Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I bought a car for my mom (in California) in my name because my mom has no credit and needed a new car, but my mom is making the payments to me and driving the car.
I just moved to Florida this year. I just made the registration payment and did the change of address (for that vehicle only), but now I'm thinking I'm not even sure if that's going to go through since my address is now in Florida. I do not have a CA driver's license anymore, when I moved to FL I got a FL driver's license and got a new car which is also registered in FL.
Can I have a car that is registered and used in CA if I live in FL and only have a FL driver's license? My mom is the one who got insurance for the car. This is so confusing and I don't know what's allowed. And now I have to wait until monday to call the DMV, which I don't want to do anyway, so I'm hoping someone will have an answer for me here.
I could use my mom's address, but my mom lives in affordable housing, and she is required to live alone (not to be housing extra people without consent), so if I put her address on the registration it will look to them like I am living there, which I am not. I could always write a letter to explain, which I did last year because they didn't even like that the car's registration wasn't in her name, even though the address was clearly in a different county. The registration has to be in my name because I'm the one making payments to Toyota.
What should I do? Is it okay that the address for this vehicle is a Florida address even though it's registered in CA? Or am I gonna have to change the address to my mom's address?
it's fine.... licensing to drive and car registration/proof-of-ownership are two distinct things. In fact California DMV regulations stipulate that all vehicles used primarily within the state must be registered/plated even if the owner resides out of state. fwiw many employees use company cars registered to out-of-state entities without any problems. And i remember a few yrs back a co-worker's sister (who's Canadian and only had a Canadian license/passport) was able to buy a CPO Mini, with zero problems registering to her LA apartment address.
The only problem that may occur is if your mom is pulled over for a traffic infraction and the cops run the plates & find out that it's registered to you in Florida. If you have the same last name it shouldn't be a big deal & they'll quickly figure it out. Just make sure she carries proof of insurance at all times with the make, model & license of the car on the insurance card. That way there's no doubt that she's the rightful driver of that vehicle, regardless of who owns or finances it.
it's fine.... licensing to drive and car registration/proof-of-ownership are two distinct things. In fact California DMV regulations stipulate that all vehicles used primarily within the state must be registered/plated even if the owner resides out of state. fwiw many employees use company cars registered to out-of-state entities without any problems. And i remember a few yrs back a co-worker's sister (who's Canadian and only had a Canadian license/passport) was able to buy a CPO Mini, with zero problems registering to her LA apartment address.
The only problem that may occur is if your mom is pulled over for a traffic infraction and the cops run the plates & find out that it's registered to you in Florida. If you have the same last name it shouldn't be a big deal & they'll quickly figure it out. Just make sure she carries proof of insurance at all times with the make, model & license of the car on the insurance card. That way there's no doubt that she's the rightful driver of that vehicle, regardless of who owns or finances it.
Thanks SmokingGun! Okay, everything should be fine then
My mom does have insurance in the car always and it is for that vehicle, under her name.
it's fine.... licensing to drive and car registration/proof-of-ownership are two distinct things. In fact California DMV regulations stipulate that all vehicles used primarily within the state must be registered/plated even if the owner resides out of state. fwiw many employees use company cars registered to out-of-state entities without any problems. And i remember a few yrs back a co-worker's sister (who's Canadian and only had a Canadian license/passport) was able to buy a CPO Mini, with zero problems registering to her LA apartment address.
The only problem that may occur is if your mom is pulled over for a traffic infraction and the cops run the plates & find out that it's registered to you in Florida. If you have the same last name it shouldn't be a big deal & they'll quickly figure it out. Just make sure she carries proof of insurance at all times with the make, model & license of the car on the insurance card. That way there's no doubt that she's the rightful driver of that vehicle, regardless of who owns or finances it.
Wait a second... the Canadian resgistered the car to her LA apartment address, but I'm asking if I can register the car in California using a Florida address? Is this possible? Or will I have to use a California address for the registration of the car in order for it to be registered in CA?
Last edited by lisha5684; 11-14-2015 at 02:14 PM..
Reason: added more.
I drove company cars around Florida for 10 years with NJ tags and was never questioned, not even when I was ticketed because the cop didn't like the way I made a turn.
Do you have any other siblings or relatives living in California?
Yes, I suppose I could put the address of one of my siblings in CA. It just seems a bit strange that I have to do this work around to do something that is actually not wrong, lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by engineman
I drove company cars around Florida for 10 years with NJ tags and was never questioned, not even when I was ticketed because the cop didn't like the way I made a turn.
The car in question is in CA. I live in Florida, have a FL driver's license and my own car is registered in FL. The question is not about Florida's rules, but about CA's rules, for my mom's car in CA that is registered in my name.
I would still like to know if my FL address will be accepted by CA DMV for the vehicle's registration. If so, then I don't have to worry. I just didn't want to have to deal with calling the DMV, since I already used the change of address form on the back of the registration renewal to put my Florida address... If anyone has an answer, please let me know. Thanks!
I'm just trying to figure this out: The car still has CA tags, but when you paid to re-register it in CA, you changed your address to FL. That might be a problem right there. Will they mail registration documents to FL? (I know PA wouldn't do it for me in FL.) But post #2 above says it's OK to do it that way. Guess you'll just have to get the real scoop from the DMV.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
