Question regarding Florida licensing

[cjbearden]

I have emailed a couple of forum members who are currently in Florida and they have not heard of the following problem/requirement, whatever. I am interested in knowing if anyone now in Florida knows of licensing or temporary sticker requirements for Winter Guests?

We are in Kerrville, TX. J.D. was in W/M a couple of days ago and a guy in line ahead of him, also an RVer, was talking about just arriving from Florida and he was hopping mad. He had just paid a $172 fine for not having some sort of sticker on his truck. The cop apparently had seen the guy driving around for a couple of months and told him after 30 days he was supposed to get a sticker or permit or whatever to remain in Florida and not get a ticket.

The guy's wife was in a hurry to get home so J.D. didn't get to finish the conversation to find out where the guy was staying in Florida, if the cop lived outside the park being the reason he knew the guy had been in Florida beyond 30 days, or if anyone else in that park had incurred a similar fine.

I have researched Florida DMV and cannot find anything regarding such a requirement. So I throw it out there to see if anyone on the forum has heard of such a requirement?

C.J.

 

[2010augusta]

I think this is a BIG grey area of the law...Most states require you to register vehicles after 30 days of being in the state (or becoming a resident). I know that is the case as we moved to WA, but we have not any issues about not changing the vehicles over within the 30 days. after about 90 days I did register the truck because our CO plates were about to expire. I will have to do the same with the LM in January, and our jeep in May.

I remember back (a few years ago) when I was a freshman in college, all the out-of-state students got warning tickets the first day, that told them that they had to register their cars in CO with in the next 30 days, or start receiving real tickets, but here again is a full-time student really a resident of the state if you are living in a dorm?

It all really boils down to what residency IS, and what the mode of the cop is that keeps seeing that same out-of-state truck over and over.

 

[cjbearden]

Thanks, Alan. I have read/heard of the 30-day law required by most states. Winter RV guests in any state are not residents in my opinion. With the influx of people in Florida during Winter, there is a ton of increased revenue. Why hassle a temporary visitor who will be leaving in a few months?

Most cities cater to the Winter influx of people who spend their money locally and some places depend on that influx to make their annual revenue dollars.

Recently in Hemet, CA, we quickly learned that after November 1, many prices increased because of the Winter people arriving. Example: J.D. got a haircut for $8 prior to Nov. 1 and then after that date the price increased to $14 with the barber saying the winter people is why he goes up in price each year!

 

[caissiel]

I travel to Florida in winter and spend 4 months there, I have less problem moving around in the US then in Canada, In Canada we have state Insurance companies that realy put the squeeze on registering, even I lost my insurance coverage if I stay out of province in an other province for more then 30 days as it happened once before. The same insurance just smiles when I tell them I will be in Florida for the winter.