Boarders: How many of you are charged for keeping a trailer at your barn? If you are, how much? Or, is it included in your board rate? Do you have to show proof of insurance and have a current inspection sticker? TIA!
Included. Never had to show insurance or inspection. We only have one boarder currently who keeps her trailer on the grounds.
No charge for boarders, no proof, but inspection stickers are easy to read if BO had a mind to go round reading them. However, since all the trailers are currently used in a place where we have to have yearly inspections, there’s not a lot of point in reading stickers 
I have been places that charged and I have been places that did not charge. The charge was $25/month.
None have every asked for proof of insurance, registration or inspection.
I’m a little confused as to why a BO would be concerned at all with proof of insurance, registration, or inspection. How does any of that impact the BO? 
I don’t pay to park my trailer at the barn and the barn asked for no paperwork regarding the trailer when I bought it.
One place I was at charged $25 a month. The other 2 didn’t charge. Never showed proof of insurance, registration, ownership or inspection.
Most barns around here (Bay Area) charge ~$50 a month. I never had request for any paperwork.
Included. My state doesn’t require inspections or insurance. I only carry separate insurance for the trailer now because it’s new and I wanted extra coverage in case of any big ticket damage. Otherwise, insurance is connected to the tow vehicle.
I did fill out a form with model info and license plate number identifying the trailer as mine as part of BO’s evacuation info form.
I’ve been in both situations. In my experience, most barns in this area don’t charge unless they don’t have a lot of space and want to discourage the practice. No inspection/paperwork requirements. I’ve paid a dollar a day, so $30 month.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8714341]
I’m a little confused as to why a BO would be concerned at all with proof of insurance, registration, or inspection. How does any of that impact the BO? [/QUOTE]
I’d say, to lessen the chance of having someone park a trailer they weren’t using and then abandon it. You can leave an uninsured vehicle on private property, but you can’t drive it away on the road. I lived in a rental apartment building that had a big problem with this. Tenants were leaving their uninsured, broken down cars in the underground parking lot, and sometimes moving away without taking them. There were more parking slots than cars (transit had improved a lot since building went up), so we weren’t assigned slots, and some people had more than one nonfunctional car down there. It took the managers a while to see there was a problem brewing and then to figure out how to deal with it.
Plus, if there is damage to or theft of the trailer while it’s on your property, you want the owners to have insurance.
[QUOTE=Scribbler;8714689]
I’d say, to lessen the chance of having someone park a trailer they weren’t using and then abandon it. [/QUOTE]
This was one of my thoughts as well, but just charging a fee would be enough to prevent most people from abandoning it. I’ve boarded at probably a dozen barns in my lifetime, worked at dozens upon dozens of other boarding barns, and very few times have I seen trailer abandonment issues. The bigger issues with trailers is lack of parking space, which can be addressed by assessing a fee for parking. It is unusual for anyone to keep a trailer on a property after they have moved their horse; many barns simply don’t allow it.
You can leave an uninsured vehicle on private property, but you can’t drive it away on the road.
True for vehicles, but not trailers, at least not in any state where I ever lived. Trailers are covered under your vehicle’s insurance when towed… is a BO really going to ask for proof of insurance on your truck??? Many people add supplemental insurance policies on their trailer to cover damage/theft, but they are not mandatory per state regulations. I’d be pretty miffed if a BO told me I had to take out an insurance policy (if I did not already have one) just to park the trailer at the farm.
I lived in a rental apartment building that had a big problem with this. Tenants were leaving their uninsured, broken down cars in the underground parking lot, and sometimes moving away without taking them. There were more parking slots than cars (transit had improved a lot since building went up), so we weren’t assigned slots, and some people had more than one nonfunctional car down there.
Cars and horse trailers are different beasts, though. Boarding barns tend to be much smaller than most apartment complexes to keep tabs on things and boarders don’t tend to own two or three “broken down” trailers they need to stash…
Plus, if there is damage to or theft of the trailer while it’s on your property, you want the owners to have insurance.
