Informaton regarding which state to register vehicles

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Check the Fulltiming section of the forum library for articles that will help you make a choice.  No one state is the best one for everyone.
 
Fulltimers tend to choose Florida, Texas, South Dakota, or Montana, but as Ned says, individual situations vary and your "best" is often not someone else's "best".

Many fulltimers choose on the basis of low vehicle tag fees (no personal property tax on vehicles), or low/no state income tax, or no sales tax (valuable if you are buying a new RV), but there are many factors to consider.
 
I was originally (when I bought the RV) an Alaska resident and had my truck and 5th wheel registered there. But it became an issue when it was time to renew since neither the vehicles or me was in Alaska.

I wanted to get registered and create my residency in a State which had the new Obama care Medicare addition since I was only 64. I chose Nevada and registered my RV there, but had a problem with a new truck I had purchased, the VIN number was wrong on the title and they would not correct it, truck had a California title and they told me to take it there, which I did and the cost there was prohibitive....like $1400.00 with taxes and fees - which was not acceptable, plus I did not want to have anything to do with California.

In the meantime I turned 65 so not an issue with Medicare anymore and I was in Montana for the summer and did some research and discovered there was no sales tax on vehicles in Montana and they were more than willing to correct the VIN number problem - so I got a drivers license and registered everything in Montana.

Another plus for Montana was the fact that you can get permanent plates on any vehicle over 10 years old so no renew problem ever again - so now I have permanent plates on the truck and 5th wheel.

There is one small issue to get around - they require a street address for a drivers license and you need that before registering vehicles. BUT they will accept a voters registration card as proof of residency for the drivers license and they do not require proof of an address for a voters card ( utility bill, rent receipt etc.). So I got a voters registration then a drivers license then registered the vehicles. Feels good to finally be legal after driving for over a year with expired plates on the truck.

There is a State income tax but since I am only on SS and not working in Montana it should not affect me. So I am not too concerned about that!

So do your homework and find a State that is easy and fits your personal needs. BTW - Montana was easy, very friendly and no large crowds at the DMV etc.

Good Luck,

Jim
 

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