We originally considered Florida for our full-time RVing domicile, but it wasn’t going to work out. We were still in Washington State putting the house up for sale while finishing up my last year of teaching, so we flew to South Dakota and did everything without needing either vehicle to be there! We saved about $1900 just on tabs for the motorhome. But when we came to Florida and visited with Jim Hoffman, we discovered that we would likely save more money with a Florida domicile. (Not the first year due to added fees, but certainly each year after 2020.) We set up our mail forwarding service online with St Brendan’s Isle in Green Cove Springs (Clay County), and got our insurance on both vehicles switched from a SD policy to a Florida policy. The rest had to be done in person.
We left Tampa to drive to Orange Park in Clay County, to get our drivers licenses and license plates. We were on the road at 6:30 AM! I didn’t like driving in the dark since the last time we took off just before dawn we had a trucker cut over into our lane too soon when passing us. As dawn arrived– dang! Dejavu! This time I was in the process of passing the semi when he drifted into our lane by a couple feet! Thank goodness Barry saw him coming and yelled out. I laid on the horn and he pulled it back into his lane. Luckily, the vehicle in the lane to my left was back enough that he stopped. One very close call! Not a good way to start a long day’s drive.
After about four and a half hours of driving, we arrived safely at the DMV in Orange Park. We had a little more than a half hour till our appointment. We took a big breath, chilled for a bit, then unhooked the Jeep, and went in. Thank goodness I had booked an appointment online because the place was packed. I checked in and about as soon as I could sit down, my number was called! SWEET! We could not apply for personalized plates. A regular physical plate had to be issued to the motorhome since it is our residence, and that license plate number then goes on each of our drivers licenses as our “street address.” So much for all my effort over the last 10 days coming up with two personalized plates that appeared to still be available.
Next step- our drivers licenses. We completed the quick vision test, had our pictures taken and voila we had our official Florida drivers licenses! Then we got the Jeep license plate. At least our plates are sequential.
Whew! Major part DONE–Check for $1005
NOW we could apply for a personalized plate, but that meant a new plate fee of $51 for each vehicle, $4.50 shipping fee, AND another ~ $112 fee for replacement/updated drivers licenses for both of us since our “home address” would be changing! Forget it! That was too much in fees and hassle. We looked at the plates we were issued and laughed…they started with NP (hmm.. Nancy Patrick) cool…we made the standard plate “personalized” with the given letters and a sentence. Definitely not as good as our “MOVNON” and “MOVNON2” that we had from South Dakota, but this will be fine. We’re movin’ on with our life. 🙂
Next we went to Green Cove Springs to drop off the authorization for mail forwarding that verified our identity. Then we headed over to the County Courthouse to deliver a “Declaration of Domicile” for each of us! It had to be notarized. We could have had it notarized elsewhere and mailed in, but since we were this close to Green Cove Springs, we just wanted it all DONE!
2:40 PM we were back on the road with 2 additional hours of driving to go. We knew this would be a long day with 330 miles of travel, but it was worth it!
COST BREAKDOWN
Drivers License: $54.25 mine
$61.25 Barry’s w/Motorcycle endorsement of $7
Advantages over South Dakota
1. Good for 8 years vs 5 yrs (making FL only $1.18 more each year than SD)
2. Can renew online one time! This is HUGE!
(SD must appear in person to renew every 5 years!)
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License plate – MH good till June 4, 2021 $87.75 (~17 months)
License plate – Jeep good till June4, 2021 $87.75 (~ 17 months)
License Plates Total: $175.50 (17 mo) vs $700 yearly in SD!
Misc Vehicle Registration fees/taxes (1 time only) $370.70
Misc Vehicle Registration fees/taxes (1 time only) $344.20 .
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INSURANCE: We are saving about $200 per year for the exact same insurance policy for both vehicles, meaning same coverage, deductibles with the same company! (Glad we have a refund coming from cancellation of our SD policy to help reimburse us for the new policy!)
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ONE MORE FEE – Unexpected
The Declaration of Domicile that we each had to complete and take to the County Clerk was $10 each, plus $5 each for notary seal. Total $30
BOTTOM LINE
Even with the first-time registration fees on the vehicles, and the Declaration of Domicile fee totally $744.90, we still save about $60 this first year. Then each subsequent year we will save about $800 over our South Dakota domicile costs.
BONUS:
Next time we come to Florida we will also save on State Park campsites AND save significantly on Universal and the Disney Park passes!