Our visit this week with Jim and Pat Hoffman became more than just building a friendship with the four of us. One of our conversations that began with talking about mail forwarding services led to sharing what it costs us each for our vehicle license tabs and insurance- South Dakota vs Florida. We both own Newmar coaches, so for the most part we were comparing apples to apples.
We seriously considered a Florida domicile when we were researching domiciles in 2017 and 2018. We didn’t go with Florida since it would cost the most to get to both driving or flying from Washington–or anywhere on the west coast. We were needing to establish our domicile the first week of April during my spring break. There is more to license and registration costs and convenience…what about insurance for the vehicles? We assumed vehicle insurance in Florida would be significantly higher given all the congested areas with a lot of old people driving than it would be in South Dakota with such a low population density. You also need to physically have your vehicles in Florida, but NOT in South Dakota! We went with SD domicile which saved us about $2000 on the license tabs from the Seattle area! We flew in, left both vehicles in Washington, and took care of everything within 24 hours. It was a really easy transition to make.
However, when Jim told us he paid less than $100 for TWO-year tabs for his 2017 Dutch Star, we were stunned. (That’s about $500 less than we pay each year in South Dakota!) His insurance was lower as well. He doesn’t have the need for full-time RV coverage as we do, but he does have a newer and the next level Newmar coach, so it will be worth finding out what our full-time insurance would run. We needed to get moving immediately on this since we don’t have much more time left in Florida!
Where to start?
Step 1- Mail forwarding service. We began with the mail forwarding service of St. Brendan’s Isle in Clay County. They help you with all that is necessary to completely establish a Florida domicile.
Obviously you have to get your driver’s license in person, but your vehicles need to be in the state, AND in the proper county for lower insurance rates, and license tabs. St. Brendan’s Isle is the rural county of Clay County with low rates! They were extremely helpful on the phone. Their website has all the forms you need along with step by step instructions for filling out each one! The DMV in Green Cove Springs and in Orange Park (both in Clay County) are the best to use since they are used to processing full-time RV and boater title/registrations, which makes things go smoother.
Although it was easy to establish South Dakota as our domicile, and the right one for us at the time, we knew having to return every five years to renew the driver’s license in person was a definite drawback. You can renew up to 6 months early, but our birthdays are 7 months apart! That makes it a bit trickier. However, in Florida, a driver’s license is good for 8 years, AND you can renew one time online!! BIG savings there in time and money.
Vehicle registration tabs were a huge savings in South Dakota from where we were in WA. Yet we will save another $600 with Florida domicile by driving the motorhome and jeep to Clay County to set up Florida title and registration. The initial registration/title transfer next week will have the first-time set-up fee ($200+) added to each license plate/tabs fee, so the $600 savings won’t occur till next year. That’s OK since it will be a significant savings each year! And yes, we will be getting personalized plates again. We considered changing it up when “MOVNON” for Florida was not available, but we love people’s reaction when they notice the current SD “MOVNON” and “MOVNON2”, so we have a new version of “MovinOn” planned – provided each one is still available on Friday when we make it to the DMV.
Our combined insurance for both the Jeep and coach (Full-time RV policy) is LESS with our Clay County address than in Sioux Falls, SD for the same coverage and same insurance company! Establishing Florida insurance on the vehicles is actually STEP TWO. You must have Florida insurance before you can register the RV and get license plates! We are saving just under $200 each year. To complete the licensing part, we altered our travel plans to accommodate a trip to the north eastern part of Florida where Clay County is located. Luckily, it is not going to interfere with our planned stays/reservations for our last week in Florida or our 3-day stay in Alabama as we make our way back to southern California. We will just have one very early start to a longer than normal travel day next Friday when we drive to Orange Park DMV to complete the final steps. As of Jan 17, we will have completed our domicile change to Florida. Not hard at all!
The order of doing things is important to know and follow for whatever state you are making your domicile!
In Florida:
1. Set up mail forwarding (St. Brendan’s Isle).
2. Set up Florida insurance.
3. Title/Registration of Vehicles and Driver’s License
All done at the DMV. CLAY COUNTY highly recommended for lower
fees and familiarity of full-time RVing.
4. Register to vote – Do NOT do at DMV!! Use the online link provided
on the St. Brendan’s Isle website.
(In South Dakota licensing is done before obtaining the insurance.)
Florida’s De Soto State Park
Benefits of Florida Domicile (using Clay County)
- $54.25 driver’s license that is good for 8 years!
- Driver’s license can renewed one time online!
- When renewing in person, you can do it up to 18 months in advance!
- Tabs for motorhome approximately $60 (AFTER initial start-up title/registration)
- Tabs for Jeep Wrangler approximately $60 (AFTER initial start-up title/registration)
- Insurance savings of $190 each year over South Dakota
- MUCH cheaper yearly passes to Disney parks and Universal!
- Don’t want a season pass? Save on multiple day tickets
- Make reservations earlier than non-residents at state parks
- Get 50% off state park campsites (not primitive or group sites) if 65+
It will take a few weeks before we actually get our new Florida plates with the new version of “MOVIN ON”.