[koolex11]

I think we have accounted for 12 of the trailers ( if my math is right ) in this thread. If my memory is correct, I think there was only around 15 trailers in the auction total. It's a small world!

I got one from that auction.

 

[Preacherboy]

Got back home last night at midnight! It was sunny and nice in Michigan, and raining cats and dogs at Letterkenny. We weren't prepared for that and got soaked to the bone. Very nice people there, they did want the trailer we were using registration, but I didn't have one...they still let me in.

Matt brought out our trailers, and we stripped the tarps, bows, and racks off (getting soaked). There was no way to safely load 4 trailers on our 18' car hauler, Matt tried several different ways.

cjtroutt will be going back to get the other 2 tomorrow. There are some large hills and the backroads (took backroads home because taking toll roads on the way there cost over $50) had even bigger ones! The Suburban would hit 210 and the fan would kick on and cool it right down, but a couple times I had to shift into 2nd to make it up the hill without overheating.

Next auction I am only buying 2 unless I can find a bigger trailer!!! Or maybe just 1 from someplace closer.

 

[Preacherboy]

One thing to note, most of these trailers light as bent from fork truck handling. Some lights are broke as well, so that is a good excuse to order new LED's!

 

[Ripcord01]

One thing to note, most of these trailers light as bent from fork truck handling. Some lights are broke as well, so that is a good excuse to order new LED's!

Most of them are. I have been lucky to have the majority of mine just bent. No biggy. Heat the brackets up and place them on a anvil and tap it with a BAH.. If I get a trailer with the metal lights I will keep them, but the plastic one's are not worth diddly. Glad to hear you got a few home with no visit from Mr.Murphy..

 

[Ratch]

Matt brought out our trailers, and we stripped the tarps, bows, and racks off (getting soaked). There was no way to safely load 4 trailers on our 18' car hauler, Matt tried several different ways.

It can be done... I haven't actually done it yet, but I've simulated it on the ground with actual units... Or, if you fold up the drawbar on 3 units, you can fit them sideways, with the last unit on the top. Might be difficult to center properly on an open center car hauler, though. Weight will be about what a car hauler's built for, too.
Not that you can go do it over, but don't let things like that limit your purchasing...

 

[Ratch]

Thanks, for the advice. I hope the process goes as smooth as yours did. I also have a 4 digit S/N so I guess I can expect them to issue a new S/N. But, at least I should be able to get plates the same day and I don't plan on selling the trailer so a eight week wait should not be that big of a deal. Thanks, again for the help.

And they really will take 8 weeks... Very frustrating...

I haven't had a 4-digit serial yet, but I've had none that fit the VIN format, so they could not be done online and I had to wait 8-weeks. Mine came back as the same serial, so I don't think they automatically issue a new VIN, just had to be mailed from the tag agency, which is apparently the big holdup. I'm thinking Koolex just had a new one issued because it had a conflict with an existing vin.

I've done 3 trailer titles in PA. With taxes and fees, it gets expensive, and with the funky serial numbers, takes too long. But it's still profitable if you don't put an hourly rate on your time.
I came from NY, sold one trailer there, and just gave my brother in law there one trailer. If I still lived in NY and tried to buy these trailers to resell, NY taxes and fee schedule would kill any profitability that makes up for the elbow grease that goes into recovering and tinkering with these things.


Oh look, Harbor Freight has cheap alpha-numeric punch sets... Probably work great on flat tin...