Auto Insurance Requirement for Snowbirds
 

I didn't know this:

With what I can see, if you are a snowbird and your permanent residence is in another state and you are in Florida for over 90 days in a year you have to register your car in Florida and get auto insurance in Florida.

Car Insurance for Snowbirds | Fox Business

Just found out this also, if you are a Florida resident and in Michigan for over 30 days you have to have auto insurance in Michigan, and if you are in Michigan for over 90 days, your car has to be registered in Michigan.

Out of State Car Insurance Coverage: Is It Illegal In Michigan?

I would think other states have similar laws.

A snowbird can stay in Arizona up to 7 months and not need to get insurance there or register your car there.

Snowbirds and vehicle registration laws in Arizona

You are correct. There is another detailed thread on this topic. It appears that there are a lot of snowbirds who routinely violate Florida law by maintaining and driving cars for more than 90 days with out-of-state registration and insurance.

Insure your car where it is primarily garaged, which means for the longest period of time each year. We have two cars registered in MA and one in FL. One car up north has never been to the Villages, and the other we drive to FL twice every year for a way too short visit. Our car registered in FL gets driven up north every May and returns to Fl in October for the winter. If your car is registered up north and is garaged up there for more than half of the year, then you are good. Who is going to prove that your car was in Florida for more than 90 days if you are a snowbird? As long is the vehicle is garaged up north for more than half of the year you should be all good.

It's all about the money, registration fees and insurance.

Day 89 take a day trip to Georgia, have lunch, keep bill as proof of leaving Florida, come back to another 90 days!

Unfortunately, that plan doesn't make it legal, because the 90 day rule is for the entire year, not 90 consecutive days.

Another good reason for me not having a car in The Villages.

So how do you get around? Golf cart can only get u so much?

It’s one of those “laws” like jaywalking. Legally your not suppose to jaywalk either and, of course, it’s not strictly enforced.

I wonder if the insurance company would balk on paying a claim if they were aware or suspected the car was in a location for more than 90 days.

Mr Helpful...you are not...far from it.

Once an insurance comapny writes your policy and accepts payment, they are legally obligated to pay the claim. Insurance companies know people lie. The best thwy can do is come after u for the additional premium.

Really? What law says that someone can buy an insurance policy and lie on the application, and the insurance company has no legal recourse but to pay whatever claim is filed? I think insurance companies may pay small dollar claims. But, if you file a large claim, the company has insurance investigators who will do everything they can to protect the legal rights of the insurance company. If the policyholder lied on the application, the company can and will deny the claim.

Auto insurance is different than if u lied about your house or business and it burnt down.

Auto insurance doesnt only protect you but protects others if u are negligible.

Simply think.

No, "any" misrepresentation will not result in a denial of a claim. It has to be a material one that would have caused the insurance company to never issue the policy. If that's the case, the carrier rescinds the policy from the inception date and returns all premiums.

So lets say there is a household member who's license was suspended fro DWI and insured lied on app that no person in the household has had such an infraction. That's a material misrepresentation. Policy could be rescinded.

If you say you only drive car 6,000 miles a year and get into the best rating class for lowest premiums and carrier finds out you actually log 12,000 miles a year, you'll get your premiums raised but won't be cancelled or have claims denied.

If you are in Florida 9 months a year your policy conditions aren't prefaced upon Floridia's financial liability laws. The normal policy conditions apply and they'll handle any claims on their merits. Only thing that may be lacking would be the $10,000 in required PIP benefits, which aren't typically written in non no-fault states. Many policies automatically role on mandatory FR limits for their insureds involved in out of state losses. So that may also happen.

Can't imagine a carrier denying a claim because you car was garaged in Florida versus the state of issuance. Risk hasn't increased and there is no policy language stating car must be garaged in state of issuance. I guess if you garage your car in Miami versus Fargo, North Dakota for a few months there is an increase in risk, but they can always adjust the premiums for that, but denial of claim would be tough to do.

This seems to make the most sense to me.

Here is a different situation I've wondered about:

We just purchased a home in Marsh Ben, with the intent to become a permanent resident of Florida. As we currently live in Oregon, and have a home here, we know we must do certain things to change our domicile to Florida. Our Oregon home will become a 2nd vacation home for the summer months until we sell it.

We have no intention of driving our Oregon cars down to Florida (2006 and 2008) and will initially just rent, then eventually purchase a vehicle for use in Florida; it will be registered in FL, of course.

We also travel quite a bit, and expect that to continue for a few years.

Reading thru this thread, I interpret the 90 day requirement a bit confusing. I plan to inform my insurance company (USAA) of our intent.

Anyone with this type of situation?

Thanks.

Mike

The 90 day rule is not very complicated. If you own or lease a car that you use on a day to day basis in Florida for more than 90 days during the calendar year, you are supposed to register the car with the Florida DMV office, and purchase a Florida auto insurance policy. It really doesn't matter whether or not you even own or rent a house in Florida, or whether you consider yourself to be a Florida resident. It is all about the car usage in the State of Florida.

In 2015 we bought in TV and were Snowbirds, and brought a car down to garage and use here.
We were going to winter in TV for 5-6 months.
Checked the law, and had it insured, a Florida agent had to write the policy, then registered it in FL.
Also had a car garaged, registered & insured up north for use while there.
Both cars were insured by State Farm even though I had different agents.
State Farm allows you to put the unused vehicle in a storage mode, but some companies don’t allow you to do that.
The storage rate is much lower.
I find when following the law I sleep better!