HOME BASE - PROCESS TO DECLARE FLORIDA - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

HOME BASE - PROCESS TO DECLARE FLORIDA

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have been on the road F/T for almost 6 months now and believe we want to identify our "home base" as Florida for purposes of MAIL, and registering our RV and CAR.

Those of you who have done this in Florida, could you give me a thumbnail sketch of the process and how you went about it?

Thanks

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

There are at least three mail forwarding places in Florida where people are using them for domicile - Good Sam out of Pensacola, Saint Brendan's Isle just south of Jacksonville (very popular with people who live on boats as well as RVs), and one in Merritt Island I would have to look up.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

WOW!!!! I can't believe there are not lots of folks who have declared Florida as their "home base" but yet no one seems to be willing to share their experience or knowledge - surprising!!!!!!

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVPainter: I have renewed my license and registration through American Homebase mailforwarding this past july. They have a POBox and a residential adrees you can use.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Pieere for stepping up and helping out a fellow RV-er - I appreciate your response. I'm also checking with Good Sam as bjoyce suggested.

I'll bet there are 100's of RV Dream members who have declared Florida as a "home base" Wouldn't you think some of them would help - I am really shocked at such a lack of helpful information.

As I say thanks to you and the other 2 folks who responded - greatly appreciated.

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

We're actually just starting to research this ourselves, as we're considering legally 'moving' from SD to FL for our residency. It makes sense for us in many ways - as we have our businesses registered in Florida and both our parents live there, so we visit often.

To the best of our knowledge, you need to establish your address first. So pick your mail forwarding service - and most seem more than happy to give you advice on how to complete the rest of the list (so trust them over any of us who haven't yet done this recently ourselves.).

After that, I believe the process is to: register your vehicles, setup your services to use the new address (health & auto insurance, bills, etc.) and then come to Florida to get your driver's license.

Florida makes you prove that your claimed address is your residential address, which is why the above steps need to occur first so you have things that show the address - as you need to bring 2 forms of proof.

Here is the state of Florida's online tool for what you'll need to get your DL:
http://www.gathergoget.com

Hope that's helpful... and let us know if you find anything else in your own research.

- Cherie

Roz · RV-Dreams Family Member

Knowing the staff at St. Brendan's Isle, I would go there. They have a street address and definitely are a legitimate home base in every sense of the word. Long time experience in yachts that travel the globe and RVs that roam North America!

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Cherie and Roz - appreciate the feed back. I will check out both avenues.

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVPAINTER: American Home Base is sponsored by the Good Sam Club. I have only had them since July and so far so good.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Pieere -I've send them an email

rvingft · RV-Dreams Family Member

I used a UPS Store in Davie, Florida as my home address for many, many years .... Most will require you to present ID and go thru the normal process of renting a box, then from then on it's just as any other mail forwarding service.

Except the UPS store I used then (and still do, in Arizona) will let me know what pieces I have, scan and email certain ones to me if I need them to, shred junk mail, etc. before they send it off. My current address with a UPS store has been in place for going on 6 years now.

Each UPS store is owned by a franchisee, so not all are the same. I've used a UPS store in Fla, TN, YX, and now AZ with no problems, no complaints.

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVPAINTER wrote:

I'll bet there are 100's of RV Dream members who have declared Florida as a "home base" Wouldn't you think some of them would help - I am really shocked at such a lack of helpful information.

I think you are a little off base in your criticism. If a poll were taken you would find far more using either Texas or South Dakota.Just saying.The lack of response might just be that and nothing else.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

That may be so - However I followed up on the response from Roz and we are well on our way to declaring our home base as Florida.

karen and al · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi...just saw your post, sorry I don't get on more often

We homebase in Florida, but our circumstance is a little different in that we do own a house there that his mom lives in and this is our legal address, as well as our mail service . I do remember the DMV is very strict with documentation. They nedded a social security card, I had mine but we didn't know where his was, so we had to go to social services and have it replaced. Kicker here is, a passport is not acceptable proof of ID at the DMV, but guess what we needed to show as proof of identity to replace the social security card?? Yes, a passport! Whatever! I would strongly suggest working with a mailing service as they probably know how to do it without you having an actual physical address.

Roz · RV-Dreams Family Member

Richard (RV Painter),

I am confident you will be pleased with St. Brendans Isle. We live in Jacksonville, FL and find a number of advantages to having our motorhomes registered here for the last ten plus years.

Charles

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, after checking out the insurance costs for our RV and toad, it would cost $1,500
MORE per year to register them in Florida then it now costs to register them in New Mexico.

We checked out S. Dakota which has the same basic "resident" benefits as Florida and the insurance costs are $1,100 LESS than Florida and about $450 less than New Mexico.

