Donate an equipment trailer after the machine it carried is gone

Where donated equipment trailers come from

Contractors, landscapers and farms, usually after the machine went first. A deckover or a low-profile tilt with a good deck and no cargo is an odd thing to own, and owners tend to sit on it for a year before dealing with it.

Estates are the other half. A trailer in an estate is easy to overlook and easy to undervalue, and a documented donation resolves it in one step.

We also see trailers from businesses that changed what they haul. A 14,000-pound tandem dual bought for a mini excavator is the wrong tool once the work becomes mowing.

We tow it, which is cheap

A trailer with sound tires, working lights and a good coupler gets towed behind a pickup. This is the least expensive pickup in the whole program, which means an unusually large share of the sale reaches the cause.

What matters is whether it rolls safely. Tell us the tire condition, whether the lights work, whether the brakes function and whether the coupler and safety chains are intact. Rotted tires are common on a parked trailer and not a dealbreaker, but we need to know so the driver brings what he needs.

Clear the deck. Anything left on it travels with the trailer and becomes part of the sale.

What decides what an equipment trailer brings

• Deck length and GVWR. The two numbers on every listing. A 20-plus-foot deck rated 14,000 pounds is the volume market.
• Deck type. Deckover, low-profile between-the-fenders, or tilt. Each sells to a different buyer, and a hydraulic tilt is worth clearly more.
• Ramps. Fold-up ramps, slide-in ramps, a dovetail, a mega ramp. Present and straight is what a buyer wants.
• Tires, brakes and lights. A trailer that can be hooked up and driven away sells for more than one that needs a shop day first.
• Deck floor and frame. Wood floor rot and frame cracking at the tongue are what an inspector checks. Photograph both.

Makes we accept

Trailers are shopped by brand and deck length.

• Most common: Big Tex, PJ Trailers, Load Trail, Diamond C, Felling, Towmaster, Cam Superline, Sure-Trac, Bri-Mar, H&H.
• Heavy and specialty: Trail King, Talbert, XL Specialized, Landoll tilt and traveling-axle, Rogers, Kaufman, Eager Beaver.
• Aluminum: Aluma, Featherlite, EBY, Trailtech, Timpte flatbeds.

Manufacturer names appear here so you can find your own trailer. No manufacturer sponsors, endorses or is affiliated with this program.

The paperwork, and what you can deduct

Trailer titling varies more by state than anything else we accept. Some states title every trailer, some only above a weight threshold, and some issue nothing at all for smaller ones. We will tell you which applies where you are, and the state title rules page covers the process. Where there is no title, a bill of sale plus the VIN or serial plate off the tongue is what we need.

Giving Center sells the trailer and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds, reported on Form 1098-C. A late-model tandem dual equipment trailer often lands between $500 and $5,000, where Form 8283 Section A applies and no appraisal is required. A large hydraulic tilt or a traveling-axle trailer can clear $5,000, and above that the IRS requires a qualified appraisal at your expense and by your choice.

A small older trailer with rotted tires and a soft floor may sell for under $500. In that band the deduction is the lesser of fair market value or $500 and we send a written acknowledgment instead of a 1098-C. We will tell you if that is where yours sits before anything is scheduled.