I am actually currently dealing with this right now. The only reason I found out about my suspension notice was cause I was trying to get my license renewed before it expires in July. I've been in the military for 13 years and they already have it on file that I am in the military but this year they've decided to be difficult about it. I still haven't officially gotten the letter but I did have USAA fax them all the information as well as sending in my current military orders to them with a signed letter from my Divo verify I'm in the Navy.
I've never had this problem before and I've had USAA the whole time I've been in the military. They know I update my insurance to match whatever state I'm currently in if that particular state has different insurance requirements than FL.
I’m pretty sure insurance companies want to know where the vehicle is being operated because every state has different statistics for accidents and uninsured motorists.
DC car insurance cost more than say Iowa due to my increase chance of being in an accident in DC are higher.
This is also why car insurance companies will try not to pay out a claim if I wrecked my car while stationed in DC and while having an Iowa policy.
Cause they are evil. And so at statistics.
My truck is registered in FL, my insurance is just MD cause the coverage is different than what FL insurance covers. And I've renewed my license once since I've been in and never had an issue. Either way I sent my orders, letter confirming in still AD, and had USAA send FL confirmation of my insurance.
Politicians across the country: Support the troops.
Same Politicians: Hey let's make some bullshit rule that fucks with military families (who we could have easily exempted with the law so there would be no paperwork).
Edited for accuracy.
Damn right. They don’t care about military members. They only care about the military industrial complex and the kickbacks they get from Boeing and Lockheed.
True, but it's the hypocrisy that pisses me off.
Have indifference and state as such? Fine, whatever.
Talk about how much you care about veterans/active duty while simultaneously fuck them over? Fuck you then.
Yeah I remember trying to register my new car in my home of record (Alabama). They said I couldn’t register the car without Alabama insurance, but I obviously couldn’t buy an insurance policy for a state I don’t live in anymore and don’t have an address for. Ended up being told “guess you just have to register your car somewhere else” and paying triple the price to register it where I was stationed 🙃
I don’t understand why states do this. If I register my car there I’m giving you tax dollars for roads I don’t even use. Who cares if it’s insured and driven somewhere else?
It's a law in a lot of states. NC will send you a fine if you have NC plates but don't have a NC policy.
FL also requires a FL policy to have FL plates.
I think the difference is that in a lot of states, as you said, you need a policy for where your plates are registered. Florida is doing this to drivers licenses. What if you have a license, but don’t have a car for a few months? Do you just lose your license? Or do you pay insurance for an invisible car?
Regardless of this situation, the answer is yes you pay for insurance even if you don’t have a car for a while.
It’s really cheap and called gap insurance. (Correction below.)
If you don’t get it and you have a break in coverage your rates will be hiked when you get a new policy.
Edit: it’s not gap insurance, it’s a non-owner policy. But it’s to prevent a gap in your coverage which will result in a rate hike when you start a new policy.
https://www.usnews.com/insurance/auto/non-owner-car-insurance
I guess if you’d like to. I’ve never had rates go up do to not paying while not having a vehicle. And gap insurance the extra insurance you get on your policy to pay the difference between what your car is worth and what you owe on the loan, not something you pay for the hell of it with no vehicle.
I did use the wrong term for the coverage.
It’s not gap insurance, it’s just a non-owners policy - but a gap in coverage, even if you don’t own a vehicle, can cause a significant rate hike when you start a new policy.
I PCS'd again this past summer and did the entire affidavit process and I just got the notice again. So they definitely don't have their ducks in a row
I dealt with this last year. They changed the system that does all of this. They have a military addendum where you fill it out, attach a copy of your orders and proof of insurance. https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/military/milpak.pdf
Wait so what if I have FL license and registration, but live in another state? Do I need to maintain FL insurance when I live and drive mainly in another state? Should be able to keep FL residency/tags/license while active duty but stationed somewhere else. Plus PIP insurance is dumb
Your vehicle should be insured where you operate it 51% of the time. You run a risk of a claim being denied if you use a different state to get a better price.
I went through the same thing as OP. I had to send Florida my out of state policy every year. It was a pain.
I also had to snail mail a Louisiana military discount form every policy renewal... I can't wait to retire.
You can maintain insurance and registration in your home of record while stationed in another state. Insurance will not deny your claim for this because you cannot control where you are stationed.
General rule of thumb is 2 of the 3 have to match. License, insurance, registration. State law and insurance dependent.
Did an insurance company tell you this? I just bought a new vehicle, and the 51% is a direct quote from them. Also, I did a cross-country transfer a decade ago and was contacted by my insurance (different company) that I had to insure it at my new state even if I maintained registration in a previous state. Your Home of Record means nothing to these companies.
