Registering Vehicle in SD

[mileena]

Going back to the original question.. In order to register a vehicle in SD you must have your mailing address there and become a citizen of that state.This will include changing your driver's license to that state. 

This is wrong. SD has non-resident vehicle registrations, just like Maine:

http://dor.sd.gov/Motor_Vehicles/Non_Resident_Information/

You do not have to be a resident there to register your vehicle or RV.

 

[mileena]

However, your physical presence is required to do the job.

As in all states. They need to take your pic for the DL and you need to take the vision exam and show them your actual license and other proofs.

However, you only need to go to SD once every 10 years. They issue you a DL for 5 years, but every other renewal can be done online. So 10 years. They do require you to stay in a campground or motel every 5 years to establish continung residency, but all you need to do is pay a motel or campground by phone, and just tell them to send you the receipt. The receipt serves as proof.

 

[mileena]

That's good that you don't need an inspection in SD. Was figuring on changing my address there once I get on the road, but also was wondering if when you need a renewal on your DL if it goes by your birth date. Probably does I think, but don't want to have to go back in January. Anybody know? Maybe Texas is better for me.

You have 6 months from before your birth date to renew your DL. Mine expires in December, so I just renewed in in July.

Registrations goes by your last name. If your name begins with "W", for example, you are required to register in November. However, you can register up to 3 months before the expiration date, so if they expire 11/30, you could renew starting 8/31 or 9/1.

http://dor.sd.gov/Motor_Vehicles/Fees/Titling_and_Registration.aspx

How are plates issued? License plates are issued based on the first letter of your last name which then correlates to a particular month. For example, someone with the last name starting with a "J" will be required to renew their plates in March of each year.

A/B January
C/D/E February
F/G/J March
H/I/O May
K/L June
M/N July
P/Q/R August
S September
T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z November

The same applies for permanent disabled placards in SD. You can renew them up to 3 months from when they expire. They expire 5 years from the day day they issue them, on the last day of that month. Mine were issued 12/21/2011, so they expired 12/31/2016. I could have renewed them starting 9/30/2016 or maybe 10/1/2016.

 

[mileena]

Wrong state.  North Dakota is the one with the Bakken oil fields.  We lived in SD for 9 years and long to go back but age is becoming a factor.  Great place, great people and politicians seem to work for 'the folks' in the smaller areas.  After paying 8.34 percent sales tax in Missouri (state, county, city), SD would be a nice place to register (and live for us).  I recall the motor vehicle sales tax to be 3 percent max, no state income tax but property tax is a bit higher than normal (whatever normal is).

Motor vehicle sales tax is 4%. Vehicle registration goes up in SD every two years by about $25. It started in 2010 or 2011 due to lack of money.They added a mandatory State Highway Patrol Fee to all registrations in 2011 or so. Now my county has added a $2 per wheel wheel tax for all registrations. SD used to be a bargain; now, not so much.

 

[mileena]

Joel


Except for corporations registered to do business in the state IL, WA, and SD require you to have a valid driver's license to register a vehicle in those states, or did while we resided in each.  MT requires the same, in this case the LLC is registered in MT.


State requirements regarding use of vehicles in their respective states make it pretty clear what the laws are.

You don't need to have a SD license to register in SD. I am pretty sure you are making that info up for WA and IL too.

Let's say I spend 7 months a year in MA and winter in FL for 5 months. I  have a MA DL. If I have a car and keep it at my winter home in FL year-round, and another car where I keep in my summer home in MA year-round, I can register them in those states, respectively. The winter car in FL will never set foot in MA, and vice-versa. How would I register the FL car in MA, especially if the foreign state required an initial inspection before registering, like CA or NV does? I would have to drive that car 1,000's of miles there.

 

[mileena]

Google up Clay County South Dakota treasury office.

http://www.claycountysd.org/treasurersoffice.cfm

The lady who answers the phone is super nice and will tell you EXACTLY what to submit to get your SD registration.

I have registered 3 vehicles there and have never set foot in that state.
Clay county DOES NOT CARE where you live.

No county in SD theoretically cares where you live, since non-residents are allowed per the SD Motor Vehicle website to register their car. The only trouble you have is when you call some rural, in-the-middle-of-nowhere county which does not know the rules. I did this once to a small county in the center of the state, and the person who answered the phone claimed I need to be a state resident to register there. Rather than argue with that old biddy and call the state to report her, I just called a bigger county that handles out of state registrations a lot, like in Rapid City or Sioux Falls or nearby. No problem.

 

[mileena]

Jo

I would check with SD but I beleive you can register the RV in SD now IF your husband is the sole owner and he goes to SD within six months to obtain a SD DL.


