I just saw this message posted in the Bulletins section at SBI.  Wife and I just closed on the sale of our house yesterday.  I immediately went and changed our drivers license and vehicle registrations to our new SBI addresses <GROAN>.  Also attached a copy of the letter that I think started all this.

6/6/2019

The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle Department is currently reviewing their requirements for registering vehicles/vessels and the issuance of Florida Driver’s Licenses to individuals who live full time in their RV’s or Boats.    During this period, they have suspended issuing new Drivers Licenses or registrations to individuals who utilize a mail forwarding service for these purposes.  At this time there is no indication that this will affect our current Clients, unless there is a need to register a new vehicle or vessel.

We understand the importance of these issues to our existing Clients and those that wish to travel full time in their RV or Boat.  Currently we are working with the FLHSMV in Tallahassee and will do whatever is necessary to ensure your continued right to live your dream.

https://www.sbimailservice.com/bulletin/

https://dos.myflorida.com/media/699707/de1809.pdf

Edited June 8 by Jim1521

I contacted the office on this issue and the following is the response that I received.

 

 

 

 
Quote

We are aware of the issue in Florida, and we are working with St. Brendan's Isle. We are all awaiting guidance from the State of Florida's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which will inform our next steps. We will continue to make updates as we have pertinent information to share. 

Shawn R. Loring

Edited June 8 by Kirk W

I got caught in the middle of this problem during an attempt to register my RV in Clay County this week.  After confirming on the phone I could complete the process by phone without a Florida DL and after they received my registration application, the Clay County Tax Collector changed their interpretation of Florida statute and required application of a DL with the RV registration application in person.  Additionally, my SBI address was not sufficient for Florida residency required by the DL application.  They suggested a 6 month lease of a location in Florida where the RV is located would suffice.  

I don't agree with the new interpretation, but I also have issue with the Tax Collector's office changing their policy in the middle of my transaction after which I made several decisions based on information from their office.  Their instructions were then contradicted a couple of days later after they received my application.  Further, the office did not honor my request for a manager to return my call.  I would expect more professionalism from the office.

I did speak with Scott at SBI earlier this week and they are working to get clarification.  He was very helpful in explaining what he knew and I sure hope he can get resolution.  With the uncertainty, I requested Clay County return my title so I can seek out another solution.

There are a couple other posts on this subject.  Hopefully, they can all be combined with comments so that we have just one to follow.  I'm sure there will be many more posts.  Good luck. It's not a done deal.

Wife and I got lucky.  Dodged this bullet by a month.

At least South Dakota and Texas will still welcome you with open arms. To my recollection the switch to South Dakota should not even cost that much as if you have paid taxes on your rig/vehicles of 4% or more.  They do not charge you sales tax when registering.

SD does charge sales tax when registering if you are registering a new vehicle. But if you already registured in another state SD will credit what you already paid to the other state. Since SD sales tax is only 4% you most like won’t owe anything because most other states are higher. Also SD open arms may be closing some time in the future. SD is also looking at not letting those with a mail forwarding address not be allow to vote. It is only in the discussion stage and hopefully they will de die that it is a bad idea. 

  On 6/10/2019 at 8:00 AM, Twotoes said:

SD does charge sales tax when registering if you are registering a new vehicle. But if you already registured in another state SD will credit what you already paid to the other state. Since SD sales tax is only 4% you most like won’t owe anything because most other states are higher. Also SD open arms may be closing some time in the future. SD is also looking at not letting those with a mail forwarding address not be allow to vote. It is only in the discussion stage and hopefully they will de die that it is a bad idea. 

They have been talking about voting issues for a couple of years now.  But I have not heard anything about not renewing DL’s and tags like FL is doing.

I thought I mentioned that about the sales tax in the post above your.  But thanks for confirming it.

Edited June 10 by rynosback

Makes me glad once again we are Florida residents and using a friend's address for our own.

Reading the information in the attachments to the original post, it sounds like Escapees Mail Service may have an advantage by being located at a campground where RVers can actually reside. I believe South Dakota requires folks to provide a campsite receipt or some other document to show that they are actually residing in the state when they apply for driver's license and registration. I think they require 30 days in state to get a concealed carry permit. Sounds like Florida may be moving to something similar to South Dakota. A search for campgrounds in Clay County showed only the County Fairgrounds.

The attachment to the original post was put there by the poster; SBI's bulletin didn't mention it, so I don't think it's safe to assume that it is forming the basis for what's going on right now.  The Advisory Letter prompted action against SBI customers by Clay County last year, and I agree that at that time, Escapees' location at a campground (not to mention one outside Clay County) might have been an advantage. 

But this time around, Escapees appears to be actually involved in what's going on ("working with" SBI), and their statement mentioned the State of Florida, which makes it sound like whatever is going on has expanded.  What's obviously not clear is what has changed from what happened last year--whether there's more going on than just that Advisory Letter, or even if that Advisory Letter is involved at all.

  On 6/10/2019 at 10:12 PM, trailertraveler said:

Reading the information in the attachments to the original post, it sounds like Escapees Mail Service may have an advantage by being located at a campground where RVers can actually reside. I believe South Dakota requires folks to provide a campsite receipt or some other document to show that they are actually residing in the state when they apply for driver's license and registration. I think they require 30 days in state to get a concealed carry permit. Sounds like Florida may be moving to something similar to South Dakota. A search for campgrounds in Clay County showed only the County Fairgrounds.

Not exactly.  No residency requirement for registration.  So, if Fla doesn't want my registration money, I'll keep my Fla mail service address in Crestview and simply change my registration to SD.  In 6 yrs when I need to renew my Fla DL, then I'll spend a night in SD and get it done.  For the SD "Enhanced" CCW, there are other requirements.

  On 6/10/2019 at 11:36 PM, remoandiris said:

Not exactly.  No residency requirement for registration.  So, if Fla doesn't want my registration money, I'll keep my Fla mail service address in Crestview and simply change my registration to SD.  In 6 yrs when I need to renew my Fla DL, then I'll spend a night in SD and get it done.  For the SD "Enhanced" CCW, there are other requirements.

With around 1,000 new residents a day moving into Florida I'm pretty sure they won't go broke if you don't buy your next registration stickers there.

  On 6/11/2019 at 10:29 PM, FL-JOE said:

With around 1,000 new residents a day moving into Florida

Not doubting your word.  Just curious, where did you find that statistic?

When we first purchased our sticknbrick in Cape Coral (2015) they told us that when we went in to get our new DLs and registrations.  This last winter they announced in a news article the population of the Cape had exceeded 215,000 already and Florida was still getting an average of 1,000 new residents per day.

You can actually look up the figures online.  There are over 21 million estimated residents in Florida and the last few years their growth rate has been at least 1.8% average.  That actually has been about 1,035 per day moving in.