i did it. i won the Reatta. 2018 Entegra Reatta 37K, Cummins ISB 6.7 at 340, 41,200 miles, sitting at a lender yard near Fort Wayne, Indiana. bid through the lake park auction at the end of september, got the email on the 7th that mine was the high bid. 158,000. still a little sick about it, the good kind.
it's on the way, driveaway, due around the 20th. Fort Wayne is well inside the free 1,000 miles, so no delivery charge, and they're bringing it right to Duluth.
the paperwork is what i need help with, because i know nothing. the lake park people emailed me a copy of the Indiana title (in the bank's name), a bill of sale from the bank, and a letter saying the lien release comes with the original title, which is coming by FedEx separately.
so. can a deputy registrar up here do all of it, or does an out of state title have to be mailed to St. Paul? is sales tax on the 158,000 or on some book value? and is a motorhome different from a car? the only thing i've ever registered is a Subaru.
congrats meg. one thing that trips people up: the odometer box. federal rules don't require an odometer disclosure on anything with a GVWR over 16,000 pounds, and a Reatta is way over that. if the title or the bill of sale says exempt, that's correct, not a mistake. the clerk might ask.
when the coach shows up, check the VIN on the title against the plate on the coach before the driver leaves. a motorhome has the chassis VIN and a coach builder number, and the title goes by the chassis VIN.
G
detroit_lakes_phaeton
BoondockerDetroit Lakes, MNPosts 14 · Joined Sep 2025
nice going. we did ours at the deputy registrar in Detroit Lakes in may with a Georgia title, same kind of paper. from somebody who just went through it:
a deputy registrar can do it, no mailing to St. Paul. bring the original title with the bank's signature on the assignment, the lien release (ours was its own letter on the bank's letterhead), the bill of sale, your insurance card and your license. don't go with the copies, wait for the originals.
Minnesota takes 6.875 percent on the price on the bill of sale. for you that's about 10,860. they used our bid number, not a book value.
and yes, it registers as a recreational vehicle, and the yearly tax is figured off the original base value and drops every year. bigger than a car, smaller than i was scared of.
update with a hiccup. the coach showed up october 21 with 41,431 on the odometer, and the driver waited while i checked the VIN like bruce said. it matched.
the original title came. the lienholder name on it did not match the name on the lien release letter. the bank that financed the coach was bought by a bigger bank in 2023, and the release was on the new bank's letterhead. the deputy registrar would not take it without something tying the two names together.
i called lake park on a tuesday. they got the lender to send a second letter, signed, saying old bank is now new bank, same loan number. it took 9 days, and that felt like a month with the coach sitting unplated in my driveway. that was the bank's legal department, not the broker, but it's slow either way. if you're bidding on one, look at the lienholder name on the title copy BEFORE you bid and ask about it.
D
fulltime_since_2016
Toad TowerThe Villages, FLPosts 52 · Joined Sep 2025
the bank merger thing is more common than you'd think, we ran into it on a car in 2019. good on you for chasing it.
one warning since you mentioned going south in the spring. somebody at a campground will tell you to register the coach in South Dakota to save the tax. don't, not while you still live and work in Duluth. that's for people who actually gave up their home state. when you go full time it's a different conversation, and there's a whole thread on it in coach life.
done. the second letter plus everything else went through at the deputy registrar in Hermantown in about 25 minutes. plates are on. 10,862.50 in sales tax, and the first year of RV registration tax came in under what i had in my spreadsheet.
it's plugged in for the winter at my uncle's in Proctor. the beagle has claimed the dash. first real trip is april, and she is voting for Texas.
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