Registration? Own a place but not a "resident"

[Gould1]

I have a friend that purchased a boat in Maine as a private sale and registered it in NH. The boat was financed through a bank in Maine. He never paid the sales tax and the boat always resided in NH at his parents house. Never left the state. After about 3 years somehow Maine found out and and sent him a nice letter requesting the sales tax on the boat, interest on the unpaid sales tax, and penalties on the entire amount. He fought this for months and never won. He ended up settling with the State of Maine. We still to this day wonder how they tracked him down.

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by Gould1

I have a friend that purchased a boat in Maine as a private sale and registered it in NH. The boat was financed through a bank in Maine. He never paid the sales tax and the boat always resided in NH at his parents house. Never left the state. After about 3 years somehow Maine found out and and sent him a nice letter requesting the sales tax on the boat, interest on the unpaid sales tax, and penalties on the entire amount. He fought this for months and never won. He ended up settling with the State of Maine. We still to this day wonder how they tracked him down.

Probably an audit of the seller or the financing bank.

[MAXUM]

Back to the insurance bit on trailers...

My insurance - state farm - does not cover a trailer because it was attached to one of my vehicles. In fact the language in my policy specifically mentions this.

The trailer itself has a policy attached to it which covers it no matter who is pulling it. It's cheap but required. This is separate from policies that cover what is being hauled. IF I were to yard sale my boat on the road, the boat policy picks up some and the trailer some. Between the two any damages and liability would be covered up to whatever your cap is. In this case my auto coverage would not be touched unless the tow vehicle were somehow also damaged. They also pointed out to me that I need to be aware of the coverage or lack thereof if I hook up anyone else's trailer which would not be covered by them should anything happen. I suppose thinking about it - makes sense they don't want to take on unfunded liabilities.

Far as U-Haul goes or any other rental trailer, they are not covered under your policy - that is why they offer to sell you coverage if you rent one. If you look on their web site (I did was curious) they even say rental equipment is not typically covered under a car policy.

[TiltonBB]

I know many people on the lake are from Massachusetts where motor vehicle insurance is mandatory. You need your registration form (RMV 1) stamped by your insurance company prior to registering the trailer. However, the insurance companies do not charge you any additional fee for the trailer insurance, it is covered by the vehicle policy.

Assuming the trailer is being used for personal enjoyment (not commercial) the trailer will share the liability limits of the vehicle that is pulling it. That means if the pulling vehicle has a property damage limit of $100,000 the trailer will share that limit. It means the two combined have $100,000 to share. If the pulling vehicle has the minimum limit of $5,000 then they will share that. The same is true with Bodily Injury to Others. The pulling vehicle and trailer will share the limit. There is no additional charge for this. If you don’t own the trailer it doesn't matter. The MA policy extends liability coverage to any trailer you are pulling with a covered vehicle.

Different rules in different states!