registering my travel trailer in Arizona

[Bob T]

Picking up my new travel trailer in June from Escape. Arizona DMV says I have to drive it back all the way to Az. 1600 miles, to have it inspected before I can register it even though I have all the required paperwork needed. Was planning to travel to Alaska upon possession of my trailer and not return to Arizona for a few months, then have it registered. Any way to avoid such an inconvenience and driving all the way back to Arizona?

[soaring360]

I have similar questions? I'm going to be registering in South Dakota but not sure what the process should be? Can I register beforehand and pickup plate and tags before picking up my trailer? Or will I have to drive it back to South Dakota with temporary tags/plates?

[cpaharley2008]

Some members/new owners have taken possession and then not return to home for months, all the while traveling without plates and without incident. Why rush home, just take care of it when you do get home, but make sure you have insurance and the Escape paperwork with you.

[MyronL]

I had that problem here in NM with my Escape. Didn't want to get to Chilliwack without bringing plates in hand. I found that not all local DMV people here know the rules. Escape sends you everything you need but if the grandmas behind the DMV counter have never dealt with the issue, and their supervisor is just as ignorant (or lazy) about it, you are left with only one practical alternative. You say thank you, and get out of the building and find yourself a different DMV office. In my case I traveled 50 miles. When I ran into another clerk who was at a loss, that time when I said, please call over your supervisor, her supervisor checked my Escape paperwork, knew the rules, and half an hour later I was out of there, plates in hand.

[jamman]

Originally Posted by Bob T

Picking up my new travel trailer in June from Escape. Arizona DMV says I have to drive it back all the way to Az. 1600 miles, to have it inspected before I can register it even though I have all the required paperwork needed. Was planning to travel to Alaska upon possession of my trailer and not return to Arizona for a few months, then have it registered. Any way to avoid such an inconvenience and driving all the way back to Arizona?

Short answer - it varies by state and your information is correct for Arizona.

See http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f3...yers-6310.html

[arniesea]

It really does vary by state. Perhaps because Washington is so close to Canada, I had no problems with the contract DOL place here in Bremerton. I have a currency conversion app on my phone that showed the rate in US dollars yesterday. (which was slightly better that when I sent my last payment to ETI!) We used my app for the base price and the taxes I already paid to calculate my state fees. I had my plate in about a half hour. Will put them on my trailer in Sumas on Thursday!

Yet folks in other states have really been put through the ringer by odd rules and "not fully trained" staff.

Good luck!

[Merlin]

Originally Posted by MyronL

I had that problem here in NM with my Escape. Didn't want to get to Chilliwack without bringing plates in hand. I found that not all local DMV people here know the rules. Escape sends you everything you need but if the grandmas behind the DMV counter have never dealt with the issue, and their supervisor is just as ignorant (or lazy) about it, you are left with only one practical alternative. You say thank you, and get out of the building and find yourself a different DMV office. In my case I traveled 50 miles. When I ran into another clerk who was at a loss, that time when I said, please call over your supervisor, her supervisor checked my Escape paperwork, knew the rules, and half an hour later I was out of there, plates in hand.

Myron, can you say which one was able to help you? Just curious.

[Greg A]

If it hasn’t changed, AZ required a physical inspection before they allow you to register. Also there is a time limit to register a new trailer or they charge a penalty. Don’t recall the time limit, but a quick call to DMV and they will give you the info.

[Upfisk]

No worries! Present AZ with all you paperwork and they will give you a choice of a 30 day or 6 month temporary permit. Go directly to AZ DMV do not rely on the private vehicle registration companies. We went with the 6 month permit as the cost was the same. If we missed our 2 day window in AZ we had until March this year to get the inspection done.

We had a narrow window that we would be in AZ and scheduled our class III inspection during that window. DMV had their noses in a snit and did not read our full package from Escape. They decided it was a grey market trailer not conforming with NAFTA laws. The class III inspector looked at our paperwork and declared a class II inspection was all that was necessary. Saved us about $50. We did have one very minor problem, our appointment said Escape trailer. The inspector was looking for a totalled Ford Escape that he would have to crawl around on to make sure it was road ready. He demanded our appointment paperwork to confirm, as he had never heard about Escape trailers. We all had a good laugh.

We never were stopped for lack of a license plate travelling from BC, WA, OR, CA, NV or AZ,. We did not tape the temp permit in the rear window as it is not visible through the smoked glass.

[MyronL]

Merlin: It was the DMV in Rio Rancho.

