mail forwarding and vehicle registration sites?

charlyhors · April 24, 2015

We are coming upon our re-registration time and are considering changing to a more "favorable" (less costly) address..Nevada? South Dakota? I wonder what others have discovered, what choices have been made, how did you go about researching the options, how to do it, prices, requirements. I already have a Nevada drivers license as we were on the road when my CO one expired, and I couldn't re-register online, and we are closer to there also, but So Dakota is easy to get to also. How did you make this big decision? Jean Wallace

Kirk W · April 24, 2015

There is a lot to consider, particularly if you truly want to move permanently with no intention to ever return to the state which is currently your legal residence/domicile. Domicile is not the same thing as residence but your residence usually plays a part in it. I suggest that you start by reading this article from Escapee's Magazine that I have on my website. If you are a member of Escapee's RV Club, or anticipate becoming one, they offer what I believe to be the only really complete support system for the fulltimer and via them you can declare a domicile in TX, FL, or SD, which is the three most popular states for fulltimer domicile.

There are 3 features that these three states all have which is the key to their popularity with fulltimers. None of the 3 states have any state income or personal property taxes. All 3 states will accept your mail service address for registration of vehicles and a driving license, Both TX & FL also accept the mail service address for voter registration and SD lets you use a local RV park.

JRP · April 24, 2015

I'm not sure I fully understanding your question correctly. You appear to be thinking about changing your fulltimer domicile state based solely on the cost of vehicle registration? In most cases there are much more important, critical & more costly factors involved in your domicile state choice than just the registration costs. Some of the states that have very low vehicle registration costs have other negatives, or they don't allow use of a mail forwarding address as your official address. Most fulltimers stick to Fl, SD or TX for very good reasons. Not that you can't make other states work for you, but you won't find a lot of experience with them here.

But back to the registration costs, I've come across a few online web sites that compare state by state vehicle registration costs, but its usually based on a car not an RV. To get specific costs for a variety of different vehicles you need to go to each states DMV web site and drill down into the cost charts, usually by type of vehicle, weight of vehicle and/or age of vehicle. I have 8 vehicles registered in SD (RV's, Pickups, HDT, motorcycle & util trailers) and my total fees last year were $770. There was an across the board increase in these fees approved this year in SD, effective 4/1/15. So I expect this years renewals to cost more. Texas is also considering an increase in their vehicle registration fees. That's one of the dangers of choosing your home state solely based on vehicle fees; those fees can change every year.

JRP · April 24, 2015

"Both TX & FL also accept the mail service address for voter registration and SD lets you use a local RV park."

The local RV park or motel address has nothing to do with your SD voter registration, nor any other official address use. The only place the RV Park or motel address, ever shows up is on the receipt you turn in to prove you stayed in SD for at least one night; its not used anywhere for any purpose. In fact the RV Park or Motel you stay in for that one night within SD could be on the other side of the state from your official home county. It has zero effect on where you register to vote. Your official SD address for voting and everything else, is your mail forwarding address.

sandsys · April 24, 2015

The local RV park or motel address has nothing to do with your SD voter registration, nor any other official address use. The only place the RV Park or motel address, ever shows up is on the receipt you turn in to prove you stayed in SD for at least one night; its not used anywhere for any purpose. In fact the RV Park or Motel you stay in for that one night within SD could be on the other side of the state from your official home county. It has zero effect on where you register to vote. Your official SD address for voting and everything else, is your mail forwarding address.

That was not true in 2008 when we moved our domicile to SD. At that time you spent the night in an RV park or motel that had an agreement with your mail forwarder. The voter registration did indeed use the park's or motel's address as your voter registration address. We did not get any receipt as is required now but left our voter registration application at the park along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for them to send us the voter card when it came to them. We only voted by absentee ballot so never actually saw our voting booth location but I can still tell you what park we used to register. The fact that things may have changed since then does not make the past wrong--just not current.

