First time registering car in florida
 

friends from NY who registered a car for the first time in Florida paid a fee of between $1000- $1200. They were told this is a one time fee. I have looked on the dmv website and don't see anything about this fee. Is this something that only certain states have to pay? Moving there soon and trying to figure out what to do with our car

It is higher the first time you register your vehicle, but not THAT high!
I think our first vehicle was around $500 total, including the fee.

Registered a car from NY and paid around $600 for a two year registration and drivers license.

If I remember correctly if you can't prove that you paid sales tax from wherever you bought the car then you have to pay the Florida sales tax on the present value of the car but don't quote me on that.

Here is the fee structure:
Initial vehicle registration fee: $225.
This is a one-time fee for vehicles that have never had a FL registration. If you are transferring a title to a new vehicle, you will not be required to pay the initial registration fee.
There is also tax:
The state of Florida may charge sales tax, use tax, and local discretionary taxes on your vehicle when you register it for the first time in Florida. Whether or not you pay the taxes depends on how long you have owned your vehicle.
Vehicle owned less than 6 months:
Owner is responsible for 6% Florida sales or use tax and any local discretionary taxes your new city or county might require.
Florida sales tax will be pro-rated based upon any taxes you paid in another state.
Example: You already paid 3% tax in previous state so you subtract that from the 6% tax owed to Florida. This means you owe 3% sales or use tax.
Vehicle owned more than 6 months:
No sales, use, or local discretionary taxes will be charged for vehicles that have been owned and registered in another state.
Your out-of-state title and registration will need to verify that you have owned the vehicle more than 6 months.

Same.
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Bob C

The car I will keep in FL is 10 years old. Will I need to provide anything to avoid sales tax or extra fees?

OP, here is a link to Florida DMV, right hand column has a moving to Florida tab, hope this helps.

Florida DMV | Department of Motor Vehicles Guide

VT

The process is easy and the ball park of 500+ is probably what you will pay.
You will need your car and title. If financed you need that paperwork. You will also need proof of address.

You can also take your driver license test at the same time. It will probably be a vision test to see if you license says you need to ware glasses.

You can also do voters registration and I think you can also do the homestead exemption (reduces your real estate taxes).

Yes its high as others mentioned at about $600 per car. The good news is that its a one time high charge and as a trade off better than than paying high real estate taxes each year in NY. Revenue has to be made up somewhere in FL since our real estate taxes are so low.

No smog check either.

Or inspection............

Under $500 per vehicle 2 and 7 years old.

OK, I just went through this last June/July. My car is a 2015 Honda that I bought in Dec 2014 in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has NO sales tax. I had to wait until the car was 6 months old or I would have had to pay a Sales tax to Florida ($1200). So I got my driver's license in June, $54.25, you have 30 days from getting your license until you MUST register your car, because you are now considered a resident of Florida. I registered my car in July (over 6 months old now), I paid $413.25. I have never registered a car in Florida before.

Thank you for all the information, will wait till we are in Florida to get a new car.

Best feeling was removing the NJ inspection & registration stickers from the wind shield

Simple solution - leave your cars registered in your former state (or another tax and insurance friendly state).

I did not have to take any drivers license test. Simply gave them my old one, they cut a corner off of it, gave it back along with my new FL drivers license.

Yep. Getting a florida drivers license was easy. They held a mirror up to my nose, it fogged a little, and before i knew it picture time!

I just registered my car this week and got a Florida drivers license. The license fee is partially based on the weight of your vehicle. If the vehicle is titled out of state there is an additional fee for issuing a new title. It cost me $485.00 for license and vehicle registration. The only good thing is you can register your vehicle for two years. I would recommend getting a list of documents required to complete the documents. You need two pieces of identification not including your out of state drivers license.

Florida doesn't have a State Income tax so they have "other" fees or taxes you pay. In short, The money to run State Government has to come from some place and newbees to the State is one of those places. In most cases, $500.00 covers the cost of registering your vehicle in the State of Florida.