I want a California car...but how?

March 24, 2008 10:23 AM

I want to purchase a car in California, drive it for three months there, then take it with me back to Florida. What do I need to do?

I'm currently a student living in Florida right now, but I'm going home for the summer (which is in San Diego). I'd like to purchase a car there while I'm home, and use it, but I'd like to take that car with me back to school in FL. Is there any way to get short term (3 months preferable) insurance on my car? Will it be any more expensive? What will I need to do once I get it back in FL?

posted by Geppp to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

When I moved to California they charged me more for insurance for the first year because I didn't have a previous history of insurance in California. There might be short term insurance options that I don't know about...
posted by sharkfu at 10:43 AM on March 24, 2008

I don't think you need short-term insurance. Just get regular insurance and then once you move, cancel or transfer your policy over to a Florida-based one. You should get a pro-rated refund or adjustment. Of course, verify this is how it works with your insurance company prior to getting the policy, but I can't see why it wouldn't. Just explain to them what you want to do and they should be able to help you out. It may be slightly easier to do this if your insurance carrier is nationwide, or at least operates in both California and Florida. While it's always been with the same insurance company, I've never had a problem transferring my insurance when I moved to a different state, bought a new car, or did anything else that would affect the terms of my existing policy, even though my existing policy hadn't yet expired.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 11:07 AM on March 24, 2008

Best answer: 1. Buy car.
2. Insure car in California.
3. Tell insurance company you're moving to Florida and to adjust your policy accordingly.
4. Move to Florida.
posted by electroboy at 11:08 AM on March 24, 2008

Best answer: Electroboy has it. Go with a national insurance carrier. When I was regularly moving between the East and the West Coast for a few years I'd just call my insurance company and tell them what my new "garaging location" was. When I lived in Seattle I paid a little more, when I lived in Vermont I paid a little less. You can have insurance on your car that is not connected to the state it's registered in, if that's what you're worried about Of course, do a reality check to make sure this is how it works with your company, but it should be a no-brainer.
posted by jessamyn at 11:15 AM on March 24, 2008

nthing electroboy. i did this myself.
posted by thinkingwoman at 2:55 PM on March 24, 2008

I've done this...but I had the car shipped to Florida. I was told that it had to be out of California for 6 mo. for me not to pay sales tax there. It was out for over a year.
posted by 6:1 at 5:00 PM on March 24, 2008

The sales tax is what you need to be concerned about. Some states have a time requirement prior to transferring residence to their state to keep people from buying their vehicles in a lower sales tax(or no sales tax) state and then skating on their own state's tax. I don't know what Florida requires.
posted by Jazz Hands at 4:41 AM on March 25, 2008