Donate a pintle or tag trailer built for a truck you no longer run

Where donated pintle trailers come from

Municipalities, utilities and public works departments. A tag-along trailer comes off a capital cycle with a sound deck and a good frame, and a public entity often cannot sell it easily.

Contractors who moved from medium-duty trucks to pickups. The trailer is suddenly untowable by anything in the fleet.

Estates and closing businesses. A 10-ton tag trailer is a valuable thing with a very small pool of people who can hook to it.

We bring a truck with a pintle hook

That is the crux of this category. A pintle ring does not fit a ball, so a pickup with a bumper hitch cannot move it. We bring a medium or heavy truck with a pintle hook and cover the cost.

Tell us the GVWR, the deck length, and whether it has air brakes or electric. Air-brake tag trailers need a truck with an air supply, which is a different vehicle again.

Tell us whether the ramps fold and whether the deck latches. Stuck ramps are common on a trailer that has sat and they affect how it loads, not whether we accept it.

What decides what one brings

• Capacity. 6-ton, 10-ton, 15-ton and up. This is the first thing a buyer filters on.
• Brake type. Air versus electric changes who can legally tow it and therefore the buyer pool.
• Deck length, width and ramps. Fold-down ramps, a beavertail, or a full flat deck.
• Axles, tires and suspension. Tandem or tri-axle, and whether the tires would pass an inspection.
• Frame and deck condition. Cracks at the tongue and around the ramp hinges are the usual faults.

Makes we accept

Heavy tag trailers are a brand market.

• Most common: Felling, Eager Beaver, Towmaster, Butler, Interstate, Cronkhite, Hudson, Econoline.
• Heavy and specialty: Trail King, Talbert, Rogers, XL Specialized, Landoll, Nabors, Load King.
• Municipal and utility: Brooks Brothers, Sauber, Altec and Terex reel trailers, Ditch Witch and Vermeer equipment tags.

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. A trailer in this weight class is titled in essentially every state.

Giving Center sells the trailer and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds on Form 1098-C. A sound 10-ton tag trailer usually clears $5,000, which means the IRS requires a qualified appraisal and Form 8283 Section B, at your expense and by your choice. Smaller 6-ton units often land between $500 and $5,000, where Section A applies with no appraisal.

If the trailer belongs to a municipality or a public entity, whoever signs needs authority to sign for it, and your own surplus-property rules may require a resolution on file. That is between you and your records, but worth checking before the pickup.