We became fulltime traveling RVers just last week. We came down to Texas from NJ because we believed that as a Texas resident we would have cost savings.
First we had to spend $185. for mail service with a Texas address (necessary to do anything else). Then it cost $31.00 to get the truck and fiver inspected.
Well now for the shockers:
Cost of truck registration in NJ a year - $64.00 Cost of truck registration in Texas a year _ $ 142.00
Cost of fiver registration in NJ a year - $ 66.00 Cost of fiver registration in Texas a year - $75.00
Cost of truck insurance in NJ a year - $ 1,104 Cost of truck insurance in Texas a year - 1,344.
NOW GET THIS ONE!!!! ----
Cost of fiver insurance in NJ a year - $535 Cost of same fiver insurance in Texas a year - $1,315.
Of course there is no state income in Texas as there is in NJ. BIG DEAL - We are retired, no income!
Our only potential cost savings is Health Insurance for Len. He could opt to keep the coverage he had with the State of NJ for the rest of his life at a cost of almost $800 a month. No can do. Not only that it is an HMO. NJ does not permit high deductible Health Saving Accounts on a personal basis, only through a group health plan. Texas does. This is what we will be now looking at.
So, be really careful about changing to be a REAL TEXAN. We thought we knew what we were doing. Now we are not so sure.
RodnReal said
04:44 PM Feb 8, 2010
Something doesn't sound right. My truck reg. on f150 is about $58, on my f350 about $68.
TT reg is about $70. Insurance on all 3 is $2400.
--Rod
phyllen said
04:50 PM Feb 8, 2010
What registering the truck and fiver there were addtional one time fees. I understood that. Okay it cost 258.76 for the fiver this year. It cost $191.45 for the truck.
I asked what we can expect to pay next year. I was told about 142 for the fiver and 75 for the truck. Realize the fiver registration goes by the total gross weight.
Phyllis
phyllen said
08:07 PM Feb 8, 2010
In reviewing my original post I see I said truck registration is 142 a year and fiver will be 75. It is the opposite. Truck - 75 and fiver 142. Sorry for the confusion.
I suppose I was really confused when I wrote it, I was still in shock!
cookone01 said
08:16 PM Feb 8, 2010
Phyllis - was your insurance in NJ for Full time? I know it is more expensive because when you no longer own a 'stix and bricks' you have to have that full time liability insurance - you know, in case someone trips over your sewer hose or something and sues you.
It does seem high for the registrations - but WY is vey high - we paid $492 for the motor home every year, and it will NEVER go down...and 400 on the car :( Theirs is based on the original purchase price :(
Did the people at the Escapee's park help you with everything?
Racerguy said
08:22 PM Feb 8, 2010
We have done a lot of research and" FOR US" there is no real advantage in changing to Texas from Colorado. There are more negatives than positives. Your results may vary.
-- Edited by Racerguy on Monday 8th of February 2010 11:39:21 PM
tumwatergal said
11:07 PM Feb 8, 2010
We are fulltimers from Wash. State and we chose to stay residents of that state. Some would disagree, but we are happy with that decision. In WA we pay no state income tax (like TX). We just paid our combined MH/Car insurance and it was $1,640.00 for 12 months with fulltime coverage. Our license fees for MH are $111.00 and for Explorer are $55.00. This included an additonal small fee for having done this via internet and tags mailed to us down in Calif. where we are staying. Sales tax rates don't concern us as we travel everywhere and you pay the tax rate where you make purchases.
Our big expense is health insurance. Perhaps we could get cheaper in another state, but DH has pre-existing conditions and that can get tricky. He has 2 yrs 3 mos until Medicare. We have a good policy in WA with individual coverage (no group plans/retirement package). We have to pay $936.00 a month for the both of us with health insurance, with high deductible.
We opted to stay residents of WA due to future concerns on getting old, possibly sick and needing to come back to WA anyway. I know from experience with our own parents, that can be a headache for the kids. We have grown kids there and we go back several times a year to be by them.
