Well getting my license to sell insurance in Florida was a real lesson in patience but was nothing in comparison to what my clients have been going through trying to establish residency there. Now, if you are just getting a mailing address and registering your RV and or vehicle there, no big deal. Just make sure you set up the insurance in advance so you can take your Florida insurance card to the DMV.
HOWEVER, should you decide to purchase a home or park model in Florida be ready for some interesting hoops to jump through. I recently had long-time SD full-timers purchase a small $15,000 park model in Florida. They carry a SD umbrella policy with me through RLI. I explained that in order to comply with the umbrella requirements, they would need to carry at least $300,000 liability coverage on the park model policy........WELL apparently, that is a BIG DEAL!!! These people have had a heck of a time finding an insurance company first to insure the park model as it was older and then second finding anyone who would provide higher than $100,000 liability coverage!!!
They are still going to RV but just wanted a place to go to in the winter and now we find out that it will take an act of Congress to get the insurance they need. After I called RLI to find out what to do, I was told if they couldn't provide the required $300,000 liabllity, then their SD umbrella policy would be cancelled. Finally they had no choice but to give up their SD residency and move it to Florida. RLI only requires $100,000 liability in Florida because they found out no one could buy higher limits there and of course now they really need an umbrella!! That's right, the company made special provisions to insure Florida residents and are charging more than double the price for the umbrella policy. I guess something is better than nothing but word to the wise....picking up that cheap park model may be more of a issue than you would think!!
Finally, I have noticed a fair amount of folks moving out of SD and TX and moving residency to Florida. I am really curious what the advantages could possibly be. If you can provide me some insight on that, I would love to hear from you. An email to me at gina@epic-ins.com would be great as I only come on the blog when I need to vent or inform!! Happy Travels!
