My Fancy Trailer

TARider

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Location
Concord
I come home today to a personal property tax bill for something valued at $12,600. To the credit of the county tax office someone answered the phone at 4:55 on a Friday. There ends the extent of their usefulness.
I ask what the bill is for and they say it's for my trailer. After choking, I explain it's a 6x10 single axle open utility trailer that retailed for $1,050 when I bought it in 2015 and still retails for the same price on the manufacturers site today.
I ask how they assigned the value and they said they didn't have any info on it so used the average value. Excuse me? The average value of a utility trailer in Cabarrus county is almost $13,000??? I must be a real cheap ass. Surely this can be fixed on the phone, right? No, the county person says if I want to dispute the value I'll need to mail in pictures and a form which they have to mail me. I can't even print one from their website? Nope. Can't wait to see how the rest of this process goes. I'm sure it won't be smooth.
In the interim if anyone wants a screaming deal on a utility trailer I'll sell it for half off the county value!
 
My take on this...any kind of property value dispute, all you have to do is list it with realtor, etc for say six months. If no takers, then county is required to buy it at their value. That'll keep them honest!

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I have a buddy who lives in Hendersonville and he was storing a boat in his basement for someone he knew while the guy was doin some remodeling.He said the boat had been there less than two weeks before they sent him a notice about the taxes on the boat.

The way his house is built its built into a bank and you can barely see the basement from the road much less what was in it.So the tax guy has had to literally get out of his vehicle to look in the basement window.I don't remember what hoops he had to jump thru to get it resolved but he was pissed about it.
 
1-tonmudder said:
The way his house is built its built into a bank and you can barely see the basement from the road much less what was in it.So the tax guy has had to literally get out of his vehicle to look in the basement window.
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I had heard they do that so made the mistake of filling out the annual form they send out asking if you have any property of these types to claim. Next time I'll wait til they catch me.....
 
When I bought my "new to me" trailer, & took the title to DMV, it came up as a 52' refuse trailer! Took a few tries to explain to them What a car trailer.They had me sign a paper describing my trailer, & the price I paid for it. Then they notarized it & proceeded with the title / tag process! They claimed some trailer vin numbers come up listed wrong. So, I didn't have to bring the trailer to an inspector.
But, the other day, I got a tax notice on my boat, & it's more than doubled the boats value. I still got to pull last years tax file, & look it up. What's going On?:mad:
 
Cumberland county bumped the value of my 67 Fairlane from $2000 to $18000. After I emailed pics of it not restored they dropped the value back down to $8000 which is still high IMO. They weren't amused with the old "cut the check, I'll bring you the title" deal. I assume they're tired of hearing it. The next year they valued my wheeling truck, which is a 78 f150 at $8000, up from $400. I saved that rusty pile from the scrap pile. After sending in pics of it with no bed and tubes everywhere, rust holes, dents I got it dropped to $800.

It appears your county is using the same Barrett Jackson price guide as mine, even for utility trailers.

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The state went up on the price of tags too...
 
Tim C said:
Cumberland county bumped the value of my 67 Fairlane from $2000 to $18000. After I emailed pics of it not restored they dropped the value back down to $8000 which is still high IMO. They weren't amused with the old "cut the check, I'll bring you the title" deal. I assume they're tired of hearing it. The next year they valued my wheeling truck, which is a 78 f150 at $8000, up from $400. I saved that rusty pile from the scrap pile. After sending in pics of it with no bed and tubes everywhere, rust holes, dents I got it dropped to $800.
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Get an antique tag...ten bucks more, but limited by state statute to $500 tax value.
 