Anyway, that's our story. Everyone has their own reasons, but we saw so really good reason to call Texas, Nevada or South Dakota our "home state" just because we want to live as FT folks. JMHO
-- Edited by tumwatergal on Monday 8th of February 2010 11:17:16 PM
-- Edited by tumwatergal on Tuesday 9th of February 2010 06:01:35 PM
phyllen said
07:58 AM Feb 9, 2010
Peggy - yes, the $535 in NJ was for fulltiming. Before we moved into the fifthwheel last Jan it was only $286 a year! I was always under the impression that NJ was a very expensive state. I am finding out that is not always the case. I thought they had the highest car/truck insurance. Nope - we are paying $14.00 more a month for same insurance here in Texas. It's not like it's a different insurance company - State Farm for both.
What will save us $ is the cost of Lens health insurance. We can get plans here that are not offered in NJ. That is one thing that needs to be looked at when we talk about health care. Companies should be able to sell insurance across state lines. I will be buying a supplement to my Medicare. I find that in Texas the cost is determined to some extent by your zipcode. Of course, the zipcode in Livingston has the highest cost. I am sure that is because of the large senior population.
Howard said
08:45 AM Feb 9, 2010
Some of the items posted here are exactly why we urge folks to research everything about a potential state of choice.
A "no-income tax" state just may not be the best for your particular situation. All factors need to be considered and it takes work to do it.
So, while Texas, South Dakota, and Florida are the most popular choices for full-timers, that does not mean they should be chosen automatically. The answers to most questions can be found BEFORE making the decision, but only you know the questions to ask for your particular situation. :)
TxYellowRose said
12:38 PM Feb 9, 2010
Phyllis,
You have State Farm coverage on your 5er even though you are living in it full-time?
Just curious, because I've had State Farm here in TX for 20+ years and my agent specifically said they could only insure the travel trailer and now the 5er if it was for recreational use only, not living in full-time.
We will be changing insurance companies anyway when we make the jump, as the annual premium on the 5er is more than some quotes I've gotten from other companies and I want to be CERTAIN that our insurance covers full-timing.
Cheers, Betty
phyllen said
01:50 PM Feb 9, 2010
Betty- no the State Farm is for the truck only. Sorry for any confusion. We had State Farm on the truck in NJ and have it here but at a higher premium.
Phyllis
fleamarketeer said
05:44 AM Feb 12, 2010
Phyllis
Thanks for the recent information. Texas is "sold" pretty hard on several forums. That makes it difficult to determine actual benefits of one state over another.
I'd been planning on Florida but they changed a few laws. Now, South Dakota looks best in my situation. That can change as long as legislatures are in session. If not for the voting problem in Tennessee, it would have been my first choice. Their tax and fee structure still suits me best.
Mallo said
10:22 AM Feb 12, 2010
So far South Dakota has been a winner for me but I don't have one of the big issues facing me that many full timers have. I'm still covered by my employers health care so I don't have to buy health insurance.
That said everything else about the state has been very easy of course part of that has been Terry at My Dakota Address in Madison SD she made it simple her office is right there next to City Hall so getting the drivers license and the voters registration taken care of was easy as pie.
As Phylis found though in Texas I would be looking at slightly higher fees to register my vehicles in SD. The Truck would be cheaper then in PA while the trailer would be more expensive for a net increase of about $100 a year of course since I still work the tax situation is very much in my favor and that's the key.
If you don't have taxable income in a given state then changing domicle states doesn't do you any good.
Mallo
Racerguy said
11:41 AM Feb 12, 2010
That's why Colorado works best for us. I have Health Insurance from the company I retired from and the first $ 20,000 per person pension money is tax free. Vehicle registration went through the roof recently but we are about to get rid of our tax and spend Governor and law makers are looking at rescinding the recent doubling of vehicle taxes which will help. Insurance rates are reasonable among other things. It takes a lot of research but one size does not fit all.
bjoyce said
12:46 PM Feb 12, 2010
We stayed with Washington State for health insurance reasons. No income tax, low vehicle taxes but the sales tax is high. We paid the sales tax and registered the RV in Washington since we know Washington tax people have ruled that a Montana LLC does not exempt registration in the state and thus the sales tax.
As Racerguy and others have said, everyone has to look at their own situation.
Cardiacpaul said
10:11 PM Feb 26, 2010
I know this reply is a little late, but I'm going for it...
The only thing I can offer is that your insurance rate is very dependent on your ZIPCODE.
My insurance went down OVER 50% because we moved from Dallas to a rural community.
