Licensing

[R Shanks]

Hi All,


We are in the process of upgrading our 1996 Excella 25' RB twin to a 2013 25' FB twin, Flying Cloud and purchasing the unit in the state of Washington.
Does anyone have experience registering/licensing an RV in Washington.
Is there is a $$ advantage to having it licensed in Washington although we live in Colorado? Is it even possible to do?
I appreciate any input.


Bob

[hikingcamera]

Originally Posted by R Shanks

We are in the process of upgrading our 1996 Excella 25' RB twin to a 2013 25' FB twin, Flying Cloud and purchasing the unit in the state of Washington.
Does anyone have experience registering/licensing an RV in Washington.
Is there is a $$ advantage to having it licensed in Washington although we live in Colorado? Is it even possible to do?
I appreciate any input.

I'm not sure they will allow you to license it in a state you don't live in. And even if you could, you could get ticketed if you don't re-license it in your state. (When you move to a new state, you have a pre-set grace period to re-license your vehicles to that state).

In Washington, you can get a temporary license to move a trailer, but I'm not sure that makes sense or how that would work once you cross into Idaho or Oregon. I think you will want to contact your state DMV for the process to license it. Since you are driving across multiple states to get it home, it'll be more complicated as each state can have different regulations around this. Best bet would be to have a license plate or temporary registration from Colorado DMV before you drive away with the new trailer.

A brief search looks like your County Motor Vehicle Office will be able to help you with brining a vehicle from another state: https://dmv.colorado.gov/county-offices

[Steamguy]

[QUOTE=hikingcamera;2734321]I'm not sure they will allow you to license it in a state you don't live in. And even if you could, you could get ticketed if you don't re-license it in your state. (When you move to a new state, you have a pre-set grace period to re-license your vehicles to that state).

THIS.

To add a data point:
I live in Washington and used to commute to Oregon. Oregon plates are way cheaper than a set of Washington plates, plus no sales tax. A lot of people buy private-party in Oregon, then never register the car (and pay the sales tax) in Washington, but just drive the car with Oregon plates.

Friend of mine tried this game for a while, in spite of my caution to him that he needed to get it licensed. He got caught in one of the periodic WSP sweeps, and it got REAL expensive, because the fine is prorated on the amount of time past the grace period. He was too embarrassed to tell me how much the fines were.

Short answer:
Your dealer can get the state registration papers and plates for Colorado for you. I recently bought a Caravel 19CB in Oregon, paid my sales tax at the dealer, and just got my new plate in the mail a little while ago. It went on "Dot", Saturday.

[hikingcamera]

Originally Posted by Steamguy

Your dealer can get the state registration papers and plates for Colorado for you.

I think that's more common with neighboring states than states requiring a multi-day drive. But I don't know, maybe Airstream dealers are ready for that. They do, I guess, have full timer customers that may be registering from any state.