Where do my car and I belong?

January 11, 2008 10:30 AM

Help me figure out what to do about my driver's license and my car's tag & title (mainly FL but also GA).

(I would call the Florida DMV about this but all lines are busy and the weekend is nearly upon us.)

I recently moved to Florida (from Georgia) for school and was renting an off-campus place. This made me a Florida resident, and I changed my car's tag & title accordingly. However, I never got around to getting a Florida driver's license. I was recently pulled over (in south Georgia) and the officer informed that this would have been a problem except for the fact that my parents maintain a residence in Georgia. (He actually made a little jerking motion towards his car with his thumb, which kinda freaked me out.)

I am now moving into a dorm, which makes me question my Florida residency status. Thus, I'm thinking that my tag & title need to go back to Georgia.

What exactly do I need to do? Should I change my tag & title back to Georgia ones? (Would be difficult since I will not be in that state.) Should I get a Florida driver's license? (Seems difficult since I will not have anything proving that I'm a Florida resident, like a gas bill.) Or should I just leave the situation as it is?

If it matters, I will be turning 21 next summer and will need to get a new license then anyway.


Thanks for your help.

posted by dondiego87 to Law & Government (1 answer total)

Not an expert, but I believe you need a Florida license if you're living there and driving a FL registered/insured vehicle. You can be arrested anytime if you don't have valid FL ID after having lived in the state for a certain amount of time (2 weeks? months?) I got pulled over about 6 months after I moved to FL. I had the same experience, driving a FL-legal car on a NJ license, and I was threatened with being arrested. I was ignorant of the strict policy, which is why he let me go. Also, I imagine your school will have answered these questions a million times before so see what you can find out from them.
posted by sarelicar at 11:02 AM on January 11, 2008