FYI - Arizona buyers

[jamman]

We just licensed our new 19'.

The *ONLY* permit Arizona will issue to a Canadian (or Mexican) manufactured vehicle before inspecting it is a temporary 3-day permit - NOT valid out of state and ONLY valid for taking the vehicle to an emisisions test (not needed for a trailer) or MVD inspection.

There is no legal way to take delivery and pull it to AZ yourself - unless a Washington non-resident can get a 30 day permit - not clear if this is allowed or not but you do take possession in Washington.

1) Get trailer to your house in Arizona, somehow.
2) Go to MVD and get a 3-day permit.
3) Take the trailer to MVD for a level 1 inspection - they check the VIN and measure the length and width.
4) Go in to MVD, pay lots of money (sales and vehicle license tax) and get your plates.

One other purchaser was able to get plates using an MVD approved fee for service shop. I suspect the agent did not realize it was from Canada. I tried AAA and another shop and both said Canadian vehicles needed an inspection.

[FMLNM]

We could not get a plate or anything for a USED Escape that we were picking up on Chilliwack until we got it here and MVD could inspect it. BUT others in NM were able to get plates for NEW Escapes being towed home from BC....but it wasn't straight forward...they had to find the specific office that knew enough to do it.

In our case, we just took the plate that had been on our previous Scamp, put it on the Escape in Chilliwack and carried all the paperwork. Figured that having ANY plate would be better than none and we would be less likely to be stopped.....at which point we planned to just plead our case to the officer.

[daveandsandyclink]

Doug and Karen,
Your problem is not unique. Many including myself have overcome the mass confusion in DMV to get a imported RV registered. Search for a thread labeled
"Towing Unregistered". Maybe the other Escape owners in Arizona can help guide you.

[rfs]

Try to contact Arizona Jack. I know he and Nancy brought their new 21 to Arizona this fall and he may have some ideas for you.

Rita Smith

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by daveandsandyclink

Search for a thread labeled
"Towing Unregistered".

Direct link: http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f3...ered-1436.html

[onetim]

I had a similar problem. I planned to pick up our new 5.0 in Chilliwack and slowly return home to Rhode Island. However, RI DMV would not issue a registration without a VIN check in Rhode Island! I decided to tow it back unregistered and take my chances.

However, US Customs/Homeland Security routinely checked the VIN as it crossed at Sumas . I sent the documents home where my wife presented them to the RI DMV VIN check police officers. They promptly gave her the necessary approval to get the trailer registered. She mailed me the plates and registration to the nearest post office to my campsite in the N. Cascades Natl Park. Everything worked out fine.

Good luck.

[Scruffy Varmint]

States are so very different! Last week I took the paperwork I received from Tammy to the Klamath Falls, Oregon DMV office. Within 10 minutes I walked out the door with the new plate and 2-year tags in hand. Now have to wait to March to get up to Chilliwack to get the trailer!

[MyronL]

"...In our case, we just took the plate that had been on our previous Scamp, put it on the Escape in Chilliwack and carried all the paperwork. Figured that having ANY plate would be better than none and we would be less likely to be stopped.....at which point we planned to just plead our case to the officer."

If taking posession in another state, bringing old plates from a different trailer is, I think, a not unreasonable risk. Done that. True, in my case my drive home back then was not across the entire continent. Getting it easily across the US border to Sumas is what Dennis does.

It occurs to me that when Dennis hooked me up in Sumas, before I attached the NM plates I brought with me, I was so stoked I can't remember noticing if there were ever any Canadian temp plates on it for him to remove. A giddy time, for sure. Begs the question, was it towed from the factory to Sumas with or without a plate? And, if there was a plate, could it, a temp Canadian, remain valid for say, 30 days, or until the trailer was safely in RI?

[jamman]

Dennis brings it over with a BC plate on it - which he removes.

[cpaharley2008]

Most manufacturers will have "dealer" type tags. Possibly that is what they use up north?

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Scruffy Varmint

States are so very different! Last week I took the paperwork I received from Tammy to the Klamath Falls, Oregon DMV office. Within 10 minutes I walked out the door with the new plate and 2-year tags in hand. Now have to wait to March to get up to Chilliwack to get the trailer!

Even different clerks at the DMVs in the same office have different ideas on what can be done. At my first attempt at registering my factory pick up I was told to mail a copy of the border crossing paperwork to the Oswego DMV along with a copy of the bill of sale, they would mail back to me a bill for the sales tax & registration (NY uses trailer weight for determining registration cost), then I would mail them a check & when they got it they would mail me the plate. I explained that that would take quite a bit of time sitting at the border & she shrugged.

I had Tammy send me a copy of the entry paperwork (unsigned by the border crossing people) and took it to a different clerk at the same office. Played dumb, handed her the paperwork and waited. They spent quite a bit of time in the back office, but it was because they were not sure how to convert the trailer weight from kg to lbs. Once they did, they handed me the plate & I drove to Chilliwack to pick up the trailer. Took 111 days to drive home, so it was good that I had a plate!

On this trip I left Oswego on October 10th, wanted to renew the trailer registration (in NY it goes by calendar year) called the office and was told I couldn't renew it until December 1st. Again, I played dumb, took my old registration to the window on October 8th and they did the paperwork & handed me my new registration & plate sticker.

If things don't work the first time, try another window!

[kstock11]

So the moral of the story, "when dealing with DMV, play dumb!"

[MyronL]

"Play dumb." Absolutely right. When dealing with the bureausticas, would be wise buttoning down any temptation to suggest the clerk go back to DMV school.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by jamman

Dennis brings it over with a BC plate on it - which he removes.

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Most manufacturers will have "dealer" type tags. Possibly that is what they use up north?

I think that's likely. Dealer plates - which a vehicle dealer is allowed to use for any of their vehicles for sale to move them or for test drives - are normal in the provinces I've been in. It seems reasonable to assume that's what Escape is using to deliver their trailers.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by MyronL

"Play dumb." Absolutely right. When dealing with the bureausticas, would be wise buttoning down any temptation to suggest the clerk go back to DMV school.

Originally Posted by kstock11

So the moral of the story, "when dealing with DMV, play dumb!"

I call this the "Sargent Schultz" (Hogan's Hero's) approach to the government. "I know nothing……"