When we originally moved our domicile to SD we were allowed to register vehicles but had to appear in SD within six months to obtain SD driver's licenses.

If you previously paid tax and have a receipt you receive credit for that tax.

Having or SD DL not is irrelevant as to whether you can register the RV there. He can dot by mail from MI.

You are required by SD law to change your DL to that that once you become a resident, not 6 months later. You should have done both at the same time rather than waste a trip.

You do not need a receipt for sales tax from out of state when changing a registration to SD. I didn't have my sales tax receipt or registration. A previous title (or registration) is fine to prove it was previously registered in another state.

 

[mileena]

Have any of you considered the benefits you already get from your home state? I have always paid my taxes in full and, frankly, have a very low opinion of those who cheat to avoid paying legitimate taxes. If you don't like paying the taxes, move and avoid them, but accept the reduced benefits if you choose to avoid the inconvenience.

Ernie

And I take a low view of you. Please tell me what are full-timers supposed to do when their beloved home state won't give them a DL because they have no physical address in that state???? Most would prefer getting their registrations and DL in their home states. Draconian policies imposed by DHS make them choose more-friendly havens like SD, TX, or FL.

 

[mileena]

OTOH, the general case of having vehicles with registration in two different states is not a big deal as long as you have your papers in order.  Our MH is registered in MT to our LLC and our CR-V is registered in SD where we have our domicile.  We've not been stopped because of this but maybe we've just been lucky.  However, we have gone back and forth across the US-Canada border several times and once we show the guards that we have the registrations and LLC paperwork all in order they don't have any further interest in the issue.

Yep, my DL is Maine but my vehicle is SD, and my address on both was CA and I spend most of my time in NV. I have had no problems when pulled over, which is rare. NJ State Police gave the DC sniper John Muhammed some trouble when his DL was NJ but sniper car registration was WA, but ultimately they let him go during a traffic stop. They key thing is having a good explanation ready if you are pulled over in your DL state and your vehicle is registered in another state. Tell them you have two residences and you mainly keep the vehicle in that second state. For the most part, in other states besides your DL state, all they care about is that both DL and registration are good. They cannot enforce your DL (home) state's registration laws as they are allowed to enforce only their own state's laws.

 

[Ernie n Tara]

Mileena, FYI

The key word is CHEAT! I have no problem wih Tax Avoidance; just Tax Evasion. As  matter of fact I full time and the fact that I'm domiciled inTexas is because I lived there for 50 years. I intend to change my domicile to Florida when I sell the S&B in TX next year, but thats mostly for convenience since I spend more time there.

Ernie

 

[docj]

However, you only need to go to SD once every 10 years. They issue you a DL for 5 years, but every other renewal can be done online. So 10 years. They do require you to stay in a campground or motel every 5 years to establish continung residency, but all you need to do is pay a motel or campground by phone, and just tell them to send you the receipt. The receipt serves as proof.

Throughout this thread people have expressed concerns about breaking the law by evading paying taxes.  With all due respect, by obtaining a SD CG or motel receipt without spending a night in SD and using it to obtain a license renewal is definitely breaking a law.  SD DPS expressly states that RVers using an affidavit to assert residency cannot use online license renewal.  We read that and decided it was more important for us to protect our SD residency than it was to avoid a trip north for license renewal.  IMO spending a night in SD once every five years isn't too much of a price to pay for the right to be a resident.  JMO, other people will have other views on the subject.

 

[mileena]

Throughout this thread people have expressed concerns about breaking the law by evading paying taxes.  With all due respect, by obtaining a SD CG or motel receipt without spending a night in SD and using it to obtain a license renewal is definitely breaking a law.  SD DPS expressly states that RVers using an affidavit to assert residency cannot use online license renewal.  We read that and decided it was more important for us to protect our SD residency than it was to avoid a trip north for license renewal.  IMO spending a night in SD once every five years isn't too much of a price to pay for the right to be a resident.  JMO, other people will have other views on the subject.

Everything you have said here is incorrect.

