Popup registration options?

[Patrick w]

You actually can register it in another state, as long as your insurance company knows where you reside and operate it.
Case in point: people who live in pa mostly but still have a house in ny. They split their time, but for federal and state tax purposes 51 percent is in pa. Do they need to switch their plates to pa, as they have more than one car and often just take the bus to go between. Do they have to have the pa car with pa plates? Or visa versa?
As per Geico rep, the answer was no. You tell them which car resides where, and they rate your insurance where you have the car.

The problems as you suggest , are interesting. U-Haul rents trailers, none are registered in states which have anuual stuff, even if the trailer is stuck in another state.
In NY, the trailer is covered by the vehicle towing it. They have no requirement for insurance. (unless you wish to get insurance).
Annual registration is based on weight. It isn't too bad. Just inconvenient.

 

[theseus]

I know that some states are cracking down on the whole register your RV out of state to not pay the fees. It's big business to register your new fifth wheel or coach in Montana (one time fee). Some states are also starting to look for mismatches in driver's license and RV registration.

 

[MNTCamper]

You actually can register it in another state, as long as your insurance company knows where you reside and operate it.
Case in point: people who live in pa mostly but still have a house in ny. They split their time, but for federal and state tax purposes 51 percent is in pa. Do they need to switch their plates to pa, as they have more than one car and often just take the bus to go between. Do they have to have the pa car with pa plates? Or visa versa?
As per Geico rep, the answer was no. You tell them which car resides where, and they rate your insurance where you have the car.

The problems as you suggest , are interesting. U-Haul rents trailers, none are registered in states which have anuual stuff, even if the trailer is stuck in another state.
In NY, the trailer is covered by the vehicle towing it. They have no requirement for insurance. (unless you wish to get insurance).
Annual registration is based on weight. It isn't too bad. Just inconvenient.

If NY ever comes after someone who does that for residency purposes, they will be toast as this is direct evidence that their state of residence is NY. There is all sorts of case law out there on this. This would be foolish. There are all sorts of states that do this and look at all the evidence.

 

[nitrohorse]

I have to pay $20/year.

Can you pay it in installments..?

 

[Clemens]

Here in florida I pay around 30 a year for my pop-up and 50 a yr for my minivan.

 

[jdsdj98]

There's no apples-to-apples comparison of registration fees across state lines. Overall funding structures vary from state to state, from county to county, from municipality to municipality in ways that make this single line item comparison pointless. You'd have to consider the full spectrum of taxes and fees that we all pay (along with the benefits derived from those payments) to live where we do. Only then could we begin to understand whether the registration fee for a very specialized type of trailer or vehicle owned by a small percentage of the entire population is proportionally higher or lower in any side-by-side comparison.

Which brings me back to my earlier point - Suck it up and pay your share to live where you do. Your neighbors will thank you.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Probably opening a can of worms here, but aside from (not so) gray legal areas there's something that just isn't right at all about cheating this specific system. There's a reason registration fees are structured the way they are within a given jurisdiction. I've never even thought about trying to register a car or trailer through a bogus address. Why would you want to fund access to and maintenance of infrastructure for residents of another state? That then shifts the funding burden for the infrastructure that you enjoy near home to your neighbors who do the right thing while you enjoy the benefit of their contribution without paying your fair share. You'll have then forfeited any right to complain about the condition of that infrastructure that enables your travel to and from work, the grocery store, your kid's school, and your favorite nearby campground.

The county office just paid $70K for a computer program that will be obsolete in 4 MONTHS and they knew this while building / buying the program. They also just changed all the room #'s in the building that have been the same room #'s for 40 YEARS....so they paid a company to make all the little signs, change all the letters / numbers on each door.... for what purpose? And you know the company that did it charged a premium and I'm sure was friends with someone somewhere. You say it goes towards "infrastructure" and I call BS. The roads aren't smooth, 695 in a lot of places is a total mess... don't even look at Baltimore City. I don't know if they've heard of this word "infrastructure".

You say "cheating".. but I say we're being pretty cheated ourselves.

I got a quote from Maine for $174 for the 1st year, then it's rated differently but for me would be $50 or so every year after, so not worth it. She said that MD will beat registration on campers. Commercial trailers are ~ $12/yr.

Edit: MD costs are $51 / year as someone posted earlier and I have since found out. In the end I'll probably just eat it and move on. Not really worth the hassle to save ~ $30 or something.

 

[Patrick w]

You can't win across the board.
The three pillars of govt funding still has to workout; sales tax, property (and registration) tax, and income tax. I think in some states you pay more annually based upon the value of your vehicle.

 

[jdsdj98]

The county office just paid $70K for a computer program that will be obsolete in 4 MONTHS and they knew this while building / buying the program. They also just changed all the room #'s in the building that have been the same room #'s for 40 YEARS....so they paid a company to make all the little signs, change all the letters / numbers on each door.... for what purpose? And you know the company that did it charged a premium and I'm sure was friends with someone somewhere. You say it goes towards "infrastructure" and I call BS. The roads aren't smooth, 695 in a lot of places is a total mess... don't even look at Baltimore City. I don't know if they've heard of this word "infrastructure".

You say "cheating".. but I say we're being pretty cheated ourselves.

I got a quote from Maine for $174 for the 1st year, then it's rated differently but for me would be $50 or so every year after, so not worth it. She said that MD will beat registration on campers. Commercial trailers are ~ $12/yr.

Edit: MD costs are $51 / year as someone posted earlier and I have since found out. In the end I'll probably just eat it and move on. Not really worth the hassle to save ~ $30 or something.

Hold all accountable with your vote. Pester your state legislators. Pen an op-ed. I'm not suggesting you suck it up quietly.

But the one thing you can be guaranteed is that none of the issues you've raised are addressed by sending your money across state lines for the benefit of others. Good that you've at least put a price on your time and sanity.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Hold all accountable with your vote. Pester your state legislators. Pen an op-ed. I'm not suggesting you suck it up quietly.

I vote, but I don't have that kind of time for all the other stuff. My kids are still young, I want to spend as much time with them that I can before they reach the age they no longer like me.

But the one thing you can be guaranteed is that none of the issues you've raised are addressed by sending your money across state lines for the benefit of others.

They're not exactly going to get fixed if I keep it here either, lol. The county / city has been ran that way (into the ground) for far more years than I've been alive.

 

[Linda Grohman]

I just bought our first PUP in California. The gentleman who sold it to us explained the following. In California, if your trailer has one axle it is considered a utility trailer and utility trailers have permanent registration which is a one time $10 fee. If your trailer has 2 axles, it is not a utility trailer and regular registration rules and fees apply. He also explained that most people are unaware of this rule and that DMV isn't going to make you aware of it which is why so many people are registering their one axle utility trailers/PUPs annually. They don't need to. He said that many other states used these same guidelines. To be clear, I did not research this for accuracy. When I transferred ownership of the PUP, however, I had no problem retaining the permanent registration.

 

[Sjm9911]

I just bought our first PUP in California. The gentleman who sold it to us explained the following. In California, if your trailer has one axle it is considered a utility trailer and utility trailers have permanent registration which is a one time $10 fee. If your trailer has 2 axles, it is not a utility trailer and regular registration rules and fees apply. He also explained that most people are unaware of this rule and that DMV isn't going to make you aware of it which is why so many people are registering their one axle utility trailers/PUPs annually. They don't need to. He said that many other states used these same guidelines. To be clear, I did not research this for accuracy. When I transferred ownership of the PUP, however, I had no problem retaining the permanent registration.

Just a quick search came back with this https://legalbeagle.com/7512496-requirements-registration-utility-trailer-california.html