Linda Sand

skp51443 · April 25, 2015

I think the only issue with the voting address in SD was in the Sioux Falls area as the county treasurer was being a real pain due to personal issues with a couple of the mail forwarders. Haven't looked into it for a long time now so it may be a dead issue.

rynosback · April 25, 2015

Just do A LOT of reading and figure out which one of the three RV friendly states work for you. Look at all the the factors, big and small like

License and Registration fees

License restrictions and requirement to maintain

Taxes (sales and income)

Vehicle inspections and emissions

Insurance costs

Voting

Health insurance

Just to name a few. We chose SD as it best fits our needs. And if you chose SD I REALLY like Terry as our mail forwarding company. She is very knowledge able, SO kind and helpful.

Terri Lund

My Dakota Address

110 E. Center St.

Madison, SD 57042

www.mydakotaaddress.com

Phone: 605-427-5863

Fax: 605-427-9626

docj · April 26, 2015

That was not true in 2008 when we moved our domicile to SD. At that time you spent the night in an RV park or motel that had an agreement with your mail forwarder. The voter registration did indeed use the park's or motel's address as your voter registration address. We did not get any receipt as is required now but left our voter registration application at the park along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for them to send us the voter card when it came to them. We only voted by absentee ballot so never actually saw our voting booth location but I can still tell you what park we used to register. The fact that things may have changed since then does not make the past wrong--just not current.

Linda Sand

This definitely wasn't the case when we established our domicile in SD in 2011. Our mail forwarding address is on our licenses, our voter registration and my wife's nursing license.

trisurfer · April 26, 2015

My residence is NC and probably will remain so for awhile, can I just register my camper in South Dakota to take advantage of cheaper fees. I'm curious what the local North Carolina authorities can say if anything?

Ron

Kirk W · April 26, 2015

My residence is NC and probably will remain so for awhile, can I just register my camper in South Dakota to take advantage of cheaper fees. I'm curious what the local North Carolina authorities can say if anything?

Legally the answer is no but you might get by with doing so. A great deal will depend upon who much time you spend back in your home area, how long each stay is, and how aggressive local traffic officers and code enforcement officers are. If you do not take the RV back to NC and store it in SD when you are not actually traveling with it, that would actually be legal but if you park it at your home in NC you are required to then register it there also.

EDIT: I just noticed that this is your first post to the forums so want to welcome you to the Escapee forums! We are happy to have you here and will do all that we are able to assist and support you.

trisurfer · April 26, 2015

Legally the answer is no but you might get by with doing so. A great deal will depend upon who much time you spend back in your home area, how long each stay is, and how aggressive local traffic officers and code enforcement officers are. If you do not take the RV back to NC and store it in SD when you are not actually traveling with it, that would actually be legal but if you park it at your home in NC you are required to then register it there also.

EDIT: I just noticed that this is your first post to the forums so want to welcome you to the Escapee forums! We are happy to have you here and will do all that we are able to assist and support you.

That's pretty much what I thought. I keep the camper in a storage facility and its only in my driveway maybe 15 days a year just long enough to stock it up or clean it out. And all my camping is out of state so I'm thinking if I'm stopped out of state there shouldn't be an issue.

Welcome to the forum as well.

Ron

Kirk W · April 26, 2015

I keep the camper in a storage facility and its only in my driveway maybe 15 days a year just long enough to stock it up or clean it out. And all my camping is out of state so I'm thinking if I'm stopped out of state there shouldn't be an issue.

Whether this works or not still depends upon the enforcement people. In areas where the code people do this one of the first places that they look for vehicles that are not properly licensed in the local area is at the storage facilities. That is usually much more productive than it is to try and check each driveway and property.

docj · April 27, 2015

Whether this works or not still depends upon the enforcement people. In areas where the code people do this one of the first places that they look for vehicles that are not properly licensed in the local area is at the storage facilities. That is usually much more productive than it is to try and check each driveway and property.

Kirk's right; if your storage facility is in domicile state and your MH is registered elsewhere then you are violating the laws of your home state if the number of days in the state exceeds the maximum number of days a resident can have a non-registered vehicle. Furthermore, the authorities will probably take a dim view of you using a storage facility as a way of trying to avoid them noticing that you had the vehicle in the state.