Two or more vehicles in different states

[DitchDriver]

I am looking at having two vehicles - one where I live and another one where I work. I fly with guys who have the same arrangement - a beater to get to work registered in work state and other vehicle(s) in their home state. What I want to know is how does it play out with DMVs and insurance companies? Since my home state (county, really) requires smogging, registering both in home state is not an option.

 

[TrafficInSight]

Basically you need to have a permanent address in the state you wish to have your other vehicle in. It depends on the state but I don't think a P.O. box is good enough.

Do you rent any housing in that state?

 

[jimbo]

Do you have any relatives in the state of Florida that you can change your residence to. We don't have any restricitons that would keep you from having a vehicle in another state (like smog checks). I keep a Florida registered vehicle in Maryland and don't have any problems. I'm sure that there are other states you could register in that you could probably do the same thing. A little foot work initially but you won't have to worry about those annual smog checks etc.
Another consideration is with an airline career you wont have to worry about changing tags all of the time.
Just a little input....good luck!

 

[Capthuff]

For a while I had a car in PA (reg)and one in FL (reg) I still have the car with FL tags and I changed the address on the reg to my home in PA. When I moved up to this hellish land I just changed the address on the reg and when I finally get to move back to paradise I'll change it back. My insurance is based on the car being in PA. Of course, I have two cars in my driveway now.

I guess it depends on the state, but call the DMV in the state you are interested in and ask.

Cappy

Anyone interested in buying a reliable 1990 Saab 9000?

 

[DitchDriver]

It depends on the state but I don't think a P.O. box is good enough.

Do you rent any housing in that state?

No, we have company housing (a village in Alaska) and there are no street addresses, everyone has PO boxes. Another headache will be getting through Canada with a vehicle that is not registered to me yet.

 

[vetteracer]

Just license it in the state you reside. Since you are not a citizen of the "other state".


Mark

 

[Jeff Helgeson]

Jimbo: what about an MD car going to FLA?

Jimbo:

Are there any tax restrictions on bringing a 1990 Nissan Stanza ($1000-$1500 worth)? It is a good car and I would prefer to bring it down to MCO. I thought Florida had a high tax to register out of state cars to try to encourage an in-state purchase.

You are lucky you haven't had any trouble with the FL plate in MD. The cops used to patrol the malls and apartment buidlings, ticketing out of state cars. If you keep it in the employee lot, it is probably pretty safe.

MD spog VEIP is a pain. It has to be done every two years and MD doesn't accept all other states' inspections. Waiver become an annoyance.

Do you have any relatives in the state of Florida that you can change your residence to. We don't have any restricitons that would keep you from having a vehicle in another state (like smog checks). I keep a Florida registered vehicle in Maryland and don't have any problems. I'm sure that there are other states you could register in that you could probably do the same thing. A little foot work initially but you won't have to worry about those annual smog checks etc.
Another consideration is with an airline career you wont have to worry about changing tags all of the time.
Just a little input....good luck!

 

[IAHERJ]

I keep a Texas plated car in Atlanta for work. My insurance company insures the car as a Georga automobile but they know it is texas registered. They do it all the time. Never been pulled over etc. Georgie wouldn't even let me register and license the car in Georgia without a Georgia driver's license. Anyway, the hardest thing is to remember to put the new insurance cards in it every six months and put the new registration sticker on it when I fly in for work.

IAHERJ

 

[wheelsup]

Jimbo:

Are there any tax restrictions on bringing a 1990 Nissan Stanza ($1000-$1500 worth)? It is a good car and I would prefer to bring it down to MCO. I thought Florida had a high tax to register out of state cars to try to encourage an in-state purchase.

You are lucky you haven't had any trouble with the FL plate in MD. The cops used to patrol the malls and apartment buidlings, ticketing out of state cars. If you keep it in the employee lot, it is probably pretty safe.

MD spog VEIP is a pain. It has to be done every two years and MD doesn't accept all other states' inspections. Waiver become an annoyance.

I think I paid $200 or so for my car's registration in FL from NH. It's based on gross weight if I remember correctly, not value. They have a chart that they look it up on. You just need a permanent (sp?) address in FL to register it to. I don't believe you can register it with an address out of state, but I could be wrong.

At one point (well still actually) I have a car registered in FL with insurance papers for NM, a NH drivers license, and I live in NM. I was involved in an accident here in NM and the cop wondered why all the different ID's. Luckily I had a good story - I live in NH, commute regularly to FL (which florida allows you to do in order to not get a FL drivers license) and I was a student in NM (registered at local college gym and had a student ID). Crazy, but it worked .

Insurance doesn't care where the car is registered, only where it is based. I just tell them it will be "here" for the next while and they send out a new insurance car (I use USAA). Never cared where it was registered to, just that I tell them and keep it updated.

What were MD cops ticketing for? Is it illegal in MD to drive an out of state registered car?!? I hate the NE! Can't wait till I get back to central Florida !

~wheelsup

 

[Jeff Helgeson]

MD cops

[
What were MD cops ticketing for? Is it illegal in MD to drive an out of state registered car?!? I hate the NE! Can't wait till I get back to central Florida !

~wheelsup[/QUOTE]

I got ticketed at 0230 at my apartment. I had to prove I lived out of state, write a letter. It was hard sinse I lived in MD and had a CA plate. Also, I think I had changed my drivers license to MD as well. It's a pressure/revenue thing.

 

[smellthejeta]

When I moved to California from Virginia, I notified Virginia of my relocation, and you know what I got? New registration cards from Virginia that had my California address listed on it.

Virignia will get you for various personal property tax issues (car tax). I don't know about out of state plates, but I got ticketed once for not having my county car tax paid. I had to show that I did not live in that particular county in order to avoid paying the penalty.

