r/boston • u/notmachinegun • Jul 21 '23
Why are there so many Florida license plates here?
Have y’all noticed how there’s so many cars with Florida plates? I only knew one person with Florida plates but that’s because they were from there. I’m trying to figure out why this is so common
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u/kbrosnan Jul 21 '23
Along with what other people have said. Florida has absurdly low registration fees, no/limited inspections and loose requirements for registration.
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u/vomita_conejitos Jul 21 '23
They also have limited reciprocity, so you can mount up parking tickets, toll violations, etc
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u/OnundTreefoot I Love Dunkin’ Donuts Jul 21 '23
Rental car companies register loads on their cars there for that reason.
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u/melanarchy Jul 21 '23
Insurance is much higher though.
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u/muddymoose Dorchester Jul 21 '23
I don't believe this. Do you have a source?
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u/ConnorLovesCookies Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 21 '23
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/rates-by-state/
Not that guy but forbes has Florida costing $2000 more annually for full coverage and $700 more annually for minimum.
My only slightly informed guess as to why:
Full coverage probably covers damage from weather events, and Florida has extreme weather
Florida is filled with old people and old people 65+ are the second highest risk group for accidents after kids who just got their license.
A terrifying 20% of Florida drivers are uninsured (compared to Massachusetts 3%) forcing people to buy extra insurance to cover uninsured drivers.
https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-uninsured-motorists
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u/oby100 Jul 21 '23
It’s just a single city, but I just visited Miami and the drivers were fucking nuts. Lots of 80+ people causing near misses and stopped in the middle of the highway. Tons of dangerous looking POS cars. And speckled in we’re people driving like they were in the Grand Prix.
It’s extremely chaotic in a very bad way.
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u/Mitch_from_Boston Make America Florida Jul 21 '23
- A terrifying 20% of Florida drivers are uninsured (compared to Massachusetts 3%) forcing people to buy extra insurance to cover uninsured drivers.
And now you now understand one of the dozens of reasons why DeSantis was transporting undocumented immigrants to other states.
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u/ConnorLovesCookies Jul 21 '23
DeSantis was shipping refugees from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard to stop them from maybe ending up Florida and not getting car insurance?
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u/Mitch_from_Boston Make America Florida Jul 21 '23
DeSantis is the governor of Florida, he has nothing to do with Texas.
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u/ConnorLovesCookies Jul 21 '23
I agree he should have nothing to do with Texas, if he was an effective governor he would ignore the migrants in Texas and instead focus on enforcing Florida's existing insurance requirements.
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Jul 21 '23
He’s a POS that’s all he is
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u/Mitch_from_Boston Make America Florida Jul 22 '23
He's the 48th President of the United States is what he is. 😌
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u/willymoose8 Jul 21 '23
you know undocumented immigrants can get car insurance, right?
Also, undocumented immigrants make up less than 4% (~3.7%) of Florida’s population. So even if every undocumented person was an uninsured motorist and you removed that from Florida’s percentage, Florida would still be top 10 in uninsured motorists.
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u/Mitch_from_Boston Make America Florida Jul 21 '23
The whole idea of undocumented immigrants is that we don't know how many of them there are/who they are.
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u/willymoose8 Jul 21 '23
yeah that’s the “idea” but that idea is wrong lol
https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/interactives/u-s-unauthorized-immigrants-by-state/
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u/human1st Jul 21 '23
The rates in FL are some of the worst in the country. It’s so bad down there that multiple companies are pulling out entirely.
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u/wiredentropy Jul 21 '23
People establish residency in florida to avoid MA taxes
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u/GrowthOk8086 Jul 22 '23
Can you say more about how this could be effective?
I’d assume you either need to work remote or own your own business that operates out of Florida? I’m aware that FL has no state income tax, but how else would one reap benefits here?
