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i bought a small travel trailed in November of 2016. I keep the Trailer in Bastrop County (lease a camp site)
I live in Travis county, I bought the trailer in Lee county new from a dealer.

When the registration expires do I have to pay a tax on the trailer if I don't use it on the road anymore.??

If so then to what county?? I don't want to lose my LTC over a technicality

You can't loose your LTC for not registering a vehicle. If you have a vehicle with an expired registration and it has not been in use on the road and you have no citation for expired registration then there is no penalty for not having it registered. I had a 5th wheel that I did not use on the road for about 8 years and I did not register it. Sold it and the new owner had to pay the tax and registration. I now have a 5th wheel that does hit the road from time to time and it is registered in the County of my residence.

Tax, what tax? Sales tax is paid at time of purchase and license fees are paid with each license - new or renewal. Right?

Oldgringo wrote:Tax, what tax? Sales tax is paid at time of purchase and license fees are paid with each license - new or renewal. Right?

Correct. Tax is paid when you first buy the RV then each year the registration.

carlson1 wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Tax, what tax? Sales tax is paid at time of purchase and license fees are paid with each license - new or renewal. Right?

Correct. Tax is paid when you first buy the RV then each year the registration.

Good, that's all we've been paying and that is plenty! Having to have you TT inspected is a FARCE!

Oldgringo wrote:

carlson1 wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Tax, what tax? Sales tax is paid at time of purchase and license fees are paid with each license - new or renewal. Right?

Correct. Tax is paid when you first buy the RV then each year the registration.

Good, that's all we've been paying and that is plenty! Having to have you TT inspected is a FARCE!

This year was the first time we have ever had the 5th wheel inspected. I was told because it was now electronic they found a way to keep track of it. It was a joke. The guy came out got in my truck and he had me drive around the building and I paid the $7.00 and that was it. If they do away with inspections maybe it will be back to just registering.

Oldgringo wrote:

carlson1 wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Tax, what tax? Sales tax is paid at time of purchase and license fees are paid with each license - new or renewal. Right?

Correct. Tax is paid when you first buy the RV then each year the registration.

Good, that's all we've been paying and that is plenty! Having to have you TT inspected is a FARCE!

It really goes much further. Our motor home is considered to be a diesel powered vehicle and only eligible for a "safety check". First, in spite of the fact that most state inspection licenses cover a broad range of vehicles, most of them will not consider inspecting motor homes. So just finding a station that will do it is a major effort. I believe that a part of it is that there is not "drag along" incentive. A station that inspects passenger vehicles can expect some additional items like an oil change or even a light bulb replacement if the car fails the inspection. They are not equipped to do that work on a motor home.

A few years ago, the inspection fee was $15. I went to the DPS website and found a list of what items were required to be inspected. They included what you would expect - tires, brakes, horn, windshield wipers, lights. The inspector would be required to drive the vehicle in order do some of those checks. There is no way that an inspection business could stay in business taking the time to check all of those things for $15 on a motor home. Then they cut the fee to $7.00 and now it really doesn't make sense to expect all of those things to be done on a 22,000lb vehicle.

I promise that our motor home registration is much higher than a travel trailer. I view that registration and the inspection as just another tax and have stopped getting my blood pressure up over it. As luck would have it, my motor home registration is due in January. I have to make sure to pick a day when the inspection station can handle me without a long wait (there is no good place for me to park there) and the weather isn't inclement. I don't want to find out how well my anti-lock brakes do on ice or snow.

There is so much more that can cause safety problems on a motor home than is covered by the inspection. Just maintaining the air brakes, keeping the system free of moisture and verifying that the automatic controls including the slack adjusters are working properly takes more time than the state mandated safety requirements. Because I've always been concerned that out of State law enforcement would use a burned out light bulb as an excuse to pull me over, I've replaced all of the lights with LED so the safety inspection of those really doesn't make a lot of sense.

I had to move a travel trailer once that was someone's residence... was years out of registration, needed tires and all kinds of work to be legal and safe to move (one time) to a new property. I opted to pay a towing company $150 to move it on temporary wheels... no paperwork, repairs, taxes or fuss. Just moving a piece or personal property from one place to another.

So.... I have my first travel trailer which was purchased new last October. I was told that it needed an annual inspection to maintain the warrantee, but I didn't know it needed a DMV-type of inspection. What is normally involved in getting one, and what do they check?

carlson1 wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:

carlson1 wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Tax, what tax? Sales tax is paid at time of purchase and license fees are paid with each license - new or renewal. Right?

Correct. Tax is paid when you first buy the RV then each year the registration.

Good, that's all we've been paying and that is plenty! Having to have you TT inspected is a FARCE!

This year was the first time we have ever had the 5th wheel inspected. I was told because it was now electronic they found a way to keep track of it. It was a joke. The guy came out got in my truck and he had me drive around the building and I paid the $7.00 and that was it. If they do away with inspections maybe it will be back to just registering.

They are checking 4 things if they are doing it correctly.
1. Lights work: running, brake, signal, hazard and tag.
2. Tires
3. Brakes
4. hitch

Those are what need to be properly working for putting it on the road.

The Annoyed Man wrote:So.... I have my first travel trailer which was purchased new last October. I was told that it needed an annual inspection to maintain the warrantee, but I didn't know it needed a DMV-type of inspection. What is normally involved in getting one, and what do they check?

Starting last year (?), you have to pay some guy $7 to give you a piece of paper that allows you to pay an additional sum for your licenses plate/sticker. It's a fee grabbing farce! Oh yes, motor homes are bigger and cost more.

Now that that's out of the way, we have some pretty nice state parks in Texas and maybe some even nicer ones in Arkansas. Hit the road, TAM. It may be later than you think.

Oldgringo wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:So.... I have my first travel trailer which was purchased new last October. I was told that it needed an annual inspection to maintain the warrantee, but I didn't know it needed a DMV-type of inspection. What is normally involved in getting one, and what do they check?

Starting last year (?), you have to pay some guy $7 to give you a piece of paper that allows you to pay an additional sum for your licenses plate/sticker. It's a fee grabbing farce! Oh yes, motor homes are bigger and cost more.

Now that that's out of the way, we have some pretty nice state parks in Texas and maybe some even nicer ones in Arkansas. Hit the road, TAM. It may be later than you think.

We are hitting the road for a couple of weeks on the 21st.......for Commiefornia. But after we get back, we're going to start investigating our state parks, as well as Arkansas, and SE Oklahoma too.

The Annoyed Man wrote: We are hitting the road for a couple of weeks on the 21st.......for Commiefornia. But after we get back, we're going to start investigating our state parks, as well as Arkansas, and SE Oklahoma too.

Contact me when you get back. We've spent a lot of time in the State parts in the areas that you mentioned and I have a lot of information that I'd love to share. I also can share some information that I don't want to post here about trailer inspections.

Stay safe in Commiefornia. We've been to Needles but didn't venture further in with our RV.