crossing the Canadian border with temporary plates

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

newbeetraveller

New member
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Posts
4
I just bought a new vehicle and am leaving in a week. Will not have title work back in time to purchase new plates.
If I have bill of sale and docs with , any problem getting in and out of Canada?
Have personal ID covered, just wondered if it will be a  problem driving in and back out.
Thank you
 
While I am not an authority on this issue I strongly suspect there will be a problem.  Just to be safe I recommend contacting the border authorities.
 
Many years ago we crossed into Canada on a ferry with a vehicle with temp registration. The first Canadian cop that saw us checked our papers and then told us to park it at our hotel overnight and be on at the dock waiting for the first ferry back to the US in the morning. We did.
 
RV Roamer said:
Many years ago we crossed into Canada on a ferry with a vehicle with temp registration. The first Canadian cop that saw us checked our papers and then told us to park it at our hotel overnight and be on at the dock waiting for the first ferry back to the US in the morning. We did.

I think you were lucky to have a cop with common sense.  Could have been a real problem.
 
This was back in 1998, pre 9/11 issues. We had bought our coach in AZ, taking delivery in CA to avoid AZ sales tax since we still owned a home in NY and were going to register it there. By the time we got the coach back to NY, we had sold our house and decided to register in AZ when we returned to the house we bought there. Our return route took us into Canada for about a week. We never got temporary plates from the dealer and drove the coach for 6 months without any plates on it. The trailer that we were pulling may have hidden the license area and there was a car with current NY plates on the trailer.

We were never stopped once for not having plates; going into Canada, returning to the US or driving cross country . A couple of years later, we were going to Montreal for a convention and had our AZ plates on the coach and the same car and trailer but with AZ plates instead of NY. We were stopped by Canadian customs and searched for over a half hour. Since we were from AZ we must have had guns :-\
 
Thanks to all who addressed this question.
I emailed the Sault Ste. Marie tourist board. They didn't think it would be a problem, but directed me to contact Canadian Customs direct.
I called this morning, and he assured me, as long as we have the paperwork, such as bill of sale, we would not have any problems.
So, guess we're going for it.
Thanks again
 
I woudl ask why you need to drive with temp-tags on instead of regular registration.

I can only think of a few reasons for temp tags.  Most of them would bar you from crossing the border, Some would not.

 
I live in Indiana and the turn around time on title changes is over 2 weeks now. State is behind in this area, as well as many others.
So, I have no option until I receive the documentation from downstate.
 
Wow here in AZ  you go to DMV and get title immediately as well as temp plates for 3, 30,15,21, 30, or 90 days. That's what I did (90) and shipped them right off to Montana for permanent plates.  ILL has a Quick service if you go to Springfield and get them
 
When we bought our truck last December in Yuma, we got a 90 day AZ temp plate.  It took all of that and more to get all the paperwork from the loan company, submit to TX DMV, and get the plates back.  We could have crossed a lot of borders in that time.  If you have copies of all the paperwork, there is no reason you can't cross a border with a temp plate.
 
We probably would have too, but the loan company took 2 months to get the paper work to us and then TX lost our application, and didn't find it until I called 2 weeks later.
 
Ned said:
We probably would have too, but the loan company took 2 months to get the paper work to us and then TX lost our application, and didn't find it until I called 2 weeks later.

Don't ya just hate it when they do that. :mad:
 
FYI 
Paperwork needed came in yesterday's mail, so heading to the DMV this am. One less thing to worry about, as we are leaving tomorrow am.
Thanks for all your input.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
131,749
Posts
1,384,212
Members
137,520
Latest member
jeep3501
Back
Top Bottom