I bought a used boat trailer from a 2cooler on here and the whole deal felt kinda shady when I was buying it. The guy did have some official paperwork showing that it was not stolen so I bought it. Turned out when I tried to register it at my local county office it was still in a another guy's name. They would not tell me who it was registered to so I am stuck with a $500 trailer I can't use. Go to your local tax office and see if they can look it up for you. Good luck!

 

They would not tell me who it was registered to so I am stuck with a $500 trailer I can't use. Go to your local tax office and see if they can look it up for you. Good luck!

That's weird, normally you go in, fill out a piece of paper, pay the $2 admin fee and you get the info.

I had to do that once when I bought my dune buggy from a guy that got it from a guy that got it from a guy in trade for some work...etc. I tracked down the original owner and he was nice enough to sign the title over to me. So technically, when I went to buy the buggy...I already owned it Luckily for the seller I'm also honest.

 

You can PM it to me and I will try to run it on Public Data. Just looked, it has trailer info

 

PM sent, appreciate it!

 

If you are worried about it being stolen you should be able to call the PD or Sheriff's Office and they can run the VIN or the plate.

 

Stinkbait hooked me up!

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

You can call TXDOT also I believe.

 

Galveston County Auto Crimes Task Force

My memory is a bit faded, but I remember taking a trailer to the Galveston County Auto Crimes Task Force located in Dickinson. They provided a document which confirmed that the trailer was not reported as stolen. With that document, Harris County issued me a license.
http://www.galvestoncountytx.gov/actf/Pages/default.aspx

 

My memory is a bit faded, but I remember taking a trailer to the Galveston County Auto Crimes Task Force located in Dickinson. They provided a document which confirmed that the trailer was not reported as stolen. With that document, Harris County issued me a license.
http://www.galvestoncountytx.gov/actf/Pages/default.aspx

That's exactly the document I had only from another town. It just means it's not stolen. It can still be in someone else's name and that document does not mean squat for getting the title transferred. One of these days I'm gonna mess with it some more and see what I can do to get hold of the real owner.

 

Jumped through hoops a couple years ago trying to by boat, motor and trailer. Bought the whole rig cuz I really wanted the motor. The boat and motor weren't nearly as big of a pain to get transferred into my name as the trailer. The trailer was a major headache. There's been so much theft and money missed out on as far as taxes that they've really cracked down on it. Used to be able to register as homeade and pay 5$ to have transferred, not anymore.

I had to make an appointment with a special officer assigned to trailers. Went thru a bunch of paperwork etc so they could issue a new serial # since there was no way to know the previous