[Bob T]

Originally Posted by Upfisk

No worries! Present AZ with all you paperwork and they will give you a choice of a 30 day or 6 month temporary permit. Go directly to AZ DMV do not rely on the private vehicle registration companies. We went with the 6 month permit as the cost was the same. If we missed our 2 day window in AZ we had until March this year to get the inspection done.

We had a narrow window that we would be in AZ and scheduled our class III inspection during that window. DMV had their noses in a snit and did not read our full package from Escape. They decided it was a grey market trailer not conforming with NAFTA laws. The class III inspector looked at our paperwork and declared a class II inspection was all that was necessary. Saved us about $50. We did have one very minor problem, our appointment said Escape trailer. The inspector was looking for a totalled Ford Escape that he would have to crawl around on to make sure it was road ready. He demanded our appointment paperwork to confirm, as he had never heard about Escape trailers. We all had a good laugh.

We never were stopped for lack of a license plate travelling from BC, WA, OR, CA, NV or AZ,. We did not tape the temp permit in the rear window as it is not visible through the smoked glass.

Thanks for the info. The DMV would only give me a 30 day temporary permit. Do you know if they offer a 6 month which would be what I need? Thanks!

[Upfisk]

We picked up our temp permit in Prescott. The guy making out the temp permit said a 6 month one was available to the same price, he strongly suggested using the 6 month one as we had such a narrow window in AZ before traveling to FL for an appointment. As Myron says ask another DMV, perhaps Phnx might be more accommodating. We definitely had a permit longer than 30 days.

[Bob T]

Thank you, I will try the Prescott DMV on my way out of town.

[jamman]

The ADOT (MVD - Motor Vehicle Division) web site says there are 30 day and 90 day permits. I can find nothing that mentions a 6 month permit. I can't find much online about the 90 day permit - like what it takes to qualify for it.

[travelinmojo]

How much was the "Use" tax?

[Upfisk]

DMV tried to find Canadian province tax tables so they could charge us the equivalent tax, but US tax tables do not include Canada. I think we were charged less than 5% for sales tax, we bought 2 year tags for the trailer, think that was $2000+ a little. The DMV website is straight forward on figuring sales tax for new cars bought out of state. But the foreign made Escape was difficult to figure. We had both the $Can and $US on our receipt from Escape, DMV really wanted to use $Can. I was expecting a total of $5000 for tax and registration, we walked away with around $500 in our pocket instead.

[Upfisk]

As far as the 30, 60, or 90 day permits you want, you have to visit DMV if your trailer is new. If it has been licensed before you can do online, maybe if it has been in AZ only. If new, there is no VIN to reference. A supervisor will have to figure out the permits as foreign means more stuff to look up. If they tell you it is grey market (it is not), and that it needs level III inspection, again do not worry. The nafta paperwork takes care of the grey market problems.

[kathytony1985]

So, tried to register our 2021 21NE today. Didn't happen. Presented all the appropriate paperwork and they still insisted we have a Gray Market trailer. We insisted it is not, so three different people looked over our paperwork and said it is not NHSTA certified. Even with the paperwork from the U.S. Dept of Transportation NHSTA in their hand!! They said we have to make an appt for a Level II inspection. After spending 2 hours wasting our time at the AZ DMV, we came home and made an appt. The first available is 2 weeks from today. So I took it. What else am I going to do?

[gbaglo]

People have had luck by simply going to a different DMV office.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by kathytony1985

So, tried to register our 2021 21NE today. Didn't happen. Presented all the appropriate paperwork and they still insisted we have a Gray Market trailer. We insisted it is not, so three different people looked over our paperwork and said it is not NHSTA certified. Even with the paperwork from the U.S. Dept of Transportation NHSTA in their hand!! They said we have to make an appt for a Level II inspection. After spending 2 hours wasting our time at the AZ DMV, we came home and made an appt. The first available is 2 weeks from today. So I took it. What else am I going to do?

Never really thought about it - but an Escape is a gray market trailer.

"A gray market vehicle, also known as an overseas vehicle, is a vehicle whose owner has brought it into the United States from another country and wishes to have it titled and registered here. A gray market vehicle may or may not have been produced overseas, the distinguishing feature is that it has never been titled in the United States."

Here's the catch in Arizona. This only applies if:
iii. Is a passenger vehicle, motorcycle, or MPV.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulati...Code-R17-4-206


I'll second taking the trailer to a different DMV clerk - you would think that they all follow the same rules but each office is run different.