Soooooo it will be S; Dakota for us.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

A classic case of a great job doing your homework.More people should follow this example.When we were full time we kept our home state of Colorado because the benefit's of changing were negligible.What works for one person doesn't always work for another.

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good info, RVPainter,

We're all looking at this stuff so,it's good to read your results.

~Sherry

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've been researching this, too, and have come to the same conclusion as you, RVPAINTER. We'll probably be flying up to SD in December. Have you chosen a mail service and would you be willing to share that info?

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Right now we are looking at Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls.

RVKevi · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for responding. We looked at them, but they seem kind of pricey compared to some of the others. So we're also looking at Your Best Address. We haven't made a definite decision yet, but it will probably be one of those.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are looking at Best Address as well - I still need to compare the two cost for cost - feature for feature.

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Be very carefull when choosing state and a mail forwarding service. There is much more to consider than the price.

Will you need to go to SD in the middle of winter to renew your drivers license? If you're using a small mail forwarding service, will they still be in business in 6 months or a year?

I personally know one RVer who used a small service that went out of business. The mail was not forwarded to him and some of it was sent back to the sender before it was finally straightened out. A real mess!!

Will the service be reliable and will they assist you to get your vehicles registered?

Just saying, the lowest price is not always the best.

Jim

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

I agree Jim - lowest price is not always the best. I've talked to people who use both of these services and they seem very satisfied. With regards to going to SD in the middle of the winter - we would be making this our home base come late April 2013 as our NM tags are good until then. In SD, the registrations can be renewed online and the driver licence need to be renewed IN PERSON every 5 years. At least this is what my research has shown. I doubt if we will be RVing past 5 years - at least not F/T as I'll be approaching 80 - time to settle down :>) - sit on a front porch telling people to stay off my grass!!!!! :>)

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Nope..........when I hit 80 , just gonna pay the nurse an extra 2 hours to drive me to Disney's full Care Retirement facility.........Then its off to Warner brothers for the Looney tune Tour!!!!!!!!

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVPAINTER,

Yes it is 5 years.

As for how long you will full-time, we started out in 2001 with the idea to find a pace to settle down in about 2 years. Now, in 2012, we're still on the road and still not ready to hang up the keys. biggrin

Jim

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

I think at 80 I will hangup the keys for the safety of others :>) Ya gotta know when to fold em!!!!

Loretta · RV-Dreams Family Member

We went back and forth as to where to register and picked SD. The insurance rates were far cheaper on both the RV and car. We initially were going to go with the services in Crestview Florida then St. Brendan's Isle but found that different counties have different insurance rates.

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVPAINTER, sorry I haven't been keeping up with the forum and am getting into the discussion late. I have a couple of thoughts for you...

First I heard from someone else that uses SD as a home base that the vehicle insurance rates are about to go up. Theirs had already taken a jump and and more increases were expected to make them more level with other states. Unfortunately I'll admit this is heresay from someone I can't even remember!

We use St. Brendan's Isle as well as our home base and domocile. They are experts in converting you to a FL resident and have all the paperwork ready for you to take to the local courthouse (about a mile away from their office) to do the filing. As for the cost of car insurance our motorhome and toad premium combined is only about $1300 a year, so you may want to do some shopping around to get a better rate. Granted your RV and toad are newer than ours but it sounds like you've been quoted rates a lot higher.

If you do reconsider FL, keep in mind that your initial registration fees for vehicles will be higher than the annual renewal. I don't remember the details but FL charges you extra the first time when you have never registered a vehicle in the state.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

WELL!!!!!! Thanks to my RVDREAMS friend RvRon I got another quote from my agent for Florida insurance - this time using the insurance company that he has his insurance with rather then my existing GMAC carrier.

The quote was only $200 higher than the insurance quote for South Dakota. Not really wanting to fly to South Dakota since we are now in Florida and can do the "Florida thing" much easier - we are joining up now with St. Brenden's Isle for our mail service and in April when our NM registration expires we will complete our Florida vehicle insurance for the RV and toad as well as our Florida driver licenses and voting rights.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!! :>)

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVPAINTER wrote:
WELL!!!!!! Thanks to my RVDREAMS friend RvRon I got another quote from my agent for Florida insurance - this time using the insurance company that he has his insurance with rather then my existing GMAC carrier.

The quote was only $200 higher than the insurance quote for South Dakota. Not really wanting to fly to South Dakota since we are now in Florida and can do the "Florida thing" much easier - we are joining up now with St. Brenden's Isle for our mail service and in April when our NM registration expires we will complete our Florida vehicle insurance for the RV and toad as well as our Florida driver licenses and voting rights.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!! :>)

Glad it worked out for you! I'm sure SBI will work out for you as well as it has for us.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for you help again - I owe you a big lunch!!!