California nails you for registration violations. If you do not register the car within the perscribed period of time, they will nail you when you finally do, or perhaps when you get pulled over. One of my friends got a fix it ticket (register it and pay no penalty to the DMV). I was required to get a CA driver's license for work reasons, and at the time, couldn't afford the smog check and other associated fees, so I waited until I had the money, which coincidentally, was when my VA tags expired Because I had a CA drivers which established when I first became a resident of CA, I pretty much had to tell them that I waited to long to get the car registered and it cost me $50. In retrospect, I should have told them I was driving a rental and just moved my car into the state

 

[jimbo]

Jeff H

I've had my car in Md for almost 4 years now and have kept it at an Apt complex
mostly but now in at the employee lot. I've never had problems with the police.
I try not to attract any attention also.
As far as reg in Fla, Fla use to have an "impact fee" for that reason you mentioned earlier. The Fla supreme court found it illlegal and had to pay the majority of those fees back (in the millions). They do have a tax for first time registrations and on each vehicle after that, but it's not that much.

 

[Jeff Helgeson]

Thanks for the info, about how much $

That is good info. I have a very dependable car, 1990 Nissan. How much do you think it would be to register it?

Jeff H

I've had my car in Md for almost 4 years now and have kept it at an Apt complex
mostly but now in at the employee lot. I've never had problems with the police.
I try not to attract any attention also.
As far as reg in Fla, Fla use to have an "impact fee" for that reason you mentioned earlier. The Fla supreme court found it illlegal and had to pay the majority of those fees back (in the millions). They do have a tax for first time registrations and on each vehicle after that, but it's not that much.

 

[jimbo]

It was according to weight and I think it was around $70 per vehicle. To answer your question I'm now with SW. I just hav'nt gotten around to changing my avtar.

 

[Flic1]

Jeff-

Figure close to $200 to register your car in FL which includes tags, registration and the $100 initial registration fee. If you've had the car for more than 6 months you don't have to worry about the taxes.

 

[typhoonpilot]

DD:

When you are first setting it up you might expect a few questions and some confusion from the insurance company. Usually after a few phone calls and letters they get it and do what you need. I had one car that has variously been registered in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nevada, Utah, Florida, and finally California.

I had that car in California for one year in 91/92 and didn't register it there. I got a job with a company in Nevada at the end of the year and used a friend's address to register it in Nevada as my NC reg was about to expire. About 9 months after that I registered it in Utah. A short while later I get a letter from California saying they have a picture of my car in Sacramento with a Nevada license and that I was responsible for all sorts of fees and taxes. At that time they were really going after people who registered cars in Nevada but lived in California. I responded that, not only do I not live in California, I don't live in Nevada either and the car is now registered in Utah. Seeing they didn't have any case, the issue was dropped.

A few years later that same car was moved back to California where I did live for a time and did register it. When I moved from California to North Carolina again, the car stayed in California. I was looking for a new insurance company at the time. I called Geico and was explaining the whole set-up to them and they just couldn't get it. At some point I said something about not living in their perfect little cookie cutter world and the lady just hung up on me. Eventually I got an insurance company that could reliably keep cars insured in more than one state, but as said above I had to give them a permanent address to base it from.


Typhoonpilot

 

[zuka]

insurance woes

I had a florida registered and insured car and told them I was temporarily living in a different state for a job assignment and listed my temporary address. It was about six months and they said they wouldn't renew my insurance policy unless I had a florida address listed. Just used a family address in Florida and that fixed the problem but the insurance agent didn't believe me and gave me a hard time about it.

 

[LR25]

All you need to do is, go to your home state tag office, ask them to give you a form so that a law enforcement officer can verify the vin# in the state where the car is, then you take this form back to your home tag office, They will issue you a tag and registration for that vehicle. You do not need to get any ID's or addresses where you crash pad is.

In the state of FL, they give this form out with absolutely no hassle.

When you do this method, have proof of insurance, title, bill of sale.

Go to a police station in the area and they come out and check the vin.

 

[Jeff Helgeson]

THX for the info, one more question

Jeff-

Figure close to $200 to register your car in FL which includes tags, registration and the $100 initial registration fee. If you've had the car for more than 6 months you don't have to worry about the taxes.

So if I bought an airport car in FL, would I still have to pay the $100 fee? I am just trying to figure out the cost/benefit analysis. Bring my $1000 dependable Nissan or buy a $500 airport beater locally?

Jeff

 

[jimbo]

Jeff
If you've had a car reg in the state of Florida before they will waive the fee. You have to show proof of an old tag or reg that belonged to you at one point. Otherwise you have to pay the fee. I think it would be more cost effective just to bring the Nissan over and reg it here. Good luck

 

[Flic1]

Jeff-

You're probably better off just bringing your reliable car down and paying the fee as Jimbo said. You'd owe tax on the new car and then it would probably break down the first week you had it!

 

[Jeff Helgeson]

FLA or bust vs. nice bust in FLA?

Jeff
If you've had a car reg in the state of Florida before they will waive the fee. You have to show proof of an old tag or reg that belonged to you at one point. Otherwise you have to pay the fee. I think it would be more cost effective just to bring the Nissan over and reg it here. Good luck

Looks like a road trip!

Now the really important question. Do they still have the theme park deal for airline folks. It used to be 2 parks unlimited for the year for $150. It would be a nice gig if you had to do reserve!

 

[metrodriver]

I live in TX and have had a car in FL for quite some time now. I bring the car back to TX when the inspection comes up. The insurance knows nothing about it. If something happens, I just happen to be there for vacation or tdy. I've never been pulled over or asked about it, eventhough the car was at the same house for a long time, parked on the street. I had a WA registered car in CA and TX for a long time, never had a question about it.