Ok, but again, insurance policies are optional on trailers. If you own an older trailer, it’s very common not to have a separate policy on it. Yeah, the BO would want to be free of liability in case of theft or damage, but usually there’s a clause in the contract to cover that. BOs don’t require boarders to hold insurance policies on their tack or even their horses, so why would they require it for a trailer?
I can see a BO wanting a plate #/vin #/make & model just for record keeping purposes, but asking for proof of insurance or inspection seems extremely micromanaging in my opinion.
If a barn owner or their staff damaged my trailer I would expect their insurance to be paying for it, not my policy on my trailer.
THese kinds of questions are pretty wide open as to what is ‘normal’ or ‘customary’ or ‘reasonable’ since COTH is a national, even international, forum.
Where land is pricey and stables are located on smaller parcels, there is more likely to be a charge for leaving a trailer. Larger farms with more space, more pastures, more turnout are often able to store trailers at no cost in an area that’s out of the way.
We’re in southern California. Our city equestrian code limits the number of trailers that can be stored on our ranch properties, and space is very tight so we do have a charge for the few trailers we can accept.
Options in our area are to keep trailers at the owner’s homes (often there is no room) or at an RV storage place. RV place is a pain because you have to not only pay, but plan on their hours to get in and out which don’t always coincided with wee-hours show departures.
So the paid storage at a stable becomes a convenience as well as a necessity if you don’t have room in your home driveway for a trailer, or your city doesn’t allow RV storage.
As to insurance info, etc? Seems within the realm of reasonable for a BO to ask for proof of insurance or ownership on a trailer, if that’s what they feel comfortable with in order to have that expensive equipment on their property. Yes, most trailers are linked to the towing vehicle, but in CA, I do pay separate insurance on the trailers themselves.
Perhaps the issue is when the trailer owner uses it for storage of, say, show equipment on the BO’s property… if someone breaks into the trailer, who is liable, owner or BO?
Different strokes for different horse folks, depending on where they live…
My barn recently (in the last 3 years) started charging $15/month for trailer storage. It’s a bit irritating because we’re expected to park on grass and parking is always a headache, but I can understand why they charge.
I keep mine at home but no there wouldn’t be a charge for parking it there. There’s no trailer insurance requirement in my state for trailers nor do we have yearly inspection. You can tell that the registration fees have been paid on it though by looking at the sticker on the tag.
There’s no requirement for trailers to be inspected or insured here - mine is because I have a loan on it - and in the state my trailer is registered, there are no stickers on the tag and the plate itself has the date on it (since they issue “semi permanent” plates to personal trailers).
[QUOTE=tabula rashah;8714870]
I keep mine at home but no there wouldn’t be a charge for parking it there. There’s no trailer insurance requirement in my state for trailers nor do we have yearly inspection. You can tell that the registration fees have been paid on it though by looking at the sticker on the tag.[/QUOTE]
We also have no insurance requirements for trailers, no inspection, and don’t even require registration or tags on horse/livestock trailers.
I have a lifetime registration and tag on mine that’s a one time fee, never expires.
I also totally agree with soloudinhere, if the barn damages the trailer, they should not be expecting boarders’ insurance to pay.
I have more $$$ in horse flesh standing out in my pasture than my trailer cost new. Though it was years ago, my first (new) saddle cost more than my first (used) trailer. Requiring insurance for boarders to park a trailer because they are “expensive” seems silly in such a high dollar sport. But to each their own.
Both barns I’ve boarded at (original and current) charge $25 per month for a typical 2h trailer for parking. It is not included in the board. That’s fairly typical for this area. Nobody mentioned tags/inspection, but since they are both required in PA to put the trailer on the road, it’s more or less a given that they will have it unless someone just isn’t using their trailer for a long period of time and “forgets” to renew sticker or inspection.
Nope, would never think to charge any of my boarders to park their horse trailers here on my farm. Certainly not the norm in my area…southern Ontario. In fact I don’t know anyone in my area that does charge. Yearly mechanical inspections are a requirement for trailering licensing in Ontario. But certainly not my business to go around checking safety certificate dates either.