Nowhere in the rules does it state nomads cannot renew online. Here are the rules:

https://dps.sd.gov/licensing/driver_licensing/Renewing_Your_Driver_License_Online_or_by_Mail.aspx

Online Renewal/Duplicate

You may renew your driver license or ID card online once every ten years, provided you meet the following criteria:
You must have a federally compliant South Dakota driver license or ID card with a
You must provide a vision statment (ONLY South Dakota Department of Public Safety Vision Statements will be accepted click here vision statement) if you are 65 years old or older (the vision exam must be within the past six months and persons wearing bioptic lenses must apply in person and not online)
You must provide TWO Proof of address documents which have to be attached to the online application (documents must be no more than one year old) or mailed to Driver Licensing Program, 118 West Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
If you are using a South Dakota mail forwarding address, you will need to complete the residency affidavit. you will also need to provide a receipt from a South Dakota hotel/motel, campground or RV park to prove one night stay in within the last year (hand written receipts are not acceptable) and One DOCUMENT (no more than one year old) proving your personal mailbox (PMB) service address (receipts from the PMB businees or a piece of mail with your PMB address on it). If you have friends or family member in South Dakota and plan to use thier address, complete and follow the instructions on consent for use of address form.
Military personnel and their dependents stationed overseas may use 2 address documents proving their APO address. Military personnel and their dependents stationed in another state, may provide 2 address documents proving their out-of-state residential address. All other applicants must provide 2 address documents proving their South Dakota residential address.
You must have a credit/debit card (Visa or MasterCard) to make your payment
You must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident
To renew your driver license or ID card online, click Online Renewal

Moreover, nowhere does it state you have to actually spend a night in SD for the residency affidavit. All  the form says is you need a receipt:

http://dps.sd.gov/licensing/driver_licensing/documents/PMBFormresidencyaffidavit11-06-2013.pdf

If you have info that proves me wrong, please provide it. I have provided info that says I am right.

 

[mileena]

Mileena, FYI

The key word is CHEAT! I have no problem wih Tax Avoidance; just Tax Evasion. As  matter of fact I full time and the fact that I'm domiciled inTexas is because I lived there for 50 years. I intend to change my domicile to Florida when I sell the S&B in TX next year, but thats mostly for convenience since I spend more time there.

Ernie

Got it! Sorry about that Ernie! I was too quick to conflate the terms.

 

[johnaye]

We are in the process of deciding what state to reside in when I retire next year.  We have eliminated TX as it is my understanding that you need a CDL with an air break endorsement in order to drive a MH that weights over a certain amount.  I think the amount is 25,000 lbs.  Also the inspections as someone metioned. 
John and Becky
2004 Alfa See Ya DP

 

[Dreamsend]

Everything you have said here is incorrect

Moreover, nowhere does it state you have to actually spend a night in SD. . All the form says is you need a receipt

If you have info that proves me wrong, please provide it. I have provided info that says I am right.

See if this meets your challenge -- about spending a night in SD.  You need to read and understand your own post above wherein you copied the text of the SD guidance.  What you copied and pasted clearly states you need to provide a receipt to prove one night stay. . . within the past year  The receipt is the "proof of the stay" and  thus inherent in the statement, a stay is required.  It certainly would not be acceptable to simply pay and obtain a receipt without ever stepping foot in the state and the intent to require a stay is abundantly clear. 

And furthermore, the OP you judged so severely may have been correct for his circumstances which you failed to take into account as SD also states that you cannot renew a DL online unless you have a federally compliant DL or ID. If the OP's SD DL that needed renewing was not federally compliant, then he can't renew online.  Read the bold red print of the first paragraph on the SD DPS page you already quoted.  Due to the 5-6 year term of DLs, and the staggered recent implementation of every state's program, that situation is entirely possible.

 

[ArdraF]

We have eliminated TX as it is my understanding that you need a CDL with an air break endorsement in order to drive a MH that weights over a certain amount

Johnaye, you might want to check this further because I don't believe any state requires a Commercial Driver License (CDL) for a private RV.  They may require an endorsement, but not a CDL.  There's a lot of misunderstanding about this and we've had numerous discussions on the topic.  Use the Search button above left and search on CDL Texas to see some that relate specifically to Texas requirements.

ArdraF

 

[docj]

And furthermore, the OP you judged so severely may have been correct for his circumstances which you failed to take into account as SD also states that you cannot renew a DL online unless you have a federally compliant DL or ID. If the OP's SD DL that needed renewing was not federally compliant, then he can't renew online.  Read the bold red print of the first paragraph on the SD DPS page you already quoted.  Due to the 5-6 year term of DLs, and the staggered recent implementation of every state's program, that situation is entirely possible.

We had federally compliant DL's; we were among the first to receive them 5 years ago in SD.  We simply decided that "a receipt to prove one night stay. . . within the past year" meant that you actually had to stay in the state one night so that 's what we did.  Even though we could have renewed our licenses at any DPS office in the state, we chose to drive to Madison where we are residents. 

 

[Ernie n Tara]

Texas requires:

  Class B license (written & road test) for mh over 26, 000 lb gross
  You must demonstrate understanding of air brake or fail.
  State Inspection in state or on return, not if you don't return
  In state address (Escapees or similar) for domicile
  Can renew all licenses by mail

Ernie