Why? uh, lets see, cows don't steal many cars here. :)
TheBobGuy said
10:45 PM Feb 26, 2010
Phyllis, just curious; do you also pay Property Taxes on your vehicles in NJ? I don't think there are any yearly property taxes in Texas, so that would offset the costs of registration. We are FL registered and the sales taxes were quite high, but there are no personal property taxes and the registration is reasonable....but the insurance is a little higher. (Property taxes on RV's run in the $1000's in some states)
Just a thought....it might make the costs seem more palatable!!!
Sure hope it gets better for you!!
BTW, we have the HSA insurance and LOVE it!!! Hope you get a good deal on that!!!
See you on the road!
HUGS!
phyllen said
08:11 AM Feb 27, 2010
No. no property tax on vehicles in NJ. We recently pulled out our registration card on the fiver from NJ. We were thinking the registration cost per year was $65. We doubled checked. It was $23. Compare that to the $147 per year in Texas.
We have been trying to get a $5,000 deductible HSA for Len. But he's been denied due to a history of high blood pressure. HIs readings are in the mild hypertension range but they still declined his coverage. We are looking at various other options, INCLUDING the possibility at some point South Dakota.
Mallo said
10:00 AM Feb 27, 2010
Phylis,
Watch the health insurance situation in South Dakota I know that Blue Cross up there is not full timer friendly.
But if SD is the way for you I'd be more then willing to answer any questions you might have.
Mallo
pierreandcolleen said
10:04 AM Feb 27, 2010
We had the same experience with FL. After finishing up our trip we moved to Florida (from Vermont) thinking the cost of living would be alot less. Although there is no income tax, they tax you for just about everything else. I bought a 1997 Nissan Maxima and they charged me for some several hundred dollar "impact" fee when I registered it. I'm not sure what the impact was since it was already a Florida car. Car insurance is also much higher here.
Seems like the tax man always finds a way to get you somehow.
Colleen
retirednana said
11:23 PM Feb 13, 2012
THANKS FOR THE INFO. We too are WA state residents and we are wondering whether to pick another state when we become full-timers. So much to learn.
RVPAINTER said
12:25 AM Feb 14, 2012
We live in New Mexico and to start off (April 4, 2012) we are going to stay residents of New Mexico. After a while we will change but then we can compare car/rv insurance quotes - taxes etc to other States. There is a 3% tax on our RV when we register it - Fl is 6%!
sdman said
12:47 AM Feb 14, 2012
We have been pretty sure we will change from our current state NJ to SD when we go FT after we get the house sold. I have company paid health insurance that is portable so that isn't an issue. The reasons we so far have picked SD are:
- No state income tax. For us that is about $2k savings/yr.
- Vehicle sales tax is 7% in NJ and 3.5% in SD. We pan to purchase our FW and truck after sale of house and register in SD which would save us another up to $3.5k.
- We believe that vehicle insurance will be less in SD. However, we don't know that for sure. Since we don't have the rig yet, not sure how to answer this until just before we have to pick the state.
So we have 2 main questions left for us. What are the recurring registration costs in SD and second, how do the insurance rates compare to that of NJ?
House has been up for sale for 3 weeks now and no bites so far :(
Delaine and Lindy said
02:51 AM Feb 14, 2012
For those who are involved in the Stock market and get those huge dividens Tennessee might not be good for you. However we have no State income tax, but the sales tax is high 9.5%.. Our Mobile Suites tag is $14.75 a year or a life time tag for $88.00 our Truck tag is $24.50 per year.. insurance on the 2011 Tahoe and 2012 Chevy 3500HD is $600.00 every 6 months... It works for us..... Happy Trails....
Cindy T said
03:06 AM Feb 14, 2012
Just to add a bit more to this mix, before we became fulltimers a few months ago, I was going to switch our residency to S Dakota. I pay our health insurance premiums because I'm self employed. When I checked how changing residency would affect our health insurance premiums, I found that it would triple. Needless to say, we did not become SD residents.
So if you pay for your own health insurance, be sure to include that factor in your residency decision.
Cindy T
phyllen said
03:15 PM Feb 14, 2012
We are still SD residents. Last year we purchased a 2011 F350 King Ranch Dually. Our yearly insurance is $615. Our insurance on our 2009 38' Montana fiver is $575 with Fulltimers coverage. Our insurance is due to renew in April. Have not gotten our new bill yet.