I had a similar issue when I brought my 7x16 into North Carolina. Florida didn't require titles for trailers so I did not have one. Further the company that built it is out of business now. After they researched it, they gave me a value close to $15,000. Fortunately, I was able to "find" the bill of sale from when I paid $1,500 for it 5 years ago and they came off the price. Get as much info as you can and go to the actual tag agency. They will generally work with you...
 
bought one of our work trucks last year, bill of sale and title in hand went to DMV, got the tax on the purchase price and weighted tag $98, tags comes around due this year, little over double. taxed on market value of the truck (damn) lil over $200 this time.
Got a letter asking for purchase price of our camper for tax purposes ( bought camper new 6 years ago ) I ignored that letter, tax bill was based on a $5500 valuation. I'm ok with that, might be worth more, but I wasn't going to give it to them.

it would seem with a "forever tag" your trailer gets lost in the mist somewhere. no tax, but it's still registered to you. look up your drivers license on the DMV website, it will tell you what vehicles are still associated with you.
I sold a 73 GMC in 2009, it apparently never got reregistered. same with an '84 Toyota truck that I had scrapped in 2001, still shows up on DMV as being mine.

I understand that THEIR valuation is over and above, but it isn't like the actual bill is totally outrageous ( aside from being yet another tax)
 
Blkvoodoo said:
bought one of our work trucks last year, bill of sale and title in hand went to DMV, got the tax on the purchase price and weighted tag $98, tags comes around due this year, little over double. taxed on market value of the truck (damn) lil over $200 this time.
Got a letter asking for purchase price of our camper for tax purposes ( bought camper new 6 years ago ) I ignored that letter, tax bill was based on a $5500 valuation. I'm ok with that, might be worth more, but I wasn't going to give it to them.

it would seem with a "forever tag" your trailer gets lost in the mist somewhere. no tax, but it's still registered to you. look up your drivers license on the DMV website, it will tell you what vehicles are still associated with you.
I sold a 73 GMC in 2009, it apparently never got reregistered. same with an '84 Toyota truck that I had scrapped in 2001, still shows up on DMV as being mine.

I understand that THEIR valuation is over and above, but it isn't like the actual bill is totally outrageous ( aside from being yet another tax)
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Technically you're supposed to report the trailers with forever tags at the end of the year with your property tax on your house for instance. I had to prove how much I initially paid for my 14k deckover by showing a receipt. The tax value has depreciated each year since then, but it's claimed on the same form as the house and pets. That's the only property tax that has seemed fair to me, they kept the value to what I bought it for, unlike my Fairlane and truck.

I have no proof but I've heard Cumberland county is using Google earth to search for trailers, boats, RVs, and outbuildings and comparing Google earth to the reported taxes.

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Blkvoodoo said:
it would seem with a "forever tag" your trailer gets lost in the mist somewhere. no tax, but it's still registered to you. look up your drivers license on the DMV website, it will tell you what vehicles are still associated with you.
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I have 4 of the permanent tags. I don't list until the county finds it. Takes about 3-4 years for the county to catch it. 1st three just had to start paying taxes. Last one they caught had to pay 4 years worth.
 
Got my Tax bill, "clarified"! Turns out they didn't change my boat listing. They Added their accessed value of my 2007 Trailer! Bill only shows boat & under that, personal vehicle. Some dumbass claims they don't have room to print "2007 trailer". But there's room for personal vehicle. They listed my trailer value, as $3200. To dispute this I needed to send description of trailer, & pictures. I did, along with the first Web site [B&L Trailers] that I came up with, which showed My trailer, Brand New, for 2250. The nice tax lady, reviewed the info, looked at the Wrong trailer, & saw $2600. The Site They use, & other sites, She claims to use, show a 2007 trailer selling for $2650, & New, in the range of $3000. She reduced me to $2620, - their standard 10%, to now, $2358. That's the best I can do, without farther appeals, which isn't worth the 7-9 $ difference. My tax will be $33. She also told me the Permanent or forever tags, Do require their owners, to list such items on the year end personal property tax form. They realize that DMV employees, are Not taking time to instruct the tag buyers, of such.
Until now, I had been pleased with the tax values on my vehicles, & trailers. Seem NC is set on Ripping us off, now! :shaking:
 
I mailed off my pictures and appeal on Monday. Friday I received another form to send in. No word yet on what their plan is.
 
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