License, registration, home, visiting.... oh my!

[lanerd]

I have a friend who lives in MO and has a MO driver's license. His jeep (toad) is registered in Kansas and his motor home is registered in South Dakota and he spends about six months of the year as a camphost in California.

Question... is this all legal?

Ron

[Wadcutter]

tinner12002 wrote:
Look at semi plates, they are usually licensed from just a few states where there are less taxes and fees. I think MO is one of them.

Semi plates have a home state but pay fees to the other states where they're operating. Look up "Apportioned Registration" or "IRP".

[wa8yxm]

Is all this Legal? Depends on too many things for me to answer accuratly however I can say this:

SOME States (not on the list you gave) are looking into this with an eye towards calling it tax evasion.. Some Police WILL ticket. Even if no law is broken (I've met a few like that.. In fact been the victim of one of them.. Twice, Next time (if there is one)He is going to be the defendant His department has been warned).(that said. I practice avoidance, much easier)

Best is to have MH Towed and Driver's license all in the same address.

[TenOC]

1. A person can have more than one RESIDENCE but only ONE DOMICILE (read tax home). Think of a student in college. The student's residence is at the college, but since they do not plan to "return there after college" their domicile is at home with their parents. If the student take a summer job in a different state, their residence is in the new state for the summer. Residence can change as often as your mailing address.

2. The States wants tax $. So most states require you to purchase a new car tag if you are in the state more than 30 (?) days or if you take a job in the state or you send children to school in the state. States want you to purchase new tags when you change your mailing address and almost all have some type of such law.

3. To vote in a state most require you to live in the new voting location for a longer period of time -- say 90 days. This is to prevent people from moving to effect an election.

[jplante4]

I would hazard a guess that anyone who travels on business and rents a car in another state would be tri-stated at some point. I know I was over last winter's trip several times renting from Enterprise. If it's an issue, it's largely ignored by LEOs.

[mgirardo]

I doubt it is illegal, if they are legally registered in those states. However, if he is home and gets pulled over in the Jeep or MH the Law Enforcement Officer might get suspicious and give him some extra scrutiny. This is assuming the Jeep and Motorhome are registered in his name.

Every state I have lived in required residence to register their vehicles in the state within in certain amount of time or face a fine. I never saw it enforced except in Maryland. While in college (not living in a college town),
I received a notice on my car after a few weeks living there that it had to be registered in the state by a certain date. I ignored it. Then one morning on my way to school, the DMV and local police were checking every car leaving the apartment complex. My car was on their list, but since I was a student, they told me how to get a special permit.

-Michael

[DutchmenSport]

I'm sure he has it all covered. If not, he'll figure it all out when he gets a traffic ticket.

[tinner12002]

Look at semi plates, they are usually licensed from just a few states where there are less taxes and fees. I think MO is one of them.

[tatest]

Depends on where you are and what you are doing. If you are working somewhere, that state's registration laws tend to have precedence. Many states have a very short fuse for local vehicle registration if you reside and work there (no matter what you want to say about where you "live"). So in this case, it is probably up to California and how they want to treat a long term visitor camp host vs a working in California RV park employee.

Why would someone register a vehicle in Kansas (which is expensive and procedurally a major pain) if it could be registered in Missouri? People who reside in Kansas and work in Missouri or Oklahoma jump through hoops to register out of state.

[path1]

I wouldn't depend on any legal answers on this forum.

But just for fun...We know a lady that goes until something is expired then buys whatever she needs, where ever she is at when something expires. Not on purpose, she just puts stuff off till the last min. Not the cheapest way to go she explains. Over the years she has her MH licensed in one state her towed car in another and drivers license in a different. Her area code on her phone is another. Her mailing address is a PO box in Calif for most of her stuff. And has a South Dakota mailing address also.

She was leaving Yuma for the LA area and we decided to meet up for lunch at the Q. Winterheaven I think is the city/town. She filled up in Yuma (cheaper than Ca prices) pulled back on the street and the next light somebody rear ended her towed car.

By this time we were at the Q waiting for her, with our own car. She called and asked if we would come to where she was. When we got there she was in tears, Yuma police was on scene. Tow truck guy couldn't get her towed unhitched. Police asked her about all the different addresses. She said "I get them where ever I'm at when the old one expires" Police looked at her and rolled his eyes and said "OK lady makes since to me".

If it were me I'd probably still be in jail.

[dons2346]

Durb wrote:
It used to be that Oregon had a large dealer RV business catering to out of state buyers. Buy your rig with no sales tax. Get a PO Box and register it for two years for $30. I think the state changed the laws or the fees and killed the business off but I am not positive.

It wasn't a change in the laws or fees that killed that business. It was the huge fine the business had to pay

[colliehauler]

fj12ryder wrote:
The only thing for sure is that he should have the Jeep registered in Missouri. If he has residence here, he is supposed to have his vehicles registered here.

But who knows all the details. Some people go to great lengths, some legal some not so much, to avoid taxes, so hard to say.

I would think MO would be a lot less to register a vehicle then KS. At one time we had the dubious honor of being the highest vehicle registration in the country. Since then they have lowered it except on boats.

[imgoin4it]

Used to be and may still be. Consider three items: The state one is pyhsicslly in, the state that issued the drivers liscense, and the state the vehicle is registered in. As long as two out of three are the same it is legal. If all three are from different states I doubt it is legal. States also have individual reguirements that may not all be the same so have to check with the state one calls their residence.

[fj12ryder]

The only thing for sure is that he should have the Jeep registered in Missouri. If he has residence here, he is supposed to have his vehicles registered here.

But who knows all the details. Some people go to great lengths, some legal some not so much, to avoid taxes, so hard to say.

[Durb]

It used to be that Oregon had a large dealer RV business catering to out of state buyers. Buy your rig with no sales tax. Get a PO Box and register it for two years for $30. I think the state changed the laws or the fees and killed the business off but I am not positive.

[EV2]

Generally, your DL has nothing to do with registration. For example, although Arizona is not our primary home/residence, we have a vehicle at our winter home. Arizona law specifically states that a vehicle remaining in the state 6 months and a day or more must be registered in AZ. If a vehicle is used and stored in multiple states less than 6 months in each, it would be possible to register elsewhere assuming a property address at that location.