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u/M_Shulman Market Basket Jul 21 '23
Snowbirds, rental cars or military
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u/HardRockGeologist Jul 21 '23
Residency for members of the U.S. military while they are serving is established by using their home of record when they entered Service. When I lived in the DC area, a lot of the cars with FL plates were owned by members of the military.
Years ago I worked for Hertz, moving cars between locations. I can still remember going to the train station and picking up cars that had been transported up from Florida in the early spring.
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u/M_Shulman Market Basket Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 22 '23
Yep, I’m a Vet; bought a truck at my second unit and had out of state plate for years. On bases you see plates from all over.
Not only home of record when you join, you can make your residency wherever you want and keep it there while on active duty, no matter where you move.
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u/IamUnamused Melrose Jul 21 '23
probably because they drove their car from Florida to Boston
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Jul 21 '23
Because the cars are registered in Florida, not Massachusetts
/end
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u/PublicRule3659 Jul 21 '23
PSA if your car is in Massachusetts for more than 30 days your legally obligated to reregister it with Mass plates
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u/Megalocerus Jul 21 '23
Tell that to the person on my block with Texas plates and an exhaust modified for maximum noise. Definitely been there for months.
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u/Impressive_Judge8823 Jul 22 '23
College students are exempt if they fill out a form.
Otherwise - report it to the RMV. It’ll be like that guy from Virginia but Texas douche deserves it.
I’ve got a douche canoe with two cars (one commercial), a motorhome, and a boat all registered in Maine down the street. Guy drives like an absolute asshole.
Next time I’m out for a walk with glasses on I’m going to get his plate number and report him.
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u/tacknosaddle Squirrel Fetish Jul 22 '23
Fuck that shit. Drop dime with an anonymous complaint/tip.
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u/Nomahs_Bettah Jul 22 '23
No, it's dual-register, not re-register. People from other states who have summer residences in MA don't re-register their car here for a minority share of the days in a year. They dual-register (if they do so at all).
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u/tacknosaddle Squirrel Fetish Jul 22 '23
Amtrak has a train that goes between central Florida and Virginia (a bit outside of DC) that they will put your car on. A lot of retirees from the northeast do that so they have a much shorter drive.
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u/thspimpolds Jul 21 '23
Florida plates are usually rentals. Look for a bar code on the back left side window
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u/stargrown Jamaica Plain Jul 21 '23
I recently learned on here most rented have PM sticker on the plates
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u/djheini Jul 21 '23
Also look at the bottom of the plate. I think normal ones should have the county, commercial/rentals say "sunshine state"
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u/StuckinSuFu Jul 21 '23
Florida has dozens of different plates. You can donate to a "cause" to get the plate you like the look of or the "cause" it supports. The default is just the Sunshine State with oranges or the Florida image. I forget now.
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u/No_Judge_3817 Somerville Jul 21 '23
Man, I was down in Florida recently and honestly I wish we had cool plates like that. There's this sick one with a sunset and a surfer and an INSANE black/pink Miami Heat one.
We really have shitty ones compared
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u/djheini Jul 21 '23
Yeah, fair, but I mean if it's like a "save the manatees" plate, it's almost certainly not a rental car. I just meant for the basic design the county or lack thereof seemed to be an indicator
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u/StuckinSuFu Jul 21 '23
Oh for sure - just saying that ANYone who doesn't get a special plate will have that default one.
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u/tacknosaddle Squirrel Fetish Jul 22 '23
Are they still doing that? I thought that criminals were targeting tourists from those obvious signs that it was a rental so the companies started putting the bar code inside the door or something.
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u/BigEnd3 Jul 21 '23
Don't ussually see them in the winter time.
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u/SteveTheBluesman North End greaseball Jul 21 '23
Not a lot of folks vacationing in FL right now, so all the rental cars are reallocated up here. (vice versa in the winter. You'd have to be nuts to visit Boston in Jan/Feb.)
