Can you register a vehicle in a state you are not a resident of?

[Alpo]

There's a house around the corner. Rental house. There are about six cars that seem to live there. They all have Georgia plates. This leads me to believe that a bunch of people from Georgia have rented this house for the summer.

 

There's also a boat there. It has Florida registration. There are no cars there with Florida plates. Just the boat.

 

And I wondered how Georgia residents could register a boat in Florida.

 

 

[Pat Riot]

Or they moved to Georgia from Florida and haven’t registered the boat. 

[Badlands Bob #61228]

Georgia changed the vehicle registration laws several years back.  When you register a vehicle in Georgia now, you have to pay sales tax (7%) on the vehicle, even though you already own the vehicle.   After that, it's only $20 tag fee per year.   Perhaps they are trying to keep their $20 per year registration fee and not register their cars in Florida.  They also could be active military and eligible to claim Georgia as their state of residence, which would be legal.

[Utah Bob #35998]

They may have purchased the boat locally. Do you mean the boat has FL registration numbers or the trailer has FL tags?

You must register your vehicle if you move to Florida within 90 days.

[Still hand Bill]

Yes, it can be done legally.  Really depends on the state.  South Dakota is a common state to register vehicles from outside states.  Commonly used by RV people who don’t have a permanent address.  
 

other states will allow out of state residents to register, but usually require an address.  if you own a second home it’s possible to register cars and boats to that address while not being a resident of that state. 
 

military are one of the other big exceptions as they can register in their home state even if deployed in another state. 

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

They may have purchased the boat locally. Do you mean the boat has FL registration numbers or the trailer has FL tags?

You must register your vehicle if you move to Florida within 90 days.

Didn't see the tags. Trailer was backed into the carport. But it had Florida registration on the bow.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Many people will have an out of state registration in order to get a lower insurance or tax rate. Of course that’s fraud...

[Beefmalone]

Lots of people who own expensive vehicles set up an LLC and register them in Montana since they have no sales tax. It's a large business up there.

[sassnetguy50]

Some states allow mail in registration for non-residents.  It is commonly used to get around resident state vehicle inspections or lost title issues.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 hour ago, sassnetguy50 said:

Some states allow mail in registration for non-residents.  It is commonly used to get around resident state vehicle inspections or lost title issues.

It is between you and your insurance company wher you list it as “garaged”.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

Massachusetts, ever the innovator in squeezing the last tax dollar or fee from its citizenry, is not fooled by those who argue that their car or boat is legally registered in NH or some other tax-free state.  We have a "use tax".  If you bring a vehicle or boat into MA, and use it here for a specified period of time,  you will get a bill from the tax man, equivalent to the sales tax.  And that's just the start.  You will also get, every year thereafter, an excise tax bill.   John Kerry tried to avoid this taxation scheme by registering his 73 foot $7,000,000 yacht in RI, saving himself almost $500,000 in sales tax and $70,000 a year in excise tax.  Caught red-handed, Kerry scoffed at the claim that a Kerry would do anything improper, and claimed that the boat was kept in RI not to avoid taxes but rather for "charter and extended maintenance purposes".  Right.  He subsequently paid the taxes due.  

MA is loaded with NH registered cars, seeking to avoid sales and excise taxes and high MA insurance rates.  The tax man will find them, eventually. And until he does, the balance due keeps rising...plus penalties and interest.  Dropping a dime on that lousy neighbor with the new Mercedes with NH plates in the driveway is one of our favorite ways to seek revenge anonymously. 

 

LL

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

1 hour ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

Massachusetts, ever the innovator in squeezing the last tax dollar or fee from its citizenry, is not fooled by those who argue that their car or boat is legally registered in NH or some other tax-free state.  We have a "use tax".  If you bring a vehicle or boat into MA, and use it here for a specified period of time,  you will get a bill from the tax man, equivalent to the sales tax.  And that's just the start.  You will also get, every year thereafter, an excise tax bill.   John Kerry tried to avoid this taxation scheme by registering his 73 foot $7,000,000 yacht in RI, saving himself almost $500,000 in sales tax and $70,000 a year in excise tax.  Caught red-handed, Kerry scoffed at the claim that a Kerry would do anything improper, and claimed that the boat was kept in RI not to avoid taxes but rather for "charter and extended maintenance purposes".  Right.  He subsequently paid the taxes due.  

