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Keeping our trailer permanent license plate from Mich. in Tx.


tktoth

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We purchased our trailer earlier this year as Michigan residents, and Michigan issues permanent license plates for trailers.

 

We are establishing Texas as our residency (all set with Escapee mail forwarding) by getting drivers license and truck license plate in Texas.

 

Has anyone done this and just kept their permanent Michigan trailer plate? Did Texas ever hassle you if you did?

 

Michigan says it is OK, and so does our insurance company. But, wonder about getting stopped in Texas and them seeing our Drivers License and Tuck plates our Texas, but the trailer is Michigan?

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If you should be stopped in Texas you will be ticketed. Will you ever get stopped, anybody's guess. Is it more important to be legal, or cheap?

 

Where you would probably run into difficulty is in insuring the trailer. Will you insure it to a Texas address, then how do you explain the MI registration? Since I've never tried that, I'm not certain.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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Really not trying to be cheap. The way Michigan is setup, they register trailers all the time to people with Ohio addresses, and I did call their SOS which did acknowledge it is legitimate and I can change to a Texas address with them. I did say in my post that my insurance company (thru Miller Insurance in Oregon) said it is no issue.

 

I know a lot of states don't allow this and do ticket. So, sounds like I should not try it in Texas, in the end, that is ok.

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A very wise and admirable choice on your part and will surely pay off in the long haul. :) It is "always" better to do things the right way so the opportunity to question doesn't rear its ugly head.

2010 Newmar Dutch Aire 4304-Spartan Chassis-Cummins ISL 425hp-2013 Chevrolet Equinox AWD Towed-SKP# 120487-FMCA #402879-

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Not Texas, but we have the same situation in another state. Were told it was OK by MI and our insurer said no problem. Any ticket we could receive is sure cheaper than paying an annual plate fee when we have a plate good for the lifetime of the trailer as long as we own it. It is a legally registered and licensed trailer.

Pat DeJong

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Any ticket we could receive is sure cheaper than paying an annual plate fee when we have a plate good for the lifetime of the trailer as long as we own it. It is a legally registered and licensed trailer.

Are you saying that the registration is legal even when you no longer reside or have an address in the state of MI? Keep in mind that this is only half of the question. The other half is what is or isn't legal in the state which you do claim residence(or domicile).

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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While it may be "legal" in Michigan's eyes to register Ohio residents I'm betting that when Ohio catches their residents doing this there will be fines, back fees etc.

You are also runnung the risk of not cutting all your ties with Michigan and setting yourself up for other things like state taxes etc. Best to just move on completely

Ron & Linda

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If I were you I would not take the chance. If you now live in Texas having moved from MI, you have

only so many days to change your registration to your Texas address. The cost for annual registration

in Texas has recently gone up but I still pay less then $100 for a 38 foot fiver. I have a place in the UP of

MI and when I go there I am only visiting. Good Luck

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All of you answered my question, Texas will not allow a resident to have a trailer with out of state plates.

 

Again, it was a question, not trying to cheat the system.

 

BTW, we are full timers and will spend roughly half the year in Texas (near our son), and half in Ohio/ Michigan (near our daughter). We have to decide where to have residency, so we are setting up ties in Texas.

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We have to decide where to have residency, so we are setting up ties in Texas.

You might find Texas the better choice due to the state income tax issue. There is also the question of what states will allow you to use a mail service as your address for vehicle registrations and driving licenses. Just some things to look at. :)

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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We are actually going to be in Livingston Mon. & Tues. (staying at Rainbow's End) to get vehicle (and trailer) registered/ licensed, truck insurance, and drivers license. Also, voter registration. We researched this a lot, and the trailer was the last thing we were on the fence about.

 

Thanks for all the comments.

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Tom,

when we left Michigan, as people have said, we switched our 5th wheel registration to Texas.

However! We did NOT switch our boat trailer and boat registration to TX.

We were keeping the boat in storage in MI and it was never going to see the TX border, which made registering it there a challenge anyway.

We were told by MI that if the boat is garaged and used mostly in MI that it should be registered there.

 

Fast forward to now. We are building a house in AZ, but will remain TX residents. We just bought a Jeep and (without investigating thoroughly) registered the Jeep in TX. However, apparently Az law requires, like MI, that we register it in Az if that is where it will be used and garaged.

 

not sure what the right thing to do is with the Jeep, but I would always keep the trailer and truck registered and insured in the state thats on my license.