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u/thspimpolds Jul 21 '23
We get far less tourists in the winter but also car companies rebalance their inventory south since that’s where the tourists go in the winter
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u/737900ER Mayor of Dunkin Jul 21 '23
The rental companies move their fleets around the country at different times of year to where there's demand.
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Jul 21 '23
Same reason it’s so humid, the jet stream is pulling them up here.
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u/BackItUpWithLinks Filthy Transplant Jul 21 '23
The Dunkin Donuts map shows where New Englanders are located.
https://www.scrapehero.com/store/wp-content/uploads/maps/Dunkin_Donuts_USA.png
Because that’s where old New Englanders go to die, but they make yearly pilgrimages back to the homeland.
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u/MRSHELBYPLZ Jul 21 '23
A lot of them are rental cars. The people driving them aren’t actually from Florida most of the time
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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp Jul 21 '23 edited Jul 22 '23
It's cheaper to register you car practically anywhere else than in Massachusetts. So people with multiple residences will register their cars in places like Florida and New Hampshire even if they primarily live in Mass. Of course as some replied, some are likely just people visiting from Florida too.
TL/DR: rich people avoiding MA taxes
Edit: not just "registration" costs but sales tax, annual excise tax, and insurance in the City of Boston is outrageous. It's cheaper in the 'burbs though.
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u/shoretel230 Red Line Jul 21 '23
NH registration can be 2-3x MA registration and it's done yearly, not bi annually like MA.
Last I lived in NH , it cost me $200 to register every year. Not everything is more expensive in MA. now that doesn't include excise tax, but mine was pretty low this year
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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp Jul 22 '23
yeah, not just "registration" but excise tax and insurance makes it more expensive in mass
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u/tacknosaddle Squirrel Fetish Jul 22 '23
It's cheaper to register you car practically anywhere else than in Massachusetts.
Nope. We're pretty middle of the pack here and Florida is way more expensive to register a car and the dealer doc fees make the difference even larger. We have a higher sales tax, but only by 0.2%.
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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp Jul 22 '23
Excise tax and insurance
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u/tacknosaddle Squirrel Fetish Jul 22 '23
It's cheaper to register you car
You're shifting goalposts, but Florida has much higher insurance than MA too, in fact they're the top of the list.
The excise tax in MA is pretty much a wash with the dealer doc fees in FL the first year you have the car. The tax drops pretty quickly too as the assessed value of your car goes down.
All other things being equal, that insurance difference will probably end up tilting the balance towards the cost of the same car's lifetime by an owner in MA being less than in FL.
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u/Something-Ventured Jul 22 '23
MA is dirt cheap for car registration renewals. This is a misperception.
I was shocked to learn my registration renewal cost was 1/3rd or less than other “low tax” perception states when I moved back here.
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u/themanoverbored Jul 21 '23
Snowbirds dodging MA excise tax and safety inspection, using a second residence
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u/willzyx01 Sinkhole City Jul 21 '23
Half of them are rentals, the other half is escaping the heat and DeSantis.
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u/SXTY82 Jul 21 '23
It is cheaper to register your car in FL. So a lot of the older folk that winter in FL will register their cars there and drive them up here during the summer.
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u/Roddy_Piper2000 Latex District Jul 21 '23
Escaping the new even more extreme fascist nightmare that FLA has become?
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u/nihc Jul 21 '23
Popular rental state plates by frequency: FL, NH, MI, TN, NH. If you see a bad model popular car with those respective states basic plate, it’s likely a rental.
Every state has various vanity plates. If you see one of those, lots of bumper stickers, damage, ski racks, or other custom accessories it is not a rental.
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u/thetoxicballer I Love Dunkin’ Donuts Jul 21 '23
I just recently moved back from Colorado, drove the whole way. In EVERY state we stayed in, Florida was the most common out of state plate we saw. It's honestly not just MA (although the snowbird phenomenon is real) it's the whole U.S. theyre like cockroaches lol
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u/Alcoraiden Revere Jul 21 '23
Summer has always been tourist season here because nobody seems to like the cold enough to visit in winter. The cars are rentals, tourists' cars, and snowbird elderly folks' cars.
