Kirk W

Chrystal City and it was by the employee behind the desk who processed all of my paperwork as she checked off a questionnaire that I then signed. It was not for a renewal, it was for my initial DL when establishing residency last month.

Thanks for the info. We moved to TX some 11 years before we went on the road so I really don't remember much of what we were asked and most likely it is different now anyhow. We have changed TX counties since then, once from Tarrant to Polk and three years ago from Polk to Smith but that process is very simple and in the first case was just done by mail. Changing counties seems to be pretty easy probably because the rules are actually set by the state even though the work is in a county office.

I completed my registration completely by mail. I obtained my Texas drivers license in 2006. As of this date I have never had a vehicle inspected in Texas. However, I do not travel in Texas, and have not traveled in Texas more than about 15 days in the 18 years as a Texas resident..

I suspect that AFChap is correct in this but there are also things about this which have been changed by the federal laws since 9/11 because this is a clear case of reasonable questioning the validity of the claimed domicile. Consider this definition from "The Law Dictionary."

That place in which a man has voluntarily fixed the habitation of himself and family, not for a mere special or temporary purpose, but with the present intention of making a permanent home, until some unexpected event shall occur to induce him to adopt some other permanent home.

just curious on which state you would use for your drivers license because the questions I was asked when applying for my Texas DL was: Do you have any vehicles? and Are they all registered in Texas?

Which office were you renewing in when asked those questions? It must be something quite new as neither Pam nor I remember any such questions when we renewed our licenses a couple of years ago. Were those questions on some form, or just asked by the employee who was doing the paperwork?

On the issue of multiyear registration stickers, I just received this note from the Smith County vehicle registration office in reply to the question if they are still available.

The state is going to one sticker starting next year therefore we have quit selling multiyear stickers.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

 

Cathy Black

Supervisor Smith

County Motor. Vehicle Dept.

Thanks for the information, Travis & James.

I think the main issue is that this was listed more as simply a "consolidation" of windshield stickers, more than anything else. I think that is how the "details" got over looked. Every one said "One sticker? Oh that is better." and just voted "yes".

This is exactly the way I read things. It happens a great deal in most legislative bodies. It looks like an easy, non-confrontational issue to use to get things to tell the voters that the legislator can claim to have accomplished. He then acts with no study at all.

I am amazed at the way some members seem to take great pleasure in trying to find things to criticize about the "club."

I was in Texas for a while and contemplated "going Texan" but decided to keep my Florida residency (and vehicle registrations). Texas has some bizarre steps to "go Texan". First, you have to register your vehicle in TX within 30 days. But you cannot get a drivers license until you've been in the state for at least 30 days (proven by certain acceptable documents which show you've been there at least 30 days). WTF?!?!? I couldn't navigate the requirements and put down a set of steps to follow on a piece of paper, so I gave up. I eventually left Texas because I found the people "inhospitable".

You sure do "know" a lot of things which are not true. There is no such requirement and many an Escapee Texan has taken care of everything by spending 1 week or less in the state and then going on the road. Had you asked here, there is a booklet available free from Escapees that is titled How to Become a Real Texan that spells out just what is needed and demonstrates how it is one of the easiest states of all for the process.

 

and the law linked to in my previous post; I am wondering if the effect on traveling RVers and Motor carriers is the "unintented consequence" and getting personal property tax for RVs used as residences to the counties is the true intent. Registering an RV used as a residence that never moves or may actually be incapable of moving without removing skirting, putting wheels back on, etc. seems to me to be close if not over the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

Texas has no personal property tax on vehicles. They do however have real estate taxes that apply to improvements on rented or leased property such as a condo type community. The fixed RVs then might be deemed to be fixed improvements.

This is really the only way to MAKE people get inspections, and to make everybody get current on their inspections. A while back I started looking at people's stickers to see if the inspection month and the registration month are the same, and was shocked at how often they're not the same. I know I liked gaming the system by waiting until the first of the month after my inspection was due to have it done, to get a sticker with the new month. Over the course of a decade, I'd save almost $10.

I doubt that has much to do with it. The date of the safety inspection and the issuance of license plates is typically only the same if the vehicle is still owned by the original purchaser. To use the vehicle currently sitting just outside of my door as an example. I bought it used in June of last year and so the license plates were also issued in June. The original month of sale was December and since the vehicle has never been without a current inspection, it is still due for renewal each December. So I really don't think that I have been gaming the system.

I wonder how much it would cost to start a small mail service in Bushnell, FL?

So call the office and ask. They are usually quite open about things they are considering.

Has anyone in SKP management thought about going into partnership with an existing SD mail service?

Yes they have. As recently as about a year ago they did look at it and the revenue is just not there to justify it. It might happen at some point if an established service were to be for sale at a reasonable price.

Sorry but I have to disagree Kirk. I can renew registration totally through the mail if it is not tied to inspection. I went over a year without an inspection because my truck was out of state that long. When I first brought it back into state I had it inspected immediately. No problem. New method, total problem.

Jim, you missed what I actually said. I said if you are in residence which means present in the state. I too have been out of state many times, renewing by mail or online when out of state in our 12 years. It is definitely a bad thing for those who travel, whether fulltimers or just travelers in an automobile. What I said was that this is probably what they were thinking and never considering what happens if those same people happen to be out of the state when registration is due.