 

Sue

Sue and Paul- fulltimed 2009 -2015 with Dozer, our Gray Tuxedo cat

 2012 DRV Mobile Suites 36TKSB4 pulled by a 2020 F350 Platinum

Our "vacation home" : 2018 Arctic Fox 1150 truck camper

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We are actually going to be in Livingston Mon. & Tues. (staying at Rainbow's End) to get vehicle (and trailer) registered/ licensed, truck insurance, and drivers license. Also, voter registration. We researched this a lot, and the trailer was the last thing we were on the fence about.

 

Thanks for all the comments.

We have fulltiming friends staying in site 47 at Rainbow. names are Toni and Doug. Very friendly canadians. Look them up if you get a chance!

Sue and Paul- fulltimed 2009 -2015 with Dozer, our Gray Tuxedo cat

 2012 DRV Mobile Suites 36TKSB4 pulled by a 2020 F350 Platinum

Our "vacation home" : 2018 Arctic Fox 1150 truck camper

RIP Dozey

http://soos-ontheroad.blogspot.com/

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We are building a house in AZ, but will remain TX residents.

 

I wonder how long you will be able to do that since Arizona is one of the states known for being strict about domicile?

 

Linda Sand

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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Are you going to spend more than 7 months in AZ with the Jeep? If the Jeep is going to be stored year round at the new house, then yes, it should be registered in AZ. We bought a park model in an RV park in Mesa, but we are here less than 6 months and the car (and motorhome) go with us when we leave, so we keep everything registered in TX.

 

Linda, it is 7 months before you need to change residency in AZ if you aren't working. If working, then it is in the 30 days after you begin working. I think the 7 months is to allow all of the snowbirds to come and go without a lot of hassle - - since snowbirds spend a lot of money but don't usually 'earn' a lot, even passively.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
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Are you going to spend more than 7 months in AZ with the Jeep? If the Jeep is going to be stored year round at the new house, then yes, it should be registered in AZ. We bought a park model in an RV park in Mesa, but we are here less than 6 months and the car (and motorhome) go with us when we leave, so we keep everything registered in TX.

 

Linda, it is 7 months before you need to change residency in AZ if you aren't working. If working, then it is in the 30 days after you begin working. I think the 7 months is to allow all of the snowbirds to come and go without a lot of hassle - - since snowbirds spend a lot of money but don't usually 'earn' a lot, even passively.

 

Barb

Exactly. We researched the domicile thing pretty thoroughly before we built, but somehow just dropped the ball on the Jeep thing. We don't know if it will accompany us on our summer trips yet. I guess I can change the registration eventually if need be.

As it is, my tax accountant has told me to save all receipts from out of state RV parks in case a domicile argument comes up, so I can prove I was not in AZ for more than 7 months. If it becomes a real hassle, we could switch domicile. With no "income" , AZ isn't that bad compared to TX.

Sue and Paul- fulltimed 2009 -2015 with Dozer, our Gray Tuxedo cat

 2012 DRV Mobile Suites 36TKSB4 pulled by a 2020 F350 Platinum

Our "vacation home" : 2018 Arctic Fox 1150 truck camper

RIP Dozey

http://soos-ontheroad.blogspot.com/

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We have almost the exact same issue with a trailer licensed in Arkansas but we now live in Missouri, We asked Missouri that exact question and the response after the local office checked with DOL in Jeff City was that as if the trailer was physically in Missouri for more than a 30 day continuous time frame it would be required to be licensed in Missouri. Our vehicles(cars) are all licensed in Missouri, the trailer normally sits in Arkansas but we pull it all over the country as it is our car hauler and is pulled by our Motorhome which is licensed in Washington. Going on 10 years, never had a problem and I have gotten a few speeding tickets. The only other issue that may not have been addressed is the personal property tax that may be tied to the trailer.

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Going on 10 years, never had a problem and I have gotten a few speeding tickets.

This issue will only arise while you are IN the state that is the one wanting it registered there. In your case, Missouri. Arkansas might want to ask why the MH isn't registered in their State, and Missouri might want to know why the trailer isn't registered there, but none of the other states will care....because registration is a State law and no state enforces another states laws. It is not illegal in Texas to have Michigan license plates and live in Alabama. It is only illegal in Texas to have Michigan license plate if you live in Texas.

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Well, we are all plated up Texas style! We leave Rainbow's End today for Pearland, Tx and will get our non-commercial Class A drivers license there since the driving portion appointments are weeks out.

 

FYI, the person at the county tax office said if we would have waited on getting rid of the Mi. Plate until later, it would have more involved being the truck would have already been plated there.

 

Thanks again for all your input!

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