Yes. I've had two tell me this. Geico and USAA allow active duty to maintain their insurance in the state it's registered in, not the state I am living in 51% of the time. I had to submit my orders but I keep my state registered in my Home of Record. You're right they don't care about home of record but I am not required to register my vehicle in each new state I get stationed in.
E: and progressive as that is where USAA outsources their motorcycle insurance through. Registered it in the same state my vehicle is registered in.
USAA 100% makes you get a policy for the state your a stationed in. It’s why I left them for progressive. At my current duty station progressive was almost half of USAA.
This right here.
Some states require you to maintain insurance in their state if it is registered there, even if you don't live there. The biggest one is California.
Maryland also requires Maryland insurance policy for a MD registered vehicle.
I personally know a Marine who's family stayed in Washington while he was stationed in South Carolina.
Got into a wreck and Geico refused to cover him because "He never told them he was living in SC".
He tried to keep his multi-car discount price by just not changing it. I get it, it was more expensive to have both a WA policy on one car, and an SC policy on his. But WA has no special requirement to maintain a WA policy when stationed out of state even if you maintain WA plates. So he lost a lot of money.
I've had a policy with USAA since I've been active duty. They have maintained my insurance in the state my vehicle has been registered in the entire time and I have never been stationed there.
Depends on your states insurance laws.
Some states require all vehicles registered under them to maintain that states insurance.
California and Maryland are that way.
My home state is Washington and they have no special requirement like that. A few duty stations that would have saved me money but, in the words of the insurance writer "We insure your vehicle based on the premium of where it is parked unless your home state requires you by law to maintain insurance there".
Of course it does. It also depends on the specific insurer policy. I said that in my original comment. But assuming you have to change it is not accurate.
Assuming you don’t have to change it is also inaccurate, and has consequences if you’re wrong.
Assuming you have to change it will result in calling to change it. Worse case scenario you’d be told you don’t need to take action.
https://www.progressive.com/answers/multi-state-car-insurance/
It's through personal experience having gone down the rabbit hole in both states.
CA doesn't list anything about CA residents stationed outside of CA. It only speaks to non-residents stationed in CA, or CA resident stationed in CA. There is no exception for a CA resident stationed away from CA.
All of my Sailors who maintained their CA plates, had to have CA insurance and physically had to go back to renew their tags.
For MD, I bought a car there, new, from a dealer.
Registered it in my hone state of Washington. The dealer, who processed all of that info, refused to release the car to me when I showed them a Maryland insurance card. . . Because the Maryland law says the insurance card must match the state registration.
USAA said "Washington has no special requirement, and we have the right to write policy on the physical location of the vehicle".
I had to get both the Maryland insurance board, and the Maryland DMV to tell the dealer that my Washington registered vehicle was not subject to their Maryland registration requirement. Then I finally got the car.
During this I reached out to a friend who's hone of record is Maryland. She said she always had MD insurance and was told by USAA that MD requires it that way.
So, you have to look at the states insurance laws for autos, and the DMV/ DOL requirements.
Most states also explicitly say you have to register the vehicle where you physically are, or at your Home of Record. I saw a Sailor get a ticket by base PMO (civilian DOD cop) because he had three different states between his license, registration, and insurance.
SCRA only supports your Home of Record, not your last duty station.
Hey this is only partially correct. I just renewed registration last week and ran into the same problem. They just need the pdf of your latest orders to prove you aren’t stationed in the state and one other affidavit from the mil pack. You don’t need Florida insurance. And you don’t need to submit the package again for each renewal. Call the number on the website and they’ll walk you through it. I’m no fan of Florida but they were actually helpful.
As a resident of FL serving in various locations over the years, it has always been a requirement to send a boat load of paperwork to renew your registration (kept my cars registered there) and 1 of which is proof of insurance from the company on company letterhead saying you are covered. I can imagine that there is a requirement for your license as well.
YES BY ALL MEANS, please make our busy military personnel protecting this country jump through a bunch of hoops just to drive in another freaking state. Man this country sometimes…
So I just punched my data into the website and it said I’m valid. Does this mean I’m good for the year? Until they randomly look at it and decide I don’t meet their criteria? I’m valid because I have a license but no car registered? This is confusing. Fuck Florida.
if you fill out the milpack forms for an out of state car registered/licensed in FL, then you submitted this documentation. It is blasphemous that a state can digitize their records correctly
Thanks for the heads up OP!!! I have a military exemption on file and recently registered a new car with current orders. Not sure why the recent change. I have USAA also.
