Buying a used car and driving in the USA | GTAMotorcycle.com

Buying a used car and driving in the USA

E

EC2010

Well-known member
Hello, asking for a friend of mine (I thought I reach out to the community as some travel/live in the US for extended period of time):

My buddy whose daughter is starting school in Florida. Got a place that's about 15-20min drive to college. She wanted to get a used beater car for commute. So they went to the DMV, and was told:
- in order to buy a used car, she'll need to have insurance
- in order to get insurance, she'll need to have the local driver's license
- in order to get the local driver's license, she'll need to cancel her Ontario driver's license

She doesn't really want to cancel her Ontario (only as a last resort if needed). is there any other way to do this? They also consider leaving their Canadian vehicle for her, but their Insurance company only allows for 6 months, and they think the local law in Florida only allows for 2 months max.

Any suggestion/advice? thanks in advance.
 
That process is the only way for a semi-resident to buy the car there and be legal and insured. When I was a student in the US (Kentucky), my roommate did the same thing, although at that time (over 25 years ago) he got the car plated but didn't have proper insurance. But, that's a different state and laws and regs may have changed since then.

There may be an option to bring an Ontario car there and a US insurer pick up the gap (the other 6 months that Cdn insurance won't cover). #7 in the article mentions a 1 year limit for a Canadian vehicle, and that may be a federal customs regulation. What snowbirds should know

The FL 2 month limit can't be heavily enforced, because look at all of the snowbirds that keep their Canadian plated cars for longer than that. I do know that all states allow a new resident a couple of months or so to get it locally licensed, registered, and insured, but it's not that the state only allows an out-of-state car to have non-local plates and insurance for those couple of months.
 
Swapping your Ontario DL for a Florida one And swapping it back after graduation shouldnt be a big problem. My wife did the license swap when she went to McGill (not sure why).
 
License swap is just a matter of going to the mto.
One thing Ont won't give back is our motorcycle endorsment / "M".
All you get is "G".
Must start from scratch again to ride here (legally).
(This happened to 2 of my buddies, and myself......moving back with either Alberta or BC driver's licenses).
 
Gary said:
License swap is just a matter of going to the mto.
One thing Ont won't give back is our motorcycle endorsment / "M".
All you get is "G".
Must start from scratch again to ride here (legally).
(This happened to 2 of my buddies, and myself......moving back with either Alberta or BC driver's licenses).
Click to expand...
Well that sucks (and is an important point). My wife went from G1 (or maybe G2) in Ontario to full G in QC as they didn't have an equivalent license category. When you transferred back to Ontario the full G stuck. It seemed like an easy way and cheap way to upgrade your license.
 
Gary said:
License swap is just a matter of going to the mto.
One thing Ont won't give back is our motorcycle endorsment / "M".
All you get is "G".
Must start from scratch again to ride here (legally).
(This happened to 2 of my buddies, and myself......moving back with either Alberta or BC driver's licenses).
Click to expand...
Not necessarily true you need to make sure you get the full motorcycle endorsement in the states. My wife went to Hawaii with a M2 they gave her the equivalent of a M and when she transferred back she had a full GM.

Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk
 
To get insurance in FLA, you do NOT need to cancel your Ontario drivers license. Canadians in FLA are coinsidered non imigrants and do not need an INS number. You dont have to take a written or drivers test, you do have to pass a vision test. You present a Valid CDN passport, a valid full G license, and your issued a FLA license, you can then obtain insurance and plates for a car. You'll also need a personal injury insurance policy, its a state reg.
Literally thousands of Canadians have FLA cars .

If a DMV office in FLA told you to cancel your Ontario license , go to a different office, that clerk was wrong.

this is specific for FLA, every state has different requirements.
 
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