Paperwork in Colorado

[LanaMarie]

We are picking up our new TT in September and deciding what to do about paperwork so we can drive it home and then get plates. Colorado DMV said no physical trailer, no paperwork. Also wondering if payment has to be a money order.

[cpaharley2008]

Every state have their own rules, but you should be fine driving home without plates and get everything done once home. As fas as payment, your local office can answer that.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by LanaMarie

We are picking up our new TT in September and deciding what to do about paperwork so we can drive it home and then get plates. Colorado DMV said no physical trailer, no paperwork. Also wondering if payment has to be a money order.

My local Jefferson county (CO) DMV office provided me with a temporary (paper) plate after I provided a bill of sale. It took talking to a number of front desk folks before I found one who realized that we were going to Canada to pick up the trailer. Get the correct person and the paperwork should be reasonable.

I paid Escape via cashier's check - mailed express overnight.

--
Alan

[Gori]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

My local Jefferson county (CO) DMV office provided me with a temporary (paper) plate after I provided a bill of sale. It took talking to a number of front desk folks before I found one who realized that we were going to Canada to pick up the trailer. Get the correct person and the paperwork should be reasonable.

I paid Escape via cashier's check - mailed express overnight.

--
Alan

Was your check in US dollars? If not, how did you get a cashier's check for Canadian dollars?

[cpaharley2008]

I thought your question was for payment at the tax office. As far as Escape, you need to be paid up weeks before pickup ( I sent in 3 personal checks over a 6 month period) but you can have a small balance due and pay it with a credit card. I owed less than $500 and bought some goodies there and gave them a credit card for the balance and purchases.

[Bea]

Originally Posted by LanaMarie

We are picking up our new TT in September and deciding what to do about paperwork so we can drive it home and then get plates. Colorado DMV said no physical trailer, no paperwork. Also wondering if payment has to be a money order.

Hi LanaMaire,

Welcome! We just got our 21 Escape in April. Here's our experience. We paid for our 21 with a cashiers check for the whole amount (minus the down payment, of course) on the day we picked up our trailer on orientation day. We asked ETI to give us the exact amount to put on the check (in USD) and that amount turned out to be just a little bit under the final amount (due to the exchange rate). Thus, we just paid the (small) difference on our credit card the day we picked it up.

As far as paper work and plates, here's our take and suggestions. Some states require temporary paper plates to drive on their roads, some don't. The state of Washington (and other states) requires a temporary permit for new trailers. The chances of being pulled over is probably very low so many don't bother with this but if you get pulled over, you could get a ticket (told to us by a US boarder patrol agent). Again, most don't bother with temporary permits, so this is totally up to you.

If you want a temporary license plate, you can go online and order one with your trailer/vin information ETI sends out to you but it can take awhile to get a temp permit so if you want to do this, do this early. Washington's temporary plate is only good for 3 days, but Oregon's temp plates are good for 10 days....but here's the caveat: to the best of our knowledge you only need one/a temporary plate in states that require them. (One works in all states.) So if we were to do it all over again, I would research which state had the longest/cheapest temporary plates and and go online to that's state's DMV and order from them - whether I was going to pass through their state or not. Just a thought! We like to pay it safe...and we're cheap!

Also, if you do any paper work with insurance or the DMV before you physically take possession of your trailer, be sure to double check your VIN numbers. The paperwork that ETI mailed to us weeks before compared to the trailer and paper work we got on our orientation day had a VIN number that was off by one number. We just had to call our insurance agent to correct the VIN number on our insurance. An attentive, nice DMV employee (hard to believe there is such a person!) but yes, he was the first to notice this when we first registered our trailer. But ETI gave us all the correct papers upon pick up so everything worked out well. Hope this helps! -Bea

[LanaMarie]

Yes, the money question was about the taxes. The trailer itself is paid for- YOOHOO!

[Isabelle]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Every state have their own rules, but you should be fine driving home without plates and get everything done once home. As fas as payment, your local office can answer that.

Thanks for the information

[bcmadness]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

My local Jefferson county (CO) DMV office provided me with a temporary (paper) plate after I provided a bill of sale. It took talking to a number of front desk folks before I found one who realized that we were going to Canada to pick up the trailer. Get the correct person and the paperwork should be reasonable.

I paid Escape via cashier's check - mailed express overnight.

--
Alan

Alan, which JeffCo DMV office issued your paper plate? We pick up our 19' in Jan, and I hope to have good luck getting a paper plate by visiting the same DVM office.


Thanks.


Sam