Trailer V.I.N. Plate Warning

The other week a friend of mine called me to give me a warning about something that happened to him when he was towing his enclosed car trailer. When he was returning home to Pennsylvania he was pulled over in Maryland by a State Trooper. The Trooper then proceeded to do a full on D.O.T. like inspection of the truck and trailer. BTW, my friend's uses his truck & trailer for personal use and not any commercial hauling. Anyway, the Trooper told my friend that he pulled him over because his trailer was not secure. Apparently the small latch that flips up & down that is used to lock the flat piece of metal into the bottom latch was not in place. For this he received a warning.

During the inspection by the Trooper, he could not read the trailer's Vehicle Identification Number on the trailer.

Back in 1999 when this trailer was built the manufacturer used a stick-on sticker that had the V.I.N. and other information printed on it.

Over the years, the printing faded and/or wore off. So when the trooper tried to match the trailer to the registration card for the trailer he was unable to do so. As a result, the Trooper issued a ticket to my friend for this violation. (Sorry, I can't remember the name of the violation on the ticket).

So, if any of you out there have a trailer with a worn/faded V.I.N. sticker be advised that you may be at risk for a ticket.

After my friend told me about this experience, I remembered that the person who inspected my trailer this year warned me that my trailer's V.I.N. sticker was getting very hard to read because it has faded. I contacted the dealer where I bough my trailer 7+ years ago. They told me that the trailer manufacturer had since gone out of business. Since I purchased my trailer from them they decided to make an engraved V.I.N. plate for me and sent it to me free of charge. They did the same thing for my friend who also bought his trailer from them back in 1999. Talk about customer service.

Charlier,

Since this was a positive experience with regard to the Trailer Sales company, would you care to share their name? We should all want to support those who react reasonably and fairly.

Charlier,

Since this was a positive experience with regard to the Trailer Sales company, would you care to share their name? We should all want to support those who react reasonably and fairly.

Great suggestions Marty!

The name of the company that sold me my trailer and that sent me the V.I.N. plate is:

TRAILER ENTERPRISES - Huge Inventory of Trailers For Sale in MD, Enclosed, Cargo, Car, Motorcycle, Dump, Equipment, Tilt, Landscape, Utility, Flatbed, Livestock, Aluminum Livestock, Bri-Mar Trailers, & Dump Inserts for Trucks a family owned business located near Hagerstown, MD.