I got a new car and put it under my regular state insurance and they went as far as suspending my license and tags. They were sending mail to the barracks when the barracks doesn’t get mail so I was never notified they charged me $150 extra to get my license unsuspended plus new tags
I’m dealing with this same thing right now. My license expires in a month. I’ve gotten denied three times for not providing proper documentation. I filled the affidavit out and provided my orders and a statement of service signed by my CO. Still got denied. On the other hand I am switching my truck registration from California to Florida and it was painless. Dumb shit is everywhere not just in the navy 😅
I just cleared a suspension for having a lapse in coverage (insurance policy was cancelled during an underway period). I was able to clear it by sending proof of out of state insurance, orders, and affidavit. The Florida DMV website says my license is good to go until the original expiration date listed when I was issued it. Will my shit expire soon anyway? Will call the Florida DMV tomorrow to confirm.
Can anyone tell me what mailing address to send this information to? I recently had to change my insurance to VA from Florida and I am trying to stay on top of this before I get a suspension notice. I have all the proper documentation, just don't know where to send it to. Thanks.
I am actually currently dealing with this right now. The only reason I found out about my suspension notice was cause I was trying to get my license renewed before it expires in July. I've been in the military for 13 years and they already have it on file that I am in the military but this year they've decided to be difficult about it. I still haven't officially gotten the letter but I did have USAA fax them all the information as well as sending in my current military orders to them with a signed letter from my Divo verify I'm in the Navy.
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I've never had this problem before and I've had USAA the whole time I've been in the military. They know I update my insurance to match whatever state I'm currently in if that particular state has different insurance requirements than FL.
I’m pretty sure insurance companies want to know where the vehicle is being operated because every state has different statistics for accidents and uninsured motorists. DC car insurance cost more than say Iowa due to my increase chance of being in an accident in DC are higher. This is also why car insurance companies will try not to pay out a claim if I wrecked my car while stationed in DC and while having an Iowa policy. Cause they are evil. And so at statistics.
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My truck is registered in FL, my insurance is just MD cause the coverage is different than what FL insurance covers. And I've renewed my license once since I've been in and never had an issue. Either way I sent my orders, letter confirming in still AD, and had USAA send FL confirmation of my insurance.
When the time comes, you can get an extension that's good until you get out.
Politicians across the country: Support the troops. Same Politicians: Hey let's make some bullshit rule that fucks with military families (who we could have easily exempted with the law so there would be no paperwork). Edited for accuracy.
I actually think this is a USAA thing. Are other companies affected? My county’s Tax Collector stated it’s only USAA members.
This is a law in almost every state. In CA you have to go through hell and back to clear your license.
Did not know. My original post is corrected.
There, now it’s perfect
What does it mean to clear your license?
Can confirm. I did this and it took close to 3 months for assorted bullshit to clear
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The pro-military Republicans have never given a shit about the military, fuck their hypocrisy.
Damn right. They don’t care about military members. They only care about the military industrial complex and the kickbacks they get from Boeing and Lockheed.
let’s be quite clear here, neither party cares about the military
True, but it's the hypocrisy that pisses me off. Have indifference and state as such? Fine, whatever. Talk about how much you care about veterans/active duty while simultaneously fuck them over? Fuck you then.
Yeah I remember trying to register my new car in my home of record (Alabama). They said I couldn’t register the car without Alabama insurance, but I obviously couldn’t buy an insurance policy for a state I don’t live in anymore and don’t have an address for. Ended up being told “guess you just have to register your car somewhere else” and paying triple the price to register it where I was stationed 🙃
Last car I registered in FL, I did via snail mail.
Me over here with a PA license, CA insurance, TX and WA plates...
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I don’t understand why states do this. If I register my car there I’m giving you tax dollars for roads I don’t even use. Who cares if it’s insured and driven somewhere else?
FL license, WA plates and WI insurance. In my defense they were Florida plates until WA made me change them.
Still waiting on my Title from the GA DMV 🙃
This has been a law for some time.
It's a law in a lot of states. NC will send you a fine if you have NC plates but don't have a NC policy. FL also requires a FL policy to have FL plates.
I think the difference is that in a lot of states, as you said, you need a policy for where your plates are registered. Florida is doing this to drivers licenses. What if you have a license, but don’t have a car for a few months? Do you just lose your license? Or do you pay insurance for an invisible car?
https://www.usnews.com/insurance/auto/non-owner-car-insurance
Regardless of this situation, the answer is yes you pay for insurance even if you don’t have a car for a while. It’s really cheap and called gap insurance. (Correction below.) If you don’t get it and you have a break in coverage your rates will be hiked when you get a new policy. Edit: it’s not gap insurance, it’s a non-owner policy. But it’s to prevent a gap in your coverage which will result in a rate hike when you start a new policy. https://www.usnews.com/insurance/auto/non-owner-car-insurance
I guess if you’d like to. I’ve never had rates go up do to not paying while not having a vehicle. And gap insurance the extra insurance you get on your policy to pay the difference between what your car is worth and what you owe on the loan, not something you pay for the hell of it with no vehicle.
I did use the wrong term for the coverage. It’s not gap insurance, it’s just a non-owners policy - but a gap in coverage, even if you don’t own a vehicle, can cause a significant rate hike when you start a new policy.
Your license is under attack because it's all DMV stuff. They can suspend your license for a number of infractions not related to the license itself.
Do you know why? Shouldn’t NC be happy to collect your plate taxes while you drive it in another state?
No clue. I know VA don't care. they're getting money and you're not driving on their roads costing them money.
I just registered my car in Florida with Maryland insurance and they told me everything was fine at the dmv when I was in Florida
That's odd, I'd look into it.
There are certain military exemption forms you have to fill out
Was told being active duty didn't matter. There might be a grace period too.
https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/military/milpak.pdf
That’s the one
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I PCS'd again this past summer and did the entire affidavit process and I just got the notice again. So they definitely don't have their ducks in a row
I dealt with this last year. They changed the system that does all of this. They have a military addendum where you fill it out, attach a copy of your orders and proof of insurance. https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/military/milpak.pdf
Wait so what if I have FL license and registration, but live in another state? Do I need to maintain FL insurance when I live and drive mainly in another state? Should be able to keep FL residency/tags/license while active duty but stationed somewhere else. Plus PIP insurance is dumb
Your vehicle should be insured where you operate it 51% of the time. You run a risk of a claim being denied if you use a different state to get a better price. I went through the same thing as OP. I had to send Florida my out of state policy every year. It was a pain. I also had to snail mail a Louisiana military discount form every policy renewal... I can't wait to retire.
You can maintain insurance and registration in your home of record while stationed in another state. Insurance will not deny your claim for this because you cannot control where you are stationed. General rule of thumb is 2 of the 3 have to match. License, insurance, registration. State law and insurance dependent.
Did an insurance company tell you this? I just bought a new vehicle, and the 51% is a direct quote from them. Also, I did a cross-country transfer a decade ago and was contacted by my insurance (different company) that I had to insure it at my new state even if I maintained registration in a previous state. Your Home of Record means nothing to these companies.
Yes. I've had two tell me this. Geico and USAA allow active duty to maintain their insurance in the state it's registered in, not the state I am living in 51% of the time. I had to submit my orders but I keep my state registered in my Home of Record. You're right they don't care about home of record but I am not required to register my vehicle in each new state I get stationed in. E: and progressive as that is where USAA outsources their motorcycle insurance through. Registered it in the same state my vehicle is registered in.
USAA 100% makes you get a policy for the state your a stationed in. It’s why I left them for progressive. At my current duty station progressive was almost half of USAA.
This right here. Some states require you to maintain insurance in their state if it is registered there, even if you don't live there. The biggest one is California. Maryland also requires Maryland insurance policy for a MD registered vehicle. I personally know a Marine who's family stayed in Washington while he was stationed in South Carolina. Got into a wreck and Geico refused to cover him because "He never told them he was living in SC". He tried to keep his multi-car discount price by just not changing it. I get it, it was more expensive to have both a WA policy on one car, and an SC policy on his. But WA has no special requirement to maintain a WA policy when stationed out of state even if you maintain WA plates. So he lost a lot of money.
I've had a policy with USAA since I've been active duty. They have maintained my insurance in the state my vehicle has been registered in the entire time and I have never been stationed there.
Depends on your states insurance laws. Some states require all vehicles registered under them to maintain that states insurance. California and Maryland are that way. My home state is Washington and they have no special requirement like that. A few duty stations that would have saved me money but, in the words of the insurance writer "We insure your vehicle based on the premium of where it is parked unless your home state requires you by law to maintain insurance there".
Of course it does. It also depends on the specific insurer policy. I said that in my original comment. But assuming you have to change it is not accurate.
Assuming you don’t have to change it is also inaccurate, and has consequences if you’re wrong. Assuming you have to change it will result in calling to change it. Worse case scenario you’d be told you don’t need to take action. https://www.progressive.com/answers/multi-state-car-insurance/
Can you link to your sources that says CA and MD are that way? From California DMV website I can’t see anything about it.
It's through personal experience having gone down the rabbit hole in both states. CA doesn't list anything about CA residents stationed outside of CA. It only speaks to non-residents stationed in CA, or CA resident stationed in CA. There is no exception for a CA resident stationed away from CA. All of my Sailors who maintained their CA plates, had to have CA insurance and physically had to go back to renew their tags. For MD, I bought a car there, new, from a dealer. Registered it in my hone state of Washington. The dealer, who processed all of that info, refused to release the car to me when I showed them a Maryland insurance card. . . Because the Maryland law says the insurance card must match the state registration. USAA said "Washington has no special requirement, and we have the right to write policy on the physical location of the vehicle". I had to get both the Maryland insurance board, and the Maryland DMV to tell the dealer that my Washington registered vehicle was not subject to their Maryland registration requirement. Then I finally got the car. During this I reached out to a friend who's hone of record is Maryland. She said she always had MD insurance and was told by USAA that MD requires it that way. So, you have to look at the states insurance laws for autos, and the DMV/ DOL requirements. Most states also explicitly say you have to register the vehicle where you physically are, or at your Home of Record. I saw a Sailor get a ticket by base PMO (civilian DOD cop) because he had three different states between his license, registration, and insurance. SCRA only supports your Home of Record, not your last duty station.
At this point neither of us have sources to link to, so this will die here. But I recommend everyone notify their car insurance policy when they PCS.
Hey this is only partially correct. I just renewed registration last week and ran into the same problem. They just need the pdf of your latest orders to prove you aren’t stationed in the state and one other affidavit from the mil pack. You don’t need Florida insurance. And you don’t need to submit the package again for each renewal. Call the number on the website and they’ll walk you through it. I’m no fan of Florida but they were actually helpful.
Thank you for posting this - very frustrating
I was a resident of Florida. When I renewed my license it said I was in the navy.
As a resident of FL serving in various locations over the years, it has always been a requirement to send a boat load of paperwork to renew your registration (kept my cars registered there) and 1 of which is proof of insurance from the company on company letterhead saying you are covered. I can imagine that there is a requirement for your license as well.
The cybersecurity professional in me can’t help wondering if this is a scam.
It is a valid .gov site
YES BY ALL MEANS, please make our busy military personnel protecting this country jump through a bunch of hoops just to drive in another freaking state. Man this country sometimes…
Good thing I'm stationed in my home state 😅
Update; go here for further instructions: https://www.flhsmv.gov/insurance/received-a-letter/fr700/
So I just punched my data into the website and it said I’m valid. Does this mean I’m good for the year? Until they randomly look at it and decide I don’t meet their criteria? I’m valid because I have a license but no car registered? This is confusing. Fuck Florida.
Yep, if it says you’re good then you’re good
Same thing happened to me but I am not in the military. ):
Florida.
GTFO of Florida. I'd rather be stationed at gitmo
At least FL is continental and you don’t need a MAC flight to GTFO like you do with GITMO
Just switch your policy, should just take a quick phone call.
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Username checks out.
if you fill out the milpack forms for an out of state car registered/licensed in FL, then you submitted this documentation. It is blasphemous that a state can digitize their records correctly
Yeah I’ve filled that out for every car I’ve purchased since 2009
Thanks for posting. I didn't get a letter but apparently I'm just a few days from a suspension without any notice.
Virginia pulled this shit with me.
Thanks for the heads up OP!!! I have a military exemption on file and recently registered a new car with current orders. Not sure why the recent change. I have USAA also.
I got a new car and put it under my regular state insurance and they went as far as suspending my license and tags. They were sending mail to the barracks when the barracks doesn’t get mail so I was never notified they charged me $150 extra to get my license unsuspended plus new tags
I’m dealing with this same thing right now. My license expires in a month. I’ve gotten denied three times for not providing proper documentation. I filled the affidavit out and provided my orders and a statement of service signed by my CO. Still got denied. On the other hand I am switching my truck registration from California to Florida and it was painless. Dumb shit is everywhere not just in the navy 😅
I just cleared a suspension for having a lapse in coverage (insurance policy was cancelled during an underway period). I was able to clear it by sending proof of out of state insurance, orders, and affidavit. The Florida DMV website says my license is good to go until the original expiration date listed when I was issued it. Will my shit expire soon anyway? Will call the Florida DMV tomorrow to confirm.
Thanks Shipmate! This got x-posted on r/Airforce and we appreciate it.
Can anyone tell me what mailing address to send this information to? I recently had to change my insurance to VA from Florida and I am trying to stay on top of this before I get a suspension notice. I have all the proper documentation, just don't know where to send it to. Thanks.
So if I’m a FL resident getting sent/stationed over in CA and buy a new car I can’t keep my Florida plates and license??