Donate an enclosed race trailer when the season stops coming around

Where donated race trailers come from

Racers who stopped racing. A circle-track, drag or road-race program ends and the trailer is the last thing left because it is the hardest to move and the most personal.

Teams consolidating. A two-car operation that goes to one car has a spare trailer, often a stacker, that is far too expensive to keep insured and stored.

Estates. A race trailer in an estate is frequently the single most valuable item and the one nobody in the family knows how to price or move.

Towed, with the right vehicle

A bumper-pull or gooseneck enclosed trailer gets towed with a pickup matched to its rating. A 48-foot stacker on a semi frame needs a road tractor, and we bring one.

Tell us the length, whether it is bumper-pull, gooseneck or semi-frame, and whether it has living quarters. A trailer with a bathroom and a bunk is a different product and a different sale.

Empty the personal property but leave the fit-out. Cabinets, benches, lifts, the compressor and the generator are worth real money attached to the trailer and very little detached from it. Tell us what is staying.

What decides what a race trailer brings

• Length and configuration. Bumper-pull, gooseneck or semi-frame stacker. Stackers command the most.
• Aluminum or steel frame. Aluminum is a substantial premium and it is the reason older aluminum trailers still sell well.
• Interior fit-out. Cabinets, workbench, tire rack, air lines, 110-volt and 220-volt wiring, lighting, escape door.
• Onboard equipment. Generator, air compressor, lift, awning, winch. Each one is a line item a buyer pays for.
• Roof, floor and door seals. Water damage is what kills enclosed trailers. A dry trailer with a sound roof sells; a soft floor does not.

Makes we accept

This is a brand-first market.

• Race and stacker: inTech, Featherlite, Renegade, Vintage Trailers, Bravo, T&E, Trailex, Gold Rush, Millennium, Sundowner.
• General enclosed: ATC, Haulmark, Pace American, Wells Cargo, Look, Continental Cargo, United, Cargo Mate, Homesteader.
• Onboard equipment buyers ask about: Onan and Honda generators, VMAC and Ingersoll Rand compressors, Bendpak lifts.

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. Enclosed trailers of this size are heavy enough that most states do title them.

Giving Center sells the trailer and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds on Form 1098-C. A well-equipped enclosed race trailer almost always clears $5,000, which means the IRS requires a qualified appraisal and Form 8283 Section B. On a trailer with a real fit-out, an appraisal is worth doing properly because the equipment is part of the value. It is your expense and your decision, and the appraiser must be independent of us.

If the trailer belonged to a race team organized as a business, have your accountant look at it before pickup.