Florida resident to register car in New Hampshire

[joey2665]

Originally Posted by TheTimeTraveler

Hello folks; Please refresh my memory as to what the latest rules are for registering a car at my five month seasonal NH home with my principal residence being in Florida (and my driver's license in Florida).

If I recall the rules changed a few years ago and this is now allowed. Can anyone bring me up to date on this and what the specific regulations are?

Make sure you take into account the cost considerations:

You already paid Florida sales tax on the car that is obviously not refundable

Depending of the age of the car NH registration fees can be much higher than Florida

Additionally compare insurance costs.


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[fatlazyless]

Another thing to consider is that NH requires an annual state car safety inspection for items like brakes, headlights, turn signals, license plate lights while Florida has NO required annual state inspection.

Any holes in the car body will need to get bondo-ed with auto body filler. A working heater/windshield defroster and windshield wipers is required.

So, if you is driving some old junkie ragged Florida car, it will need to get a NH state inspection within ten days after your NH registration is issued.

[garysanfran]

I assume you are not bringing your Florida registered car to NH, but are purchasing one there?

When I registered mine with the town clerk, I had to sign a document stating, that as a non-resident, I would not take the car out-of-state overnight. I brought a vehicle from California I had owned for a few years, so all my taxes and fees for purchasing had been paid in CA.

I called my insurance carrier and asked if I would be covered if I had an incident while out of state, the insurance company didn't care. I'd be covered.

It seems it's a local govt. issue to try to keep out-of-state drivers from permanently registering vehicles in NH to take advantage of lower insurance costs, I was told.

[TiltonBB]

Originally Posted by garysanfran

When I registered mine with the town clerk, I had to sign a document stating, that as a non-resident, I would not take the car out-of-state overnight.
It seems it's a local govt. issue to try to keep out-of-state drivers from permanently registering vehicles in NH to take advantage of lower insurance costs, I was told.

That law was changed after hearings in 2019 and the new law went into effect January 1, 2020. There is no longer a requirement that the vehicle stay in New Hampshire.