Crossing boarder with new trailer

[jeph]

Hi,
We are picking up our new trailer at ETI in June. We are quite excited.
Has anyone crossed the boarder since all the tariffs have been placed? ETI is covering the tariff for our purchase. How does that work?
Does ETI send us with some sort of document showing the tariff has been paid?
How did the whole boarder crossing experience go?

Were planning on spending a few days in the Chilliwack area with the trailer to test it out. Any suggestions were to camp with the new trailer?

Thanks,
Jeff and Elaine

 

[kathytony1985]

Hi! We crossed May 21st. We did a switch and Hitch, so had to import our old trailer, 21NE, going in to Canada. ETI provided the paperwork and there was no problem. We crossed back to the US with our new trailer, 23F2, the same day. Again no problems. ETI provided all the paperwork necessary. You cannot have anything in the trailer when you import it. It has to match the Build Sheet when you import it. So if you want to stay and camp in Canada, you must import the trailer empty first. Then you can return to Canada with your trailer stocked. Just read about all of the things you can't cross the border with before you go back to Canada.

 

[Michael.Chadwick]

Hi,
We are picking up our new trailer at ETI in June. We are quite excited.
Has anyone crossed the boarder since all the tariffs have been placed? ETI is covering the tariff for our purchase. How does that work?
Does ETI send us with some sort of document showing the tariff has been paid?
How did the whole boarder crossing experience go?

Were planning on spending a few days in the Chilliwack area with the trailer to test it out. Any suggestions were to camp with the new trailer?

Thanks,
Jeff and Elaine

We cross the border regularly as we live on it……never have had an issue either way, and we usually have a fully stocked camper going out and in.

 

[Ramdough]

Tell us how it goes when you are done. My understanding is that the trailers fall under the USCAME or USMECA (don’t remember the order) treaty and there are no tariffs as of today.

 

[jeph]

Our pick up date is June 23 as of now. ETI did say it is under one of those USxxx acronyms, and currently there are no tariffs.

I will try to post how it goes.

 

[HJN]

Hi Jeph
Our Pickup is scheduled for the 27 June 2025 and are planning exactly the same routine as yourselves.
What are you going to do for temporary registration of the vehicle ?
Not sure if the 6 day Washington state Temporary registration is going to be of help to extend the stay up North for awhile ?
We find it difficult to get proper info, even from local DMV, here in Florida on how to obtain longer time to drive it back here through the different states after planning to stay up North for 2 months (if possible?).

Any advice or words how you plan to get yours back home?
kind regards
Harry

 

[Dplandry]

Hi Jeph
Our Pickup is scheduled for the 27 June 2025 and are planning exactly the same routine as yourselves.
What are you going to do for temporary registration of the vehicle ?
Not sure if the 6 day Washington state Temporary registration is going to be of help to extend the stay up North for awhile ?
We find it difficult to get proper info, even from local DMV, here in Florida on how to obtain longer time to drive it back here through the different states after planning to stay up North for 2 months (if possible?).

Any advice or words how you plan to get yours back home?
kind regards
Harry

Hi Jeph,
When we purchased from Escape in 2018 we went to the DMV in Lafayette, La and they wouldn't register until it was on our physical possession. Leaving there we stopped at a private title company and they wrote it all up and within a week or so we had the registration and license plate. Maybe you have a title business near buy. Our first trip from Escape took us 10 weeks to find our house again. Good luck and enjoy the journey!

 

[jeph]

Hi,
Regarding using a private title company to register the trailer and get plates, did you pick the plate up along the way somewhere? We will be driving south through WA and OR, we will take about 2 weeks. I saw where other CA residents stopped when they got into CA to register it. I am pretty sure the CA DMV wants to see the trailer to check the VIN.
Not sure how to deal with driving through WA and OR with no plate on the trailer.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Dplandry]

Hi,
Regarding using a private title company to register the trailer and get plates, did you pick the plate up along the way somewhere? We will be driving south through WA and OR, we will take about 2 weeks. I saw where other CA residents stopped when they got into CA to register it. I am pretty sure the CA DMV wants to see the trailer to check the VIN.
Not sure how to deal with driving through WA and OR with no plate on the trailer.

Thanks,
Jeff

Escape had forwarded all the documents including a snap shot of the vin tag on the trailer. Thinking back, we had made the final payment and all documents were e-signed. The title company had someone go to the DMV every couple of days for other business and after everything was reviewed they issued my plate. The process took about a week for me to pick up my plate from the title company. It may have cost $50-75 more to do it this way but was well worth it. They collected the taxes and all necessary fees. I had one check payable to the state and a second one for the company charge. Hope you can do the same.

 

[occer]

As a member of AAA there are a lot of things they are able to do rather then waiting in line at the DMV, may be worth checking with them. They have AAA offices in every state; see if they can give you a temporary tag till you get to Florida.

 

[C&G in FL]

Hi Jeph
Our Pickup is scheduled for the 27 June 2025 and are planning exactly the same routine as yourselves.
What are you going to do for temporary registration of the vehicle ?
Not sure if the 6 day Washington state Temporary registration is going to be of help to extend the stay up North for awhile ?
We find it difficult to get proper info, even from local DMV, here in Florida on how to obtain longer time to drive it back here through the different states after planning to stay up North for 2 months (if possible?).

Any advice or words how you plan to get yours back home?
kind regards
Harry

The state of Florida will issue you a permanent tag if you bring the paperwork from ETI showing the price paid, etc. The DMV will calculate the sales tax and you will be allowed to apply for a title at the same time. If a clerk tells you it cannot be done, ask the clerk to get his/her supervisor. When I picked up my 5.0TA in 2015, I had the permanent tag and registration with me when I arrived in Chilliwack. I live in Pasco County. When an acquaintance from Pinellas County tried to register his before pickup, they said it couldn’t be done. He called me on the spot with his phone on speaker mode and I told him to come to Pasco. After I said that, the Pinellas clerk suddenly realized it could be done. Florida allows you to go to any DMV office, but your “home” office doesn’t want you to go elsewhere because they get a stipend from the State for every registration they process. And save your paperwork to show you paid the sales tax at time of registration. You are likely to get a nasty letter from the FL Dept of Revenue 6 months later telling you that you owe sales tax. Apparently, Revenue can’t be bothered to check DMV records even though both departments are based in Tallahassee and the records are on line. Typical Florida-duh!

 

[HJN]

Thank you for the help and answers.
I will try a different DMV in our counry lster again and see what happen