Car Registration

[allairenjadea]

I plan to change my residency from Maine to Florida this coming December. Since the registration on my car expires at the end of October I have been trying to figure out if I can register the car in Forida by mail since our next trip there will be after the expiration date. There is a very big excise tax in Maine so if I have to renew here I will lose all that money and have to pay more when I switch to Florida plates. I have used the nuts and bolts section here and contacted the DMV with the question of how to do this. As with any government office I got a reply that had little to do with the question. Does anybody have any idea if this is possible.

[hunt9791]

You must physically have your car in Florida to register it. They come out of the office and check your VIN, mileage and make sure the old Title matches the vehicle you drive to the DMV. Renew your Maine plates and drive it like that for the year and then register it in Florida. May not be IAW state law but it is the best option...

[allairenjadea]

I thought if I wanted a Florida drivers license I had to register a car.

[JohnM]

You must physically have your car in Florida to register it. They come out of the office and check your VIN, mileage and make sure the old Title matches the vehicle you drive to the DMV. Renew your Maine plates and drive it like that for the year and then register it in Florida. May not be IAW state law but it is the best option...

We registered two NEW cars in FL which were in NY at the time ... FL DMV sent the plates. We almost registered a used car in FL while it was in NY and had NY plates, but decided it would never make it to FL. There is a procedure and form where a "law enforcement agency" does what is described above. We were going to use the Village Police and they were familiar with the procedure ... FWIW ...

[JohnM]

I thought if I wanted a Florida drivers license I had to register a car.

I think it may be the reverse ... I am pretty sure that we registered the car in my wife's name and I did not have any car registered in my name when I got my driver's license ... FWIW ...

[natickdan]

You may want to contact an insurance agent that you plan to use in TV to make certain you are getting the correct information.

I can only speak to the two recent transactions I went through in TV and neither the insurance agent or the RMV required that I show them the car(s). What was required by the RMV was identification, proof of insurance ( I got this from TV insurance ) and the Title.

Coming from MA, I was impressed by the speed of getting my plates. In both cases, I was in and out in about 15 minutes. Good luck!

[skyguy79]

The following web page should answer any questions or questionable answers that are coming up in this thread:

http://www.flhsmv.gov/dhsmv/newflres.html

[jchase]

I live in NY, have a NY drivers liciense, have a place in the Villages and one in NY. Just purchased a used truck from my neighbor in Florida. I had to get insurance for it in Florida. Went to DMV on 466A, they did not look at the vehicle. Paid the 6% tax and the registration fee. So, you could probally do it by mail once you get Florida Insurance.

Good luck

Jim

[Mikitv]

When we moved from Ark last year and registered our truck with Florida, they did come out and check the truck against the title information while we were there.

[skyguy79]

I live in NY, have a NY drivers liciense, have a place in the Villages and one in NY. Just purchased a used truck from my neighbor in Florida. I had to get insurance for it in Florida. Went to DMV on 466A, they did not look at the vehicle. Paid the 6% tax and the registration fee. So, you could probally do it by mail once you get Florida Insurance.

Good luck

JimDid you submit some other acceptable proof of VIN#? If not it sounds like the DMV clerk may not have done their job correctly. See requirements including acceptable proofs of VIN in the document I linked to in my last post!

[BigLew]

when I registered my car in Fl., there may have been a form asking for that info but no one looked at the car. You also do not need to own a car to get a drivers license.

[billlaur]

Sounds like any other state,a lot of inconsistency...Just hope you hit a good day....