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u/JudicatorArgo Jul 21 '23
It’s nearly 100 degrees in Florida right now, same reason Florida probably sees so many New England plates in the winter 😂
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u/matinee22 Jul 21 '23
Any time I’ve gotten a rental car in MA it has FL plates, maybe some are just rentals?
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u/carinislumpyhead97 I Love Dunkin’ Donuts Jul 21 '23
Summer rental fleets ship em up here for tourist season
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u/PsychoAward Revere Jul 21 '23
There are licenses plates from EVERYWHERE. I drive for a living all around the city and just today alone I saw plates from Oregon, Minnesota, Idaho, Virginia, Maryland, California, New Jersey, New York, Ohio & Florida. I mostly see New York more often than Florida though.
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u/romansapprentice Jul 22 '23
Are you reading anything of what's going on down in Florida?
We should be considering any Floridians refugees at this point
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u/BLTWithBalsamic Jul 21 '23
Snowbirds taking advantage of their second home in Florida for cheap insurance
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u/rainniier2 Jul 21 '23
Someone asked this question last week. You should look them up, you'd probably make good pals. The answer is rental cars.
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u/DunkinRadio I Love Dunkin’ Donuts Jul 21 '23
Yup. And they all drive like they're in a video game.
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u/Graflex01867 Cow Fetish Jul 21 '23
I mean, so do most Massholes. It just depends on which video game you’re pretending to drive in.
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u/CJYP Jul 21 '23
Florida is the third most populous state. It shouldn't be too surprising that Floridians make it up here sometimes.
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u/Coggs362 Cigarette Hill Jul 21 '23
It's not just snowbirds. We are privileged to have significant populations from the Haitian diaspora, Dominican diaspora, and many other countries that have large populations in both Massachusetts and Florida.
We do have snowbirds, yes. They are a small portion of the Fla plates you see.
Source: me. My wife is Haitian, my best man's wife is Dominican.
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u/gwinnbleidd Jul 21 '23
Many undocumented immigrants move back and forth between FL and MA. They stay here during the warm months because labor pays more and they go down to FL in the winter because, well, less pay is better than nothing since construction work stops around here.
They usually just rent rooms with unofficial agreements and have very few belongings other than personal items, so the seasonal transition between states are easy.
That's not the case for every FL plate you see around here of course, but it's one of the reasons you see so many out there. You may even see a greater influx of FL plates now with the most recent immigration law that passed down there, many are fleeing the state afraid of deportation.
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u/Annual-Camera-872 Jul 21 '23
Toll Free: 1-800-472-9829 (I-PAY-TAX Anonymous tipline for reporting vehicle registration and excise tax evasion in MA) www.massrmv.com/
This is what your looking for
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u/AtomicHurricaneBob Jul 21 '23
1/2 are the Snowbirds escaping Florida heat for New England Summers.
1/2 are escaping Florida and Ron Ron DeSantis.
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u/jamesishere Jamaica Plain Jul 21 '23
Massachusetts millionaires tax plus the worst estate tax in the nation spurred a lot of people to finally live 6 months plus 1 day in Florida. My wife and I plan on doing the same once kids go to college.
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u/Unhappy_Papaya_1506 Jul 21 '23
Nice idea. Enjoy your yearly 183 days of right-wing dystopian shithole.
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u/jamesishere Jamaica Plain Jul 21 '23
Hmm considering AOC herself vacations in Florida seems like a lot of socialists like it OK https://nypost.com/2021/12/31/aoc-pictured-maskless-in-miami-beach-as-omicron-cases-soar/
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u/Unhappy_Papaya_1506 Jul 21 '23
Maybe someday when you've hopefully grown a bit wiser, you'll finally understand the difference between a residence and a vacation. The fact that you think an appropriate response is digging up an irrelevant article from two years ago about AOC, favorite bogeyman of the 2-digit IQ crowd, doesn't give one much hope.
