Moving Out of Florida With a Car: Plates, Insurance and Title

Do You Have to Surrender Your Florida License Plate When You Move?

Yes, once the car is registered in your new state. Florida plates belong to the state, and a car with a current Florida registration has to stay insured in Florida for the whole registration period, wherever it is parked. Turning the plate in closes that registration and lets you end the Florida policy without a penalty, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV).

This guide covers a permanent move. If Florida stays your legal home and you spend only part of the year elsewhere, the Florida plate and policy stay on the car, and our page on snowbird car transport covers seasonal moves.

In What Order Should You Handle the Plate, Insurance and Title?

Most trouble comes from doing the right things in the wrong order. This sequence keeps the car registered and insured at every stage:

1. Before you leave, request a paper copy of your Florida title if it is electronic and the loan is paid off.
2. Leave the Florida plate on the car and the Florida policy in force while the car travels.
3. Buy a policy that meets your new state's minimums and register the car there before that state's deadline. Keep the Florida plate.
4. Surrender the Florida plate and keep the receipt.
5. Cancel the Florida policy, or have your insurer move it, only after the surrender is on record.

FLHSMV tells departing residents not to cancel Florida insurance until the car is registered in the other state or every valid Florida plate has been surrendered, and its general rule is to turn the plate in first. Doing both, in that order, leaves nothing on your Florida record to flag.

How Do You Surrender a Florida License Plate?

In person, take the plate, its decal and photo ID to a Florida county tax collector's office, license plate agent or driver license office. The office cancels the registration and gives you a receipt showing the plate was surrendered.

Once you have left Florida, mail is usually the practical route. Under FLHSMV procedure RS-43, you send the plate and decal with a signed written statement giving the reason, such as a move out of state, and a copy of your photo ID. Mailing addresses differ by county, so take the address from the website of the tax collector in the county you are leaving and use a trackable service.

If the plate is lost or stolen, a signed affidavit giving the plate number and the reason it is unavailable can take its place. A stolen plate also needs a police report or case number.

Your new state may ask for the plate first. The California DMV collects out-of-state plates at registration but lets you keep plates that must go back to the state that issued them, according to its guide to registering a vehicle from out of state. Tell the clerk the plate belongs to Florida, keep it, and mail it once the California registration is done. Our guide to registering an out-of-state car in California covers the rest of that visit.

When Can You Cancel Your Florida Car Insurance?

After the plate surrender is on record. Florida insurers must report a canceled personal injury protection or property damage liability policy to FLHSMV within 10 days, and the department can then suspend the driver license and registration of an owner whose registered car has no coverage, under section 324.0221 of the Florida Statutes.

Lifting that suspension costs a reinstatement fee of $150 the first time, $250 the second and $500 for each one after that within three years. FLHSMV warns that an insurance-related suspension can last up to three years, with no hardship license available.

The new policy has to start before your DMV visit, because your new state will want proof of its own minimum coverage. If you keep the same insurer, FLHSMV notes that it can change your coverage to the new state when you make the registration change. Give your insurer the date of the plate surrender and ask that the Florida coverage end no earlier.

Will Florida Refund the Rest of Your Registration?

Usually not. Florida makes no provision for prorated refunds, so the months left on a registration are not returned when you surrender the plate partway through the year. The exception is an early renewal: if you renewed during the advance renewal period and surrender the plate before the new period begins, which for most owners is midnight on their birthday, you can apply for a refund of that renewal on form HSMV 83363, less service fees, under FLHSMV procedure RS-65.

Letting the Florida registration expire to save a renewal can backfire, because an expired registration can start the next state's clock early. California counts its 20-day deadline from the earlier of the day you become a resident or the day the old registration expires.

How Do You Get Your Florida Title Ready for Another State?

An electronic Florida title stays in FLHSMV's database until you ask for a paper copy, and the paper title is what you need to move the car to another state's records. If all liens are satisfied, you can have it printed through the MyDMV Portal, by mail to a county tax collector or in person, according to FLHSMV's paper title guidance. Titles cannot be printed at home, and one printed at a tax collector's office goes out by standard mail and typically arrives in three to four weeks. Request it before the move, to an address where you will receive it.

A paper title cannot be printed while a lien is open, so ask your lender how it handles the title for a move before you book the DMV visit. In California, the car can still be registered without the out-of-state title, but the registration card is marked nontransferable and no California title is issued until the old title is surrendered. The DMV also wants the application and fees on time even if the title or smog certificate is not ready.

What If You Are Moving on Military Orders?

Service members who keep Florida as their legal residence can keep a Florida registration while stationed in another state, insuring the car with an out-of-state policy through a military insurance exemption explained on FLHSMV's military vehicle registration page. Our military PCS car shipping guide covers the move itself.

How Does Shipping the Car Fit Around the Paperwork?

Ship the car with the Florida plate on and the Florida policy in force. It arrives ready to be driven to a smog test, VIN check or DMV appointment, and you are not retiring a registration while the car is still on the interstate. Keep the title, registration and insurance papers with you rather than in the car, and note any damage on the bill of lading before you sign at delivery.

Rivalane coordinates door to door transport out of Florida with licensed, insured carriers, and we typically assign a carrier within one to three working days after you book. Our route pages cover shipping a car from Florida to California, New York, New Mexico, North Dakota and Kansas, each with that state's arrival rules. You can also read about car shipping in Florida or price your route with the car shipping calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions