Do I Need A Florida Drivers License To Register A Car

cars driving on the highway with palm trees along the side

In one case you move to Miami, you lot need to get a Florida driver's license and register your car in Florida. The police force says you lot should annals your car within 10 days of moving to Florida and get a new license within xxx days.

Here's the adept news about dealing with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles: once y'all're gotten you lot kickoff Florida driver's license and your kickoff Florida license plate, y'all won't accept to visit oftentimes. Merely if you do have to visit your local Miami DMV, in that location's means to make your trip relatively painless.

How to Get a Florida Driver's License

Getting a Florida driver's license is quite easy if y'all already take a valid driver'southward license from some other state. All yous need to exercise is present your proof of identity and citizenship or residency, proof of Social Security number and ii documents verifying your address. You won't have to take either a driving test or a written test, though you'll have to pass hearing and vision tests. An 18-yr-old who is not married needs a parent's signature.

Hither's the almost of import thing to know before y'all show upwards to any of the Florida DMV offices: Make an appointment.

If you brand an date, you tin can be in and out within an hr. If you don't … y'all could lose an unabridged solar day. You are required to get a Florida license within thirty days of moving to the state. You can find the closest Florida DMV office and brand an appointment hither.

Opinions may vary but the best time of solar day to go to the DMV is typically in the morning time, right when the function opens upwards. Make your date in advance to get their bright and early on and skip the massive lines earlier they start.

Florida Driver'south License ID Requirements and Renewal Tips

The identification requirements have gotten stricter in recent years. You will need to bring:

Your out-of-state driver's license
A certified U.Due south. nascency document (issued past a authorities agency, not a hospital) OR a valid U.Due south. passport OR a certificate of naturalization/certificate of citizenship
An original social security carte OR a W-2 OR a paystub OR a 1099/SSA-1099 to verify your Social Security Number

To verify your new accost, you'll need two documents chosen from a long list, which includes a deed, lease, voter registration card, utility neb or post from a banking company. Y'all tin can run into the entire list here.

When y'all get your license, yous can provide emergency contact information for the state to keep on record, and yous can also sign up equally an organ donor.

If you don't drive, you have the option of getting a Florida identification carte du jour to apply for official identification. The ID requirements are similar.

In one case you have your Florida driver'due south license, you won't need to go back to the role in person for as long equally 16 years. If you're younger than eighty, renewals are every viii years, and y'all can easily renew your license online or by mail. If you motion, you tin can change your address online and get a corrected license by mail. Your license will elapse on your birthday.

Registering a Car in Florida

The law requires yous to register your car in Florida within x days of moving to the state. The license tag offices are separate from the driver'due south license offices. You can register your auto at the tax collector's office or at a private auto tag bureau. Some offices permit you to make appointments and others serve merely walk-in customers. You can find the closest office here. If yous want to come when lines are shorter, come mid-month. Your new license tag volition expire in your birth calendar month.

To start the process, you'll need to buy Florida auto insurance or convert your out-of-land policy to a Florida policy and and then get proof of insurance from your agent. You'll also need to make full out Form 80240 and have a notary, constabulary enforcement official, tax collector's employee or other canonical official verify your VIN number. If you lot don't take a copy of the car's title (because you accept a loan on information technology), the Florida tax collector'southward office will assist yous get the proper documentation for the new registration.

The cost to annals a car in Florida starts with the one-fourth dimension $225 fee the first time yous register your car, plus boosted fees based on the weight of the car. Personalized tags or tags that benefit ane of many charities cost more. If y'all want a very Florida tag, you tin go one that benefits oceans, the Everglades, fish, the Florida panther, Florida springs, Florida whales, reefs, dolphins, sea turtles or manatees. Other specialty license plates do good Florida universities, sports teams, the Challenger space shuttle, golf and other causes. Those plates price an additional $fifteen to $25. You can see the options hither.

If you bought the auto more than 6 months ago (and y'all'll need to bear witness that), no sales tax is due. If the car is less than six months old, you'll demand to pay the divergence between Florida'southward 6 percent sales tax (plus whatever local taxes levied) and the sales tax you paid to register the vehicle elsewhere.

Online Renewal Data

Once your automobile has been registered in Florida, you tin renew your registration online, and the cost is less than $100 per twelvemonth for most cars. Each year, you'll go a sticker with the new appointment to add together to your license plate. In Florida, license plates are only on the front end of your auto.

In other proficient news, Florida has no personal holding tax on cars.

About the author

Teresa Mears is a website publisher, author, blogger and editor in South Florida who was raised to be frugal. After working equally a newspaper reporter and editor, she moved her career online. In add-on to running Miami On The Cheap, Florida On The Cheap, Fort Lauderdale On The Cheap, Palm Beach On The Inexpensive, Living on the Cheap and other websites, she writes about personal finance for U.S. News & Earth Written report and other publications.