It would be interesting to know who was behind this new law.

While that is true, I highly doubt that there was any sort of conspiracy but that it was simply an oversight. If you happen to be a resident who is here most all of the time it would actually be more convenient than the current system with two stickers. We were in TX when the registration sticker came about and it was done to curb the stealing of date stickers on license plates that had become a problem. I didn't consider it the best answer back then and I still don't but if you were never gone at renewal time the combining of the stickers would be less of a hassle than the present system. On our current SUV the inspection is due in Dec. and the plates are not due until May which is a nuisance and there is the two stickers as well. The Polk Co. delegation is looking at it so I do expect that to get corrected and there is still a year to get it done.

The law was signed by the governor in June of 2013. Introduced some 2-3 months earlier. The email I received from Escapees headquarters on January 27th thanked me for bringing it to their attention. Obviously no one was monitoring last legislative session.

And did you report it to the office? Esapees is not a large organization and they depend upon members to help. Some do so and others just complain, much as in every club or organization.

If the RV never moves, why would it have to have a current registration?

I have seen long term RV parks where current registration is required to stay there. I'm not sure how common that is, but I have seen it.

I wonder what percent of registered Polk County voters are Escapees members?

When I did some looking into that several years ago we made up about 20% of the registered voters, but the impact is far greater because we also happen to be the two precincts with the highest rate of registered voters actually voting. I think that the turn out rates brought our impact up to around 30% or so. Each election the Escapee's hold a "meet the candidates" nights and historically most candidates jump at the opportunity to attend.

An interesting bit of history is that over time the voters of Escapees have changed the political climate in Polk county from one of the swing counties to one of pretty solid political lines. That change is what caused the court case that has verified the validity of the Escapee address for legal purposes in the state. What happened was that a candidate for County Commissioner chose to file suit to block the election results when he lost, based upon the thesis that he lost because of the votes of Escapee members who don't really reside in Polk county. That was back about 1998 and the suit tied up the voting rights for us for about four years until it went though appeals all of the way to the TX supreme court. As I remember, it was finally settled about 2002 or 03. It also resulted in the TX legislature making changes to the laws addressing voter registration, driver's licensing, vehicle registration, and several other laws to make it very clear that our addresses are legal. Those laws do not specify the Escapee mail service but spell out what a mail service must do to qualify as a legal address of domicile and were based upon the Escapee Mail Service model.

.Maybe that's the difference between state and federal legislatures.

I think that it demonstrates the importance of the Escapee residents to the Polk county political scene and the importance of the RV community to the TX economy. Both of them are far more significant to the economy and to re-election in TX than they are at the federal level.

The banks don't care what is legal, they are free to set their own more restrictive policies and many have.

 

Escapees may want to get millions of potential physical addresses into the USPS database before the loophole of PMBs gets slammed shut.

You are correct in that but know that Escapee's have worked with people and successfully gotten that problem resolved with a number of financial institutions and should you have the problem the business office is the first place to call. It could very well crop up again, but they have experience in dealing with this problem.

The fact is that as many of us as there are we just are not a significant factor in the overall market place so are seldom considered when companies or government agencies make up new rules. That is one advantage to doing business in Livingston since everyone there seems to understand and want the business of fulltimers.

Will escapees give you an annual lease on say 1 sq inch in their park with each membership. Assign your Box number as a street address to each parcel - should satisfy the requirement to have a lease on real property and don't have to show some #, Suite, Box etc in your address!

There is no need or reason to do that. Under TX law the address is quite legal for all functions and it was tested in the courts and upheld. Escapees is not the only such address that qualifies in TX but it is the only one tested through the courts.

Kirk,

 

Replying to Glen West's Post #46 - [Tongue in cheek]

Makes sense now.... Sailed right over my head.

Why can't Florida residents join Escapees?

Who told you that FL residents can't be members of Escapees? Some years ago there was an article on the subject of home states of Escapee members in their magazine and if I remember correctly there were no states that didn't have at least one or two members.......

Trailers and 5th wheels now must have a current inspection when sold.

Is this true for a private sale? I believe that it was true in the past for dealers, but we have two neighbors who have sold an RV in the past year and I know that neither of them had a current inspection sticker............. Another neighbor just bought a different fifth wheel and has his old one listed as well.

Anyone have a good inspection referral around Amarillo?

There are 10 possible locations listed in the TX-DOT website.

Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of a ticket being issued for a lapsed inspection sticker on a trailer?

That is a question that I have asked many times over the years and to date, I have never heard of one.

Here's the information from the Texas.gov website.

Thanks for the current info, Scott!

They are good until you return to the state. There is no specified time after return to get them renewed, it simply says "as soon are reasonably possible" or something similar.

We won't be able to hide it - or at least won't want to do the covert things required to do so, especially since we're planning to set up camp for 3 months at a time.

With longer stays it becomes much more important that you be upfront about this. If it were me, I would contact the park you want to stay in before you get there and discuss it with them. Better to know before arrival. Most of the long term parks that we have stayed in also have no pet sections and pet sections so that those who don't like pets can have their areas too.

As Earl says, they do want business, but just want to avoid problems with people's pet and between pet owners and other visitors. Very few of the park managers just dislike dogs.