Obligations When Temporarily Relocating Car to Different State for ~2 Months?

[mgarbowski]

Hoping some snowbirds or other college parents might know this:

Daughter attends college in another state. She is listed as an added driver on our insurance but we get a discount on her coverage due to distance. She has been hired for a summer internship about 25 miles from her university, and can remain in her hosing during the summer. We plan to lend her one of our cars for her internship, which will last 6-10 weeks.

I know I should inform the insurance company that she will become a primary driver for the period of the internship. What I am trying to determine is whether there is a need to re-register or temporarily register the car in the other state. I presume we just keep the registration and plates as is, because I've never heard of someone switching registrations back and forth for extended but temporary relocations.

Can anyone confirm?

 

[Christine]

Well I can't absolutely confirm, but my daughter went to school out of state and we didn't change the car over to that state. I was still the owner of the car but I did let insurance know that my daughter was the primary driver and the car was located in another state.

For us the only inconvenience was that our state requires an annual safety inspection and the car was not exempt from that so we had to make arrangements to get the car home once a year at a specific month for that inspection.

 

[John VN]

Well I can't absolutely confirm, but my daughter went to school out of state and we didn't change the car over to that state. I was still the owner of the car but I did let insurance know that my daughter was the primary driver and the car was located in another state.

For us the only inconvenience was that our state requires an annual safety inspection and the car was not exempt from that so we had to make arrangements to get the car home once a year at a specific month for that inspection.

^^^^^^^ -- bold

 

[georgina]

Hoping some snowbirds or other college parents might know this:

Daughter attends college in another state. She is listed as an added driver on our insurance but we get a discount on her coverage due to distance. She has been hired for a summer internship about 25 miles from her university, and can remain in her hosing during the summer. We plan to lend her one of our cars for her internship, which will last 6-10 weeks.

I know I should inform the insurance company that she will become a primary driver for the period of the internship. What I am trying to determine is whether there is a need to re-register or temporarily register the car in the other state. I presume we just keep the registration and plates as is, because I've never heard of someone switching registrations back and forth for extended but temporary relocations.

Can anyone confirm?

I think you will be fine, but you can check online for the state she will be in to confirm. We let our DD have our PA registered car for a summer internship in MD without giving it any thought, but I know Washington DC has rules about out of state cars parked there more than 60 days.

 

[barkley]

you need to check the law in the state your dd will be in. where we live there's a specific requirement for college students to be exempt from registration in our state-

The student must carry documentation issued by the college, university or vocational school that readily establishes the nonresident status. Employment incidental to the full-time student status is permitted.

as an aside to this-it's always a good idea to see what the minimum coverage requirements are in the state your college student attends (or any close by states they may travel to or have drivers around them from) b/c you may want to increase your own to include underinsured motorist (we were VERY glad to have this kind of coverage when a driver from an adjacent state caused an accident involving our auto).

 

[_19disnA]

I doubt you would need to change anything about the registration of the vehicle since that relates to who owns it and nothing to do with how many might drive with your permission. Lots of people have second homes in various parts of the country where they might live part of the year and I don't think that impacts registration.

I would call your insurance company to check on their specific agreements since each company might be different. Clearly the insurance company knows the rules in various states and can provide some guidance. Some people probably do nothing and hope they don't have issue if there is an accident or the car stolen while out of state...... but not anything I would recommend.

 

[mjkacmom]

I’ve had 2 kids bring cars to OOS colleges, I just had to contact the insurance company and lose the discount.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I definitely don't think you have to re-register it. When my dad was a "snowbird" he was able to keep his NY registration even when he was in FL.

 

[barkley]

I definitely don't think you have to re-register it. When my dad was a "snowbird" he was able to keep his NY registration even when he was in FL.

again-very state specific. here unless you are military or a full time college student if you reside over 3 months per year you only have 30 days from entry to get both your car registered AND an in state driver's license.

 

[disneychrista]

You own the car, the car is registered to you, you have residency in the state the car is registered in, assuming all these are true id assume you would be okay leaving things as they are.

