3 State Law

[Thereugo]

I have heard that it is a motor vehicle violation to be traveling through one state with a vehicle registered in a different state and holding a driver license issued by yet a third state. While I can certainly understand that this would raise some questions, does anyone know if it actually is a violation?

Here's the quick background. Vacating our house and moving aboard the 3750FL FT on December 14, 2013. Actually lose the house address effective December 31. Our only address effective January 1, 2014 becomes Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, SD, where we will establish domicile later in the year. Need to update our insurance coverage to FT status, so we need to use the SD address, which means we need to title the vehicles in SD, and we are in the process of doing that.

We will be traveling toward SD - generally - until June 1. We will get our SD driver licenses immediately upon arrival, of course.

In the meantime, we could get stopped in AZ, UT or wherever and have SD plates and California DL's in a third state. Illegal?

[K0LCB]

Wow, never thought about that. I had FL driver permit and MO tags for quite awhile, I never had a problem, but I never got stopped

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

I did a simular thing in September of this year. I got my licience in S. Dakota. I am still working and living in Colorado driving on a S. Dakota licience. I will change my vechiles when the plates are due in Feburary.I hope to have a TV by then and will order the 5er in March. For a while I will be illigal. I don't get stopped but every 5-10 years. At this point in my life I will chance it. My insurance is still at the higher Colorado rate.

[Slufoot733]

NO. As long as all the documents are current it is not illegal. Business travelers do this all the time. Example: a salesman works for ABC Co. headquartered in Calif. He flies to Chicago and rents a car from Hertz. The car has Florida plates (not uncommon since rental vehicles are driven all over the place and dropped off). Then he drives to Illinois, Ohio and PA on his sales route. There is no violation of any state law as long as everything is up to date and correct.

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

I understand what you are saying. Colorado law says if you are making your living in Colorado; you must have Colorado plates. Companies can get around this law by having an LLC from another state. My insurance carrier says the insurance is to state where titled. My agent told me when I plate and title in another state I have to change insurance to that state.

[Thereugo]

Thanks all. Slufoot, you make perfect sense. I have been in that situation with a rental car many times.

[Emmel]

Can the rental car even be an issue? That is a rental, not owned by you. I would concentrate on the cars titled in your name and as long as you can prove they are yours, how can there be a problem? Especially if just passing thru a state.
Now, I can be wrong, I've been known to be wrong a lot!

[DQDick]

Right or wrong it could be a problem and would certainly be an opportunity for a discussion if the officer wants to make an issue of it. Ask Ozz about plate interpretations in Goodyear, Arizona for instance. As long as nothing happens, no problem, after that it's going to depend on state law and what actually happened. An accident and someone else's lawyer would be my concern.

[mhs4771]

Years ago when I was in the Service they used to caution us about Drivers license from one state, car reg in another, and being in a third state. Nothing about a violation, just that you could get in a hassle with the Officer over all the different documents.

[TLightning]

quote:Originally posted by Slufoot733

NO. As long as all the documents are current it is not illegal. Business travelers do this all the time. Example: a salesman works for ABC Co. headquartered in Calif. He flies to Chicago and rents a car from Hertz. The car has Florida plates (not uncommon since rental vehicles are driven all over the place and dropped off). Then he drives to Illinois, Ohio and PA on his sales route. There is no violation of any state law as long as everything is up to date and correct.

Maybe in your state, but not in all states. We have lived all over the country and several require the vehicle to be tagged and your DL to be in the same state. Others require the vehicle to be in the state you are claiming for insurance purposes...you can't store it in state A and insure it from a company in state B.

Rental vehicles fall into a different category...they cannot reasonably expect a renter to have a DL and tag and be physically in the same state.

[H. John Kohl]

I was my understand that the Tri law was
Drivers license one state
Residence a different state
Vehicle tags a third state.
One option is to fly to S.D., spend the night, get your license the next day and fly back to your rig.
Good luck and safe travels.

[Krease]

In SC you have 90 days to change to our state's license when you move from another state. I would imagine SD would have a similar policy.

[rohrmann]

Other than the drivers licenses, Americas Mailbox can assist you, meaning they will get your vehicles registered and also have an insurance person on the premises to take care of the insurance if you want. Then, all you will need to do when you get there is spend one night, we did it at their little RV park, go to the license office the next morning, no Mondays as they are closed, and get your license. You will need the receipt from the RV park, your existing drivers license, SS card, second photo ID (we used a passport), and $20. That way, the only thing missing is drivers license. We were actually illegal until I got my SD license, as I had a California class C, which is not legal to tow over 10,000 lbs trailer. SD regular license is good for any RVs. We went with Good Sam insurance, just had to change to SD coverage after we changed the registration.

[JandC]

My opinion would be that is you are visiting a state they can not enforce registration requirements on you from your home state, as long as you are legally registered in your home state. Same thing with your driver's license. I don't think it would matter in the least if your DL is from one state and your vehicle is properly registered in a different state, neither of which is the state you are getting stopped in. States can not enforce the state statutes of another state. Not to be confused with Federal Regs for trucks of course, which all states can enforce.

[mazboy]

i wouldn't lose any sleep over it. there are lots of laws that we could get in trouble with but.....

enjoy your travels.