Cost for our mail forwarding service is $125 a year plus postage and a $1.00 fee each time they send us mail. They also handle the renewals of our registrations at the DMV. $20 first year per vehicle, $10 subsequent years.
Registrations are higher than NJ (surprised us!). I "Think" it is about a total of around $210.
As far as insurance, I can only comment of my Medicare supplement. Never had it in NJ. But had it two months in Texas and when moved to SD it dropped $49 a month. Again, that is dependent on Zipcode.
sdman said
03:47 PM Feb 14, 2012
phyllen wrote:
We are still SD residents. Last year we purchased a 2011 F350 King Ranch Dually. Our yearly insurance is $615. Our insurance on our 2009 38' Montana fiver is $575 with Fulltimers coverage. Our insurance is due to renew in April. Have not gotten our new bill yet.
Cost for our mail forwarding service is $125 a year plus postage and a $1.00 fee each time they send us mail. They also handle the renewals of our registrations at the DMV. $20 first year per vehicle, $10 subsequent years.
Registrations are higher than NJ (surprised us!). I "Think" it is about a total of around $210.
As far as insurance, I can only comment of my Medicare supplement. Never had it in NJ. But had it two months in Texas and when moved to SD it dropped $49 a month. Again, that is dependent on Zipcode.
Thanks! That helped a lot for us. We are currenty paying $125 for registration and $2400/year for insurance on 2 cars (Lexus 07 IS250 and an 04 Mazda 6) in NJ. So SD looks to be our new residencey when we can get the house sold.
Again thanks guys!
MaryBee said
11:10 PM Feb 14, 2012
Wow!
I guess for now we are staying as Michigan residents! We will still have our home and rentals here so makes sense for us.
Here in Michigan, they charge you a one time fee of $200 for a "forever" plate for the RV, then on our F250 diesel we pay an annual fee of $125 for plates. So...all I pay for each year is plates on the diesel truck and insurnace.
Seeing that we will be coming back here to Michigan in the summer months (May thru October), we are just gonna stay as residents.....changing states is so darn confusing!! :)
We became fulltime traveling RVers just last week. We came down to Texas from NJ because we believed that as a Texas resident we would have cost savings.
First we had to spend $185. for mail service with a Texas address (necessary to do anything else). Then it cost $31.00 to get the truck and fiver inspected.
Well now for the shockers:
Cost of truck registration in NJ a year - $64.00
Cost of truck registration in Texas a year _ $ 142.00
Cost of fiver registration in NJ a year - $ 66.00
Cost of fiver registration in Texas a year - $75.00
Cost of truck insurance in NJ a year - $ 1,104
Cost of truck insurance in Texas a year - 1,344.
NOW GET THIS ONE!!!! ----
Cost of fiver insurance in NJ a year - $535
Cost of same fiver insurance in Texas a year - $1,315.
Of course there is no state income in Texas as there is in NJ. BIG DEAL - We are retired, no income!
Our only potential cost savings is Health Insurance for Len. He could opt to keep the coverage he had with the State of NJ for the rest of his life at a cost of almost $800 a month. No can do. Not only that it is an HMO. NJ does not permit high deductible Health Saving Accounts on a personal basis, only through a group health plan. Texas does. This is what we will be now looking at.
So, be really careful about changing to be a REAL TEXAN. We thought we knew what we were doing. Now we are not so sure.
-- Edited by Racerguy on Monday 8th of February 2010 11:39:21 PM
Our big expense is health insurance. Perhaps we could get cheaper in another state, but DH has pre-existing conditions and that can get tricky. He has 2 yrs 3 mos until Medicare. We have a good policy in WA with individual coverage (no group plans/retirement package). We have to pay $936.00 a month for the both of us with health insurance, with high deductible.
We opted to stay residents of WA due to future concerns on getting old, possibly sick and needing to come back to WA anyway. I know from experience with our own parents, that can be a headache for the kids. We have grown kids there and we go back several times a year to be by them.
Anyway, that's our story. Everyone has their own reasons, but we saw so really good reason to call Texas, Nevada or South Dakota our "home state" just because we want to live as FT folks. JMHO
-- Edited by tumwatergal on Monday 8th of February 2010 11:17:16 PM
-- Edited by tumwatergal on Tuesday 9th of February 2010 06:01:35 PM
A "no-income tax" state just may not be the best for your particular situation. All factors need to be considered and it takes work to do it.
