I am a Canadian resident and have a home in Florida that I use during the winter months. I want to purchase a vehicle in Florida,and get Florida registration and Florida insurance. What do I need to do?

There are many "snowbirds" that come down to the state of Florida for several months out of the year. Many have homes they keep down here and buy and driver cars while they are living in Florida and either keep their car here the rest of the year or drive it to their other home elsewhere. It is much easier to keep a car in Florida if you have it registered and insured here since when you leave FL your insurer may not want to continue to insure you out of state.

While you may be able to buy a car with a Canadian driver's license to register and insure the car in Florida you will normally need to have a Florida license.

The FL Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, states that under federal law, Canadian citizens are non-immigrants and are allowed to stay in the U.S. without obtaining US BCIS documentation.

Canadians without US BCIS documents must provide proof of Canadian citizenship to be issued a Florida driver license or identification card by presenting one of the following documents and a secondary form of identification:

1. Valid Canadian passport
2. Original or certified Canadian birth certificate
3. Canadian Naturalization Certificate
4. Canadian Certificate of Citizenship

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All Canadian citizens will be issued an original or renewal driver license for one calendar year from the date of issue.

Once you are able to obtain a Florida drivers' license than you should not have an issue buying, registering or insuring a vehicle in FL.

Florida requires any part-time or seasonal resident living in FL for 90 days or more during the year to obtain a Florida Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage Liability (PDL) auto insurance on their vehicle.

For the months that you are not in Florida you must continue to maintain insurance on your vehicle or surrender your Florida tag and registration at the nearest driver license or tag office. If you choose to do this, when you next return to Florida you can register the vehicle after you have obtained proof of FL insurance once again. If you plan to leave your vehicle in Florida for the full year, then you will want to continue insurance on it for that whole time.

For more information on how to get a Florida driver's license and register a car there contact the FL HSMV directly. The HSMV website gives information on what is need and how to go about registering a vehicle. If you call them they can give you even more information on registration of vehicles.

Once you have purchased your new or used car in Florida and are ready to buy auto insurance you can get a quote for Florida car insurance here.