MA is loaded with NH registered cars, seeking to avoid sales and excise taxes and high MA insurance rates.  The tax man will find them, eventually. And until he does, the balance due keeps rising...plus penalties and interest.  Dropping a dime on that lousy neighbor with the new Mercedes with NH plates in the driveway is one of our favorite ways to seek revenge anonymously. 

 

LL

To further on that...

 

I have a friend in Ashby, Ma, who had a 55 Plymouth that had been give to him in the 60 when his aunts in Iowa passed. It sat in his back 40 these many years. When he sought to register it to give it to his brother, the state wanted back excise taxes with interest and penalties. Instead he virtually sold it to me and I parked it in my virtual back 40 and then I virtually sold it to his brother.

 

when I gave a car to his son I did not date the title, they live on 80 acres so they should be able to keep the secret.

 

[Dantankerous]

Kansas has stupid high taxes so we see a lot of folks resister their boats in Oklahoma, which has a very manageable registration/fee structure on toys.

 

Kansas has stupid high taxes with nothing to show for said taxes. Kansas is sorely lacking decent places to take and use a boat so most folks who have boats actually do use them in other states.

 

Since Kansas has no tourism dollar revenue or natural resource revenue taxes remain stupid high for toys with no use area for toys. Boats, ATVs, etc.

 

Property taxes on vehicles here are also stupid high.

 

I fully understand people registering their toys anywhere else.

 

 

[Mister Badly]

Cities and counties have codes on single family residential units restricting occupancy to a defined family unit. My county requires vehicles be registered in the county of residence. Check with your codes office if you have questions.

[Mister Badly]

4 minutes ago, Dantankerous said:

I fully understand people registering their toys anywhere else.

I sympathize but taxes never go down and if others don't pay their share you pay it for them.

[Dantankerous]

6 minutes ago, Mister Badly said:

I sympathize but taxes never go down and if others don't pay their share you pay it for them.

 

Most likely but I'm not gonna spend my life worrying about whether my taxes go up because Bob down the street found a way to save a few dollars. Taxes don't generally go down for any reason (Trump's corporate tax rate decrease not included here ) so I will root for the little guy (us) while possibly cutting off my proverbial nose to spite my face, or something like that.

 

 

[John Barleycorn, SASS #76982]

Yes. See it all the time

[Dirty Dog Doug]

in CA if you are working in CA for longer than 2 weeks they want you to register your truck in CA . hard to check on but I have heard out of state worker being told rewg here

[South-Eye Ned]

Six cars means a minimum of 6 teenagers or older living in one house.   That’s stranger to me than where the boat is registered.  Is the house large enough for that many to live there?

[Matthew Duncan]

Back in the 70s and 80s it wasn't uncommon so see Michigan plates "living" in our County.  Our County bordered with Michigan and Michigan registration fees were considerable less then Indiana's.  Folks would used a family member's or a friend's Michigan mailing address.

[Alpo]

I would think so. Two-story. At least four bedrooms.

 

Back when I was working construction, six of us got together and rented a house on a month-to-month lease. Job took 3 months, and it was a lot cheaper than staying in a motel. And with the one girlfriend, and the wife and two children, there was 10 of us in that 4 bedroom/1 bath house.

 

It's amazing what you will put up with to save money.

[Rattlesnake Slim]

At various times I had homes in two states. The vehicle(s) that were left garaged at each house were registered in their respective states. No one at either Motor Vehicle Department cared where my driver's license was from. They both just wanted the vehicles garaged there to be registered there.