So, while Texas, South Dakota, and Florida are the most popular choices for full-timers, that does not mean they should be chosen automatically. The answers to most questions can be found BEFORE making the decision, but only you know the questions to ask for your particular situation. :)
You have State Farm coverage on your 5er even though you are living in it full-time?
Just curious, because I've had State Farm here in TX for 20+ years and my agent specifically said they could only insure the travel trailer and now the 5er if it was for recreational use only, not living in full-time.
We will be changing insurance companies anyway when we make the jump, as the annual premium on the 5er is more than some quotes I've gotten from other companies and I want to be CERTAIN that our insurance covers full-timing.
Cheers,
Betty
Thanks for the recent information. Texas is "sold" pretty hard on several forums. That makes it difficult to determine actual benefits of one state over another.
I'd been planning on Florida but they changed a few laws. Now, South Dakota looks best in my situation. That can change as long as legislatures are in session. If not for the voting problem in Tennessee, it would have been my first choice. Their tax and fee structure still suits me best.
That said everything else about the state has been very easy of course part of that has been Terry at My Dakota Address in Madison SD she made it simple her office is right there next to City Hall so getting the drivers license and the voters registration taken care of was easy as pie.
As Phylis found though in Texas I would be looking at slightly higher fees to register my vehicles in SD. The Truck would be cheaper then in PA while the trailer would be more expensive for a net increase of about $100 a year of course since I still work the tax situation is very much in my favor and that's the key.
If you don't have taxable income in a given state then changing domicle states doesn't do you any good.
Mallo
Watch the health insurance situation in South Dakota I know that Blue Cross up there is not full timer friendly.
But if SD is the way for you I'd be more then willing to answer any questions you might have.
Mallo
Seems like the tax man always finds a way to get you somehow.
Colleen
THANKS FOR THE INFO. We too are WA state residents and we are wondering whether to pick another state when we become full-timers. So much to learn.
After a while we will change but then we can compare car/rv insurance quotes - taxes etc to other States. There is a 3% tax on our RV when we register it - Fl is 6%!
We have been pretty sure we will change from our current state NJ to SD when we go FT after we get the house sold. I have company paid health insurance that is portable so that isn't an issue. The reasons we so far have picked SD are:
- No state income tax. For us that is about $2k savings/yr.
- Vehicle sales tax is 7% in NJ and 3.5% in SD. We pan to purchase our FW and truck after sale of house and register in SD which would save us another up to $3.5k.
- We believe that vehicle insurance will be less in SD. However, we don't know that for sure. Since we don't have the rig yet, not sure how to answer this until just before we have to pick the state.
So we have 2 main questions left for us. What are the recurring registration costs in SD and second, how do the insurance rates compare to that of NJ?
House has been up for sale for 3 weeks now and no bites so far :(
Just to add a bit more to this mix, before we became fulltimers a few months ago, I was going to switch our residency to S Dakota. I pay our health insurance premiums because I'm self employed. When I checked how changing residency would affect our health insurance premiums, I found that it would triple. Needless to say, we did not become SD residents.
So if you pay for your own health insurance, be sure to include that factor in your residency decision.
Cindy T
Cost for our mail forwarding service is $125 a year plus postage and a $1.00 fee each time they send us mail. They also handle the renewals of our registrations at the DMV. $20 first year per vehicle, $10 subsequent years.
Registrations are higher than NJ (surprised us!). I "Think" it is about a total of around $210.
As far as insurance, I can only comment of my Medicare supplement. Never had it in NJ. But had it two months in Texas and when moved to SD it dropped $49 a month. Again, that is dependent on Zipcode.
Thanks! That helped a lot for us. We are currenty paying $125 for registration and $2400/year for insurance on 2 cars (Lexus 07 IS250 and an 04 Mazda 6) in NJ. So SD looks to be our new residencey when we can get the house sold.
Again thanks guys!
I guess for now we are staying as Michigan residents! We will still have our home and rentals here so makes sense for us.
Here in Michigan, they charge you a one time fee of $200 for a "forever" plate for the RV, then on our F250 diesel we pay an
annual fee of $125 for plates. So...all I pay for each year is plates on the diesel truck and insurnace.
Seeing that we will be coming back here to Michigan in the summer months (May thru October), we are just gonna stay as residents.....changing states is so darn confusing!! :)