Although car thefts are much better known, it’s really trailer thefts that are on the rise. It’s a quick and easy for thieves, as they just walk right up to a trailer, hook it on the back of their car, and take off.
“The problem is, stealing a trailer is faster than robbing a bank,” said Ron Melancon, a trailer activist.
It’s more common too, as there are no laws requiring you to register your trailers, except for those over 4,000 pounds. Senator Charles Perry acknowledges that it’s a problem, particularly affecting farmers and contractors.
“A lot of contractors and farmers are in this area, and they have trailers stolen, so absolutely they get stolen pretty regularly around here,” said Perry.
The senator even tried to fix this problem, by co-authoring a bill requiring each and every trailer had to be registered in order to own one. However, this bill was almost immediately shut down.
“It was one of those deals that what we call a given,” said Perry. “Everybody seemed to want it, so let’s get this started, but then they all got riled up, and that’s how the process works.”
Riled up over the fee that comes with registration. In response, Melancon says it’s a small price to pay considering how people could pay so much more should their trailer be stolen.
“If people knew more about this, they would say you know what, it’s worth the 20 bucks,” said Melancon. “It’s worth it to register a trailer to prevent a theft, or are we just going to sit back and do nothing?”
However, Senator Perry says that the last thing people would want is more regulation.
“I mean who else wants to register another asset to have it potential taxed, it costs you money to register your vehicle in Texas, and it’ll cost you more money to register your trailer.”