 

[mgarbowski]

Thanks all. Very helpful. After posting I continued my research and finally found the rules for her college state. A non-resident can keep their car in state for 90 days before needing to do anything. There's no likelihood her internship would last that long so we'll be fine. I will contact the insurance company a few weeks ahead to give notice of the situation.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hoping some snowbirds or other college parents might know this:

Daughter attends college in another state. She is listed as an added driver on our insurance but we get a discount on her coverage due to distance. She has been hired for a summer internship about 25 miles from her university, and can remain in her hosing during the summer. We plan to lend her one of our cars for her internship, which will last 6-10 weeks.

I know I should inform the insurance company that she will become a primary driver for the period of the internship. What I am trying to determine is whether there is a need to re-register or temporarily register the car in the other state. I presume we just keep the registration and plates as is, because I've never heard of someone switching registrations back and forth for extended but temporary relocations.

Can anyone confirm?

You need to check the state the car will be "living" in temporarily. I know in my state, if you're an out of state student going to school here, you're considered a "resident" and must register you car within 20 days of moving here.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Letting the insurance company know might be a good idea, but I would think that's about it.

As far as registering, I believe it would just be a waste of money. Also, unless her name was on the title, a lot of states would not even allow her to register the vehicle in their state. It would get even more expensive to have to redo it in a couple months when the vehicle comes back. Many if not all states have laws on the books about registering/titling within X amount of days, however I do not think that is something that is enforced. Just look at pretty much any apartment complex. I personally experienced no issues keeping my plates/registration from one state while living in another. As long as the title/registration from any state is current and valid, there should be no problems.

 

[china mom]

Of course, check with the state where she will be temporarily residing but I am confident that this works in most (if not all) states the same... In my state, You must register your car upon relocating to the state within 60 days with four specific exceptions:

Active Military
Student (even if not attending classes for the summer)
Temporary employee
Visitor - where you have a permanent dwelling in another state

If you fit any of the above criteria, you can apply for a non resident permit for your vehicle. Non resident permits are issued for wither six months or a year.

This applies to any vehicle housed in my state regardless of wo it is registered to. For example, the car is registered to the parent living in another state and in the possession of the student, staying in my state, it still needs the permit.

Again, check with the state where she is living for their laws regarding this.

 

[kymom99]

My son has lived in 3 other states for internships and/or seasonal employment for 6 months or less each time. His permanent address remained here at home and the car was registered and titled to me. So we didn’t do anything with the registration.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My friend's sister went to at least 3 colleges, all different states. One for her bachelor's, one for her master's and one for her PhD. She didn't have any problems with the car. I don't think you'll have a problem either, but it you want more peace of mind you can contacts the DMV's in each state.

 

[cabanafrau]

I would definitely let the insurance company know -- and keep precise details of date and method of notification. Insurers don't like to pay claims, period, and will fine tooth comb details to an unbelievable degree to avoid payment.

I know of a case where someone took a work assignment in another state for a period of months largely because their significant other was there for their residency, giving both the opportunity to reside together and work without the need to take time off or travel to see each other. He was unfortunately traumatically injured and permanently disabled in an accident while there and his insurer refused coverage when they discovered the vehicle was there with him while he resided there for several months and the policy showed the vehicle located at his home here. He sued for their refusal to cover and the insurer won on the basis of what was within the policy.

 

[tvguy]

Wallethub says no in most cases. https://wallethub.com/answers/ci/college-student-out-of-state-car-registration-2140799244/

 

[mjkacmom]

I would definitely let the insurance company know -- and keep precise details of date and method of notification. Insurers don't like to pay claims, period, and will fine tooth comb details to an unbelievable degree to avoid payment.

I know of a case where someone took a work assignment in another state for a period of months largely because their significant other was there for their residency, giving both the opportunity to reside together and work without the need to take time off or travel to see each other. He was unfortunately traumatically injured and permanently disabled in an accident while there and his insurer refused coverage when they discovered the vehicle was there with him while he resided there for several months and the policy showed the vehicle located at his home here. He sued for their refusal to cover and the insurer won on the basis of what was within the policy.

Adding my daughter back on is costing $1000 for the year, but God forbid she gets in an accident in SC with our car when she was getting a discount for not driving it.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

You see out of state tags on college kids' vehicles all the time. My vehicle spent nearly a year in upstate NY while I was in school, but it had FL tags since that was my current state of residence. We've done quite a few college tours with our girls over the last year and the dorm parking lots are full of out of state plates.