Re: crossing the Canadian border with temporary plates

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jrabbit

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I am trying to find current information on travel across the border with temporary license plates and title.  We are trying to purchase a trailer this week, and we will be driving from Texas to Calgary mid-October.  We will return to Texas mid-November.

It is possible that our permanent plates and/or title might not be ready before our trip begins.  We would obviously have registration papers, insurance, and temporary tags on the trailer.  Is there any reason that might not be enough?  Is there anything we've forgotten to consider?

--janis
 
Suggest you check with customs, explaining the problem, but if you have paper in good standing  ( temp or normal) you should be ok. Never been asked for registrarion, but I believe licence plates are scanned.
Good Luck and travel safe
H & J
 
Make sure you ask both sides, USA and Canadian customs.

Don't rely on what "somebody" told you.
 
Temporary registration are normally only good for 14 days in Canada. If you don't have your permanent registration, make sure your temp covers the period of your stay.  Good idea to check with the Canadian Border Services.
 
immatriculation.... good word, good thing we all speak Fran?ais....

Guess it means "registration".  ;)

Carson FL
 
Thanks Carson.  Fixed it.  So many words that end in "tion" that are the same in both languages, I forgot for a minute this one was not.
 
You are excused, Marc. I worked for a  Quebec company for many years, went through bootcamp in St. Jean, (RCAF) visited Lunenberg etc.

Still can't speak  a word except merci, thanks for listening.

Carson FL

 
Hey Carson  what year were you at St Jean  RCAF  was there in1960/61  I try not to remember those good old days  :)
 
jrabbit said:
I am trying to find current information on travel across the border with temporary license plates and title.  We are trying to purchase a trailer this week, and we will be driving from Texas to Calgary mid-October.  We will return to Texas mid-November.

It is possible that our permanent plates and/or title might not be ready before our trip begins.  We would obviously have registration papers, insurance, and temporary tags on the trailer.  Is there any reason that might not be enough?  Is there anything we've forgotten to consider?

--janis
oops, I misread, the OP 's original. My response is now deleted as I don't think the OP is importing, just visiting... Sorry

 
Foxysdad said:
Hey Carson  what year were you at St Jean  RCAF  was there in1960/61  I try not to remember those good old days  :)

Howard, I was there in 1955, then off to Clinton, Ont., then off to Cold Lake, Alta.. What a ride.....

Quit in 1959 to become a true wage earner.  ;D

Carson FL
 
    Hey Carson, if you are referring to Lunenburg, NS, which is only about 6 miles from framily member Hpycmpr's summer residence, I think you would find it very difficult to find anyone to speak french with anywhere near there, German maybe, although I think not likely since they settled it over 200 years ago.
    It is an UNESCO Heritage site, and famous for the Bluenose sailing ship, and for it rumrunners during prohibition.

Ed 
 
Ed, you are quite right. Just wanted it known that I have traveled Nova Scotia and even had a sailing ride on the Bluenose. Also visited Oak Island, looking for treasure, but the gates were closed, no tours available at that time. What a story !

  http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/OakIsland/index.html

Carson FL
 
    When I first visited Oak Island in the 1960's, you could drive up to the hole and look down to the water that backfilled the money pit.  It has changed ownership several time since, and now you can't get anywhere near it, other than that a friend of a friend of mine owns the land on the coast from which the causeway to the island is attached.
    There was a recent article in our paper indicating renewed interest in finding the treasure, and that modern electronic methods are now being employed to plot the island.  A few years ago, Discovery channel did a documentary and Leonard Nemoy did the narrating.

Ed
 
I just this week purchased a "new" used car and we plan to go into Canada next week.  Called AAA and checked with them about temporary plates -- well, they did not think it was a problem, but I decided it was better to talk to proper authorities.  Started with Canadian Customs - very short and sweet - "not our area, contact Province Ministry of Transport".  Called Ontario -- French speaker wasn't much help, moved on to Quebec since I found an 888 number on line.  VERY CLEAR -- NO WAY!  Canada has agreements in place for inter-Canadian use of paper temporary plates, but NO such arrangements for any foreign nations!  I quickly back tracked to the dealer and pushed to get a title overnight so I could have a permanent metal plate before departing for Canada.
 
Many years ago I took a brand new rental car into Victoria, British Columbia, via a ferry to Vancouver Island. It had only the paper temp tag on it. We checked into a hotel and planned to stay a few days to see the sights. When going out to dinner that evening, a policeman stopped us and inquired about the tag and paperwork. He was unimpressed and told us toget it out of thecountry.  It was too late to get a ferry back to the USA that night, but he told us to be waiting in line for the very first ferry at 7 a.m. or face arrest!  We got a very early start the next morning!
 
Both border authorities seem to have a hangup about rental cars and temporary plates. The excuse I got was that they felt you might sell the car in the other country...  at least that was the reason for the refusal of entry. As a result of that experience, I chose to leave a rental car at the ferry parking in USA to go to Victoria BC from Annacortes Washington for a few days and was glad I had!!

A few years earlier I had taken a rental across the border from a small town in eastern Canada with the caviate that I was only going to such and such restaurant and would be back in an hour or two. (There were no decent restaurants in the small Canadian border town where I was working that day!). No questions, other than the usual identity etc,  even asked on my way back at an adjacent but different crossing.
 
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