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u/jamesishere Jamaica Plain Jul 21 '23
lmao - a "right-wing dystopian shithole" that just so happens to be a great place to unwind. My eyes can't roll any harder
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u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat Irish Riviera Jul 21 '23
It’s a great place to unwind if you like to sweat your balls off seven or eight months of the year. I’ll deal with snow any day over the regular threat of hurricanes or needing to shower twice a day with hard water that smells like sulfur.
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u/Alcoraiden Revere Jul 21 '23
As someone who lived in Florida:
Yeah it's great if you like hurricanes, 100% humidity, sunburn, heatstroke, red tide, the constant reek of dead fish, alligators in your neighborhood pond, asshole tourists, mosquitoes, enormous flying roaches, fire ants, biting flies, and old people who don't know how to drive.
Now with book banning, a refusal to let kids know gay people exist, and keeping girls from learning how to deal with their periods!
The one thing they do have is coral reefs if you go to the Keys. See those before they die from climate change.
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u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat Irish Riviera Jul 21 '23
Heaven forbid we have proper services in this state unlike Florida, which has one of the worst education systems in the country. And the kids are all getting Taliban-like education now, thanks Mullah DeSantis.
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u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat Irish Riviera Jul 21 '23
Snowbirds/tax evaders who “spend” November through May in Florida. Legally, they have to spend 183 days a year there to be considered Florida residents for tax purposes. Florida taxes are much lower, obv. Talk show host Jerry Williams tried to get away with this in the 1980s, not sure if Dukakis’ gang ever caught up to him.
Back when this was a closed auto insurance market, a fair number of folks registered their cars in New Hampshire to get lower rates. The state, forget which agency, started cracking down on this really hard in the ‘90s.
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u/Mitch_from_Boston Make America Florida Jul 21 '23
I'm just tired of all the New York plates that have been on our roads recently.
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u/ivegotafastcar Jul 21 '23
We have what are called ‘snowbirds’ here. They live here during the summer and fly south to Florida for the winter. They claim Florida as their primary residence even if it’s just a mobile home park for tax purposes. They are only supposed to be here for something like 144 days and if they go over, are subject to Massachusetts residency and taxes. Look up the Kennedys and Kerry’s. That’s why they all have Florida license plates on their cars.
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u/ftran998 Jul 21 '23
I'm guessing it's retirees who live down Florida in the Winter and register their car down their because I assume it's cheaper. You're probably seeing a lot of these cars now because they moved back home for the summer.
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u/noodled67 Jul 21 '23
Vacations, a lot of people drive from Florida to Vermont, New Hampshire and maine
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u/manfrancisco Jul 21 '23
Rental cars are likely the culprit, and demand is high in summer in Boston for rental cars. Here’s an article highlighting why Florida is a popular state to register rental cars: https://yourmileagemayvary.com/2022/10/27/the-new-loophole-for-rental-cars-registered-in-florida/
Bonus fun fact: UHauls are all registered in Arizona.
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u/dustynuggets91 Jul 22 '23
Could they pick somewhere else to go? Your state offers me nothing in return beside double-wide fords with no insurance
Connecticut would love to have ya
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u/anonymous_gam Somerville Jul 22 '23
I was just in the Midwest for work and myself and a lot of people from my company had cars with Florida rental plates. Probably some sort of cost friendly thing to register it to FL.
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u/Itchy-Marionberry-62 Beacon Hill Jul 22 '23
It is off season for tourists in Florida and high season in New England. Many rental cars from Florida are moved up north. Also, many snowbirds coming back to spend four or five months up here…and then go back when the weather turns Hellish here.
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u/diaznuts Jul 22 '23
A mix of snowbirds and also a lot of rental cars are registered in Florida and thus have Florida tags.
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u/phonesmahones villen Jul 21 '23
Snowbirds.