Greetings from Michigan

[TZBrown]

My wife, Anne, and I have finally ordered an Escape 21.
We have been looking at these for quite a few years and finally decided to take the plunge. We are sure we will enjoy it for a long time.

We both retired a few years back and enjoy seeing the country. We have been RV owners for quite a long while with many travel trailers, slide in truck campers and popup trailers in our past. We currently have a Northstar truck camper that we use when doing long distances, with not a long time parked in one spot, and a Kodiak, made by Dutchman, Travel trailer, that we use for staying in one spot for longer times. Many times we use an RV as a base camp for our backpacking trips to some of the national parks or other trails.

Looking forward to learning more from the forum as well
Tom

[KarenH]

Welcome to the Escape world and to the forum! You'll learn a great deal on this forum that will be useful to you as you plan your new customized trailer.

Again, welcome.

[rbryan4]

Congrats! Excellent choice. Have fun with your options sheet.

[cpaharley2008]

Welcome Tom and Anne,
now the fun begins....

[J&B Mitt]

Welcome Anne and Tom, from Jan and Bob in Traverse City. We picked up our new 19 in September.

Many on the forum have discussed driving their new trailers back to their home state without registration. We weren’t that comfortable with the idea. We were beginning a seven-week, 7500-mile trip.

Here was our method of getting the Michigan title and registration so that we could legally continue our travels. You’ve probably researched this already, so forgive us for answering the un-asked:

The Michigan Secretary of State will only allow you to title and register your trailer AFTER you can provide them with the completed original, stamped copy of the U.S. Customs Entry Summary (Form CBP 7501) That form isn’t completed and stamped until ETI crosses the border at Sumas with your trailer. (Before you go to Chilliwack for orientation, ETI will send copies of the Bill of Sale, Mfgr’s Statement of Origin, and an incomplete 7501 form. You CAN’T register ahead of time at the Secretary of State’s office using the incomplete 7501 form.)

So, here’s what we did.
--Before we left for Chilliwack, we filled out a MI SOS Form TR-128 making Jan’s sister our ‘Agent’
--Made reservation at the Lynden/Bellingham KOA for six days, starting the day of our orientation
--ETI brought our new trailer right to the site at the KOA, rather than dropping off at Bob’s Burgers
--We FedEx’d the paperwork to Jan’s sister back in Michigan
-- Jan’s sister went to SOS, got our plate, FedEx’d back to us at the KOA. We’re legal!

It was good to have a few days with the trailer at Lynden. It was an easy drive back up to Chilliwack to have ETI fix a couple small issues before we left the region.

BTW, the State of Michigan will charge the sales tax based on the conversion rate on the day the trailer was imported, not on the day you paid for it.

Maybe we’ll see you at the Algonac Glassic Egg Scramble next September?

[float5]

I would mention that there have been very different outcomes within a state depending upon which office or even which clerk. People have been told that they cannot get a plate and others in the same state had theirs before going to Chilliwack.

You can call some offices to see the situation from different people until you have it straight what you think they will do. Of course, if you get anyone saying that there is a way to get a plate in advance, try to see that person and/or note what was said. There may be no telling what you will be required to do until you go to an office. And then some go to a second one and then have their plate. Few if any of the states have people who are familiar with importing from Canada, hence the different outcomes.

[cpaharley2008]

If you already owned a trailer which was sold and have unexpired tags, it maybe perfectible acceptable to transfer those tags to the new Escape, thus bring them with you to use on your return trip. Keeps those hoops to a minimum.

[J&B Mitt]

Unfortunately, Michigan trailer plates are permanent and not transferrable.

Cathy, you’re right, there is knowledge-gap here about the importing process. At our first visit to the local office, we were told that we would have to have the trailer INSPECTED IN MICHIGAN before we could get it titled. We had to get a ruling from the office at the state capital, to prove to the local office that the trailer didn’t have to actually be in Michigan, as long as we could produce the completed 7501 Customs form.

[float5]

Originally Posted by J&B Mitt

Unfortunately, Michigan trailer plates are permanent and not transferrable.

Cathy, you’re right, there is knowledge-gap here about the importing process. At our first visit to the local office, we were told that we would have to have the trailer INSPECTED IN MICHIGAN before we could get it titled. We had to get a ruling from the office at the state capital, to prove to the local office that the trailer didn’t have to actually be in Michigan, as long as we could produce the completed 7501 Customs form.

That is good information for others in Michigan and an idea that people in other states could use. The inspection requirement is not uncommon.

And that 7501 seems to be THE form that many states require.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by J&B Mitt

Cathy, you’re right, there is knowledge-gap here about the importing process.

If one thing is for sure, it's that there is a knowledge gap about registration requirements at DMV offices all over the country. From one office to the next, sometimes even in the same county, you'll get a completely different set of requirements.

[TZBrown]

Thanks all for the warm welcome, the information and advice will come in handy

I knew there would be a few hoops to go through in the registration.
I will have to renew a contact at the SOS to see if they may be able to help.
Our insurance person is pretty good, and we should be able to get that done as soon as we have a VIN

We toured the Escape factory in 2015 on our way to Alaska, It was an informative visit.
Most likely we will arrange this summers travels to be back there to pick it up on the way back from Alaska

Thanks for the welcome and info

[phalaney]

We pick up our trailer on 11/29 and picked up tags in Missouri this week. The only thing they looked at was the Certificate of Origin and the Bill of Sale ( I was surprised). They could not get their head around Canadian vs USD and after consultation with a supervisor and a call to someone higher she insisted the $35,500 CAD base price should be used, but $35,500 USD. She only took the front page of the bill of sale which does not list currency denominations. I finally gave up and went with their number since it was a little less than we paid including options.

[LDRay]

In September of 2015 we were able to register our trailer and get our permanent Michigan trailer plate with the paperwork ETI sent us. We paid the taxes and they gave us the plate which we took with us on our trip to pick up the trailer. If you have trouble with your local SOS drive down to Battle Creek we didn't have any trouble .

Glad to have another Escape in Michigan. By the way Traverse City is one of our favorite places to camp, great bike trails and breweries.

[Mandomary]

Hey there Fenton. I was born in Flint.

[stephen99]

I was born in Flint too! Lived there about 30 years before moving away for a better job. Now our address is wherever we happen to be. Happy in a 21.