vehicle, drivers liscense voting etc - Montana Owners Club

Tiffensdad · 02-14-2008, 04:15 PM

I know I have seen something on this at some point but didn't pay much attention at the time as I figured it was too far away before I needed to worry. Now the worry time is here.
Presently live in Florida, and after the house sells I don't expect to see the state again for a couple of years. Now I have figured out the mail part of this and think I have a handle on medications, but what about vehicle liscense, drivers liscense, voting, etc when you don't have a permanent address?

Would like to hear from you out there on how you handle this and some ideas of what may be the best way to go.

Thanks

Jd

ols1932 · 02-14-2008, 05:00 PM

You have to establish a "permanent" residence. That's usually your mail service address. For us, we belong to the Escapees RV Club whose headquarters is in Livingston, TX. We use their mail service so our address is Livingston, TX. Because they have a large RV park there, we are allowed to use the park any time we are there. It's our home even though we have to pay a minimal fee per day when we are there. We vote in all the elections there, though most of the time it is by absentee ballot. We have our vehicles licensed there, have Texas driver's licenses, have our vehicles insured with that address.

There are some mail services in South Dakota that provide the same capability: mail service which establishes you address where you can vote, get your vehicle and driver's licenses, etc., just like you were living in a stick house.

It really is no problem, works well for us.

Orv

Parrothead · 02-14-2008, 05:15 PM

Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls, SD is where we, and other MOCers, obtain these services. They are great and handled everything for us very smoothly.
Happy trails..........................

jretz · 02-15-2008, 04:12 AM

We are with My Home Address, Inc. in Emery SD. great group of people. They make it so easy to set up it's unreal. The county seat, Alexandria is only about 560 people and Emery is around 450 people. The owner, Ron, handles everything for you with just a phone call. You can check out their info at http://www.myhomeaddressinc.com/ . When our vehicle registration is due they send us a reminder, we send the check to my home address and they take care of it for us. They will hold our mail until we are ready for it, all we do is e-mail or call them and let them know when and where to send it.

As for Meds, Carolyn needed a prescription right away that she called into her mail order refill company. They sent it to our service in Emery and I call Emery and let them know we needed ASAP, they had already received it and sent it out express mail to us and we got it the next day. Over the last year and a half it has worked great for us.

There are several such services in SD you can check out most of them on the internet.

sreigle · 02-15-2008, 06:23 AM

As with Parrothead, we are with Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls, SD. We have been with them for five years. We voted in the last Presidential election via absentee ballot. We have applications for absentee ballots for the upcoming election, too. Provided on request by Alternative Resources. I'm sure all the major mailing services who primarily cater to RV'ers will have information and/or services for these things.

We did have to go to Sioux Falls the first time to register to vote. Parrothead, did you not have to go there to register to vote the first time?

JimF · 02-15-2008, 06:38 AM

Goodsam in Florida offer the same services as those through Escapees. I would have used the Florida services as Florida has no vehicle inspections BUT I had already bought Texas plates and didn't want to spend the 400 for re-registration in FL.

Parrothead · 02-15-2008, 07:06 AM

Steve, yes we had to go to SD to register to vote. We also had to go there to get our driver license (took 1/2 hour and had picture DL when we left). We did the vehicle registration via phone and email. The whole thing can be done in one day/one night. It took us an extra 2 days because of obtaining the handicap parking permit. We have to go back in 5 years to renew DL.
Happy trails...................

mail2us · 02-15-2008, 10:41 AM

For drivers license, vehicle registration and voter, many from Florida, that want to maintain Florida, use their daugher or son address.

sreigle · 02-15-2008, 02:37 PM

Thanks, Sue. We got everything done in three or four hours. We registered to vote at a different time, not thinking about it originally. We also this past year went up and renewed our drivers licenses since our 5 years was coming up. You can renew up to 6 months in advance, which is good since my birthday is in the dead of winter and that's not a good time to go to Sioux Falls.

Registration on my vehicles was right around $200 for the both of them, both 2007 models. There are no inspections of any kind in South Dakota, either. I think you can renew drivers licenses by mail if you have a notarized statement from an optometrist that you pass the vision test. And you provide a picture. I'm not sure of the details of that so check with SD.

When I registered this truck by mail with SD I screwed something up. So they called me and we straightened it out over the phone. I was very pleased with this kind of service. The same thing happened when we traded Montanas. I forgot to put down a credit card number to pay for it so they called me direct rather than mailing back a rejection.

jretz · 02-15-2008, 05:13 PM

Also with SD you have some of the lowest insurance rates in the nation. Ours dropped by 3/4 from Calif.

sreigle · 02-16-2008, 05:18 AM

The website says 49th so I guess that would mean SD has the second lowest insurance rates in the nation. I know ours is very reasonable.

Larry · 02-16-2008, 05:31 AM

Jerry, since you are already a Floridian, you might try using the mail forwarding services of The Mail Room, located in Merritt Island, FL.
(web site is www.mailtravelservice.com)

They will provide you with a permanent FL address. The only thing you will have to do then, is notify DMV with a change of address.

pandew · 02-16-2008, 05:34 AM

if you want to maintain status quo as florida resident, vehicle registration and voter, check out www.goodsammail.com. they operate out of Pensacola and both forward mail and give you a florida legal address. we've used them for two years and never had a problem with them.

bob n pam · 02-17-2008, 04:19 PM

We also use Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls. We've had no complaints and have been with them for 5 years. Our experience with voting, vehicle registration, etc. mirrors Steve and Vickie Reigles and parrotheads.

sreigle · 02-18-2008, 04:40 AM

From what I've seen, Florida, Texas, and South Dakota (maybe some others) are all good choices. It depends on your particular needs and logistics. South Dakota works very well for us and the other states work well for others.

I am not positive but I think the goodsammail.com in Pensacola is what used to be known as American Home Base, also in Pensacola. They've been around for many years (my aunt/uncle used them) so I'm assuming Good Sam bought them out.

You may also like: