Which State to Choose?

free2wander · 06-28-2011, 08:33 AM

My DW and myself are new to full-timing and are trying to minimize our expenses. Everything we have now is registered in Texas. We have considered using Escapees, but heard that most health insurance companies use the actuary tables for the area you reside in to establish premiums. Because of the preponderance of "old farts" using Escapees as their domicile, insurance is much higher.
We also read that the Dakotas and Montana are much cheaper on registration and vehicle insurance.
Is it possible to do multiple registrations? How do most of you guys handle fishing and hunting?

Barbaraok · 06-28-2011, 09:11 PM

Why not get quotes for insurance. If you go to the Escapee website, you'll see a list of commercial members, some of whom actually write insurance for Escapees and find out what it will cost. I would also post your questions on the Escapees forum because several people there have their health insurance through BCBS in Texas and could give an idea of costs, coverage, etc.

Barb

WheelingIt · 06-28-2011, 09:34 PM

For tax purposes, voting and so forth you should chose *one* state and do all your registration there.

I'd second the idea of getting quotes on Health Insurance and car insurance and looking at specific registration costs. We use Alternative Resources in SD. It was a choice between them and Escapees in TX. Both are excellent organizations and most costs were similar but our insurance costs (for us specifically) were lower in SD. So, we went w/ SD.

denverhank · 08-14-2011, 07:32 PM

Fishing and hunting are state dependent, each state has their own rules concerning non-resident licenses.

rv rick · 08-14-2011, 08:02 PM

We are also South Dakotans (we useMyDakotaAddress in Madison, SD) and have been well pleased. Discussions with other fulltimers indicate that SD is a pretty good place regarding costs and that the state actually is glad to have us fulltimers as residents. Finally, if you like to hunt and fish, it doesn't get much better than SD. There are thousands of acres of public hunting land as well as many, many excellent fishing lakes. As a resident fulltimer, you qualify for resident licenses.

Best wishes.

RVingLady · 08-17-2011, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by free2wander

My DW and myself are new to full-timing and are trying to minimize our expenses. Everything we have now is registered in Texas. We have considered using Escapees, but heard that most health insurance companies use the actuary tables for the area you reside in to establish premiums. Because of the preponderance of "old farts" using Escapees as their domicile, insurance is much higher.
We also read that the Dakotas and Montana are much cheaper on registration and vehicle insurance.
Is it possible to do multiple registrations? How do most of you guys handle fishing and hunting?

We have been South Dakotans for 8 years, using Alternative Resources out of Sioux Falls. The vehicle registration and insurance rates are excellent. Also, if you purchase a new RV or car in the future you only pay 3% excise tax on the cost of the new one minus your trade in.

At two different seminars at rallies we have been advised by attorneys not to have vehicles registered in one state, domicle in another etc. They both advised to put everything in one state. We moved our bank accounts, voting, vehicle registration and driver's licenses to SD and have been extremely happy with the way we have been treated by every State or County department we have dealt with.

As far as insurance, we deal with Dougherty and Assoc. in Sioux Falls. They have done a great job of shopping various companies and saving us money.