Options for maintaining car insurance with no physical address

[Chipotle Burrito Guy]

Hey all, I posted a similar question on the car sub and thought I’d see if I can get any more ideas from this group. I’m wondering if it’s possible to keep an address for car insurance (and probably drivers license and registration also) if someone doesn’t actually have an actual street address for where there auto is garaged. I’m currently a CA resident and would like to keep that. I don’t want to go through the hassle of applying for residency in either SD, FL or TX. I also can ask friends or family to see if that would let me use their address but I would do that as a last resort. I really would like to see if there are other options, I’m currently thinking of ending my lease and trying to figure this part out. Anyone have any ideas in mind?

 

[user 423]

Question: Where do plan to have your mail sent?

 

[WanderingRose]

You might contact those in your area who serve the homeless, and see what information they might have on those issues.

Good luck.

 

[Chipotle Burrito Guy]

Question: Where do plan to have your mail sent?

I was looking into renting a PMB.

 

[Chipotle Burrito Guy]

You might contact those in your area who serve the homeless, and see what information they might have on those issues.

Good luck.

I’ll try that. Thanks

 

[maki2]

Car insurance does require a physical address. Car insurance rates are state regulated. Your car insurance rate is calculated on risk factors not just for your age and safe driving record but also for things like local car thefts, risk of accidents related to likelyhood of local weather related events, amounts of local traffic, etc. For instance areas with a lot of ice and snow do have a much higher risk of accidents. Hurricane prone areas can get a lot of car damage as can hail prone areas. Tornado alley is also a higher risk for car damage as are ares with flooding and wildfires. Big cities always have more accidents and theft. Insurance costing is all about risk factors including your personal risk as an individual.

So for the best rates on car insurance choose your home base in a smaller town that is an hours distance from a large city. Choose one that has mild weather and low wildfire or flood risk. But when choosing a home base also look at the health insurance rates for that state because health insurance rates are also the regulated by the state you reside in.

There are websites that show insurance rates state by state. But you will have to get quotes based on the actual address of your domicile

 

[user 423]

I was looking into renting a PMB.

Most insurance companies now offer digital correspondence, so see if your company has that option. Then you could keep your present address. If some things are still mailed out (like ID cards), that could be a problem if mail is returned to them. With a digital account you should still be able to download and print the cards, so no big deal but undelivered mail would raise a red flag to them. Really, your best option is to use the address of a friend/relative.


So you will be putting in a USPS forward to the PMB. Keep in mind you that you won't be able to do a USPS forward from the PMB in the future. You would have to notify each business/contact of any new address.

 

[Chipotle Burrito Guy]

Car insurance does require a physical address. Car insurance rates are state regulated. Your car insurance rate is calculated on risk factors not just for your age and safe driving record but also for things like local car thefts, risk of accidents related to likelyhood of local weather related events, amounts of local traffic, etc. For instance areas with a lot of ice and snow do have a much higher risk of accidents. Hurricane prone areas can get a lot of car damage as can hail prone areas. Tornado alley is also a higher risk for car damage as are ares with flooding and wildfires. Big cities always have more accidents and theft. Insurance costing is all about risk factors including your personal risk as an individual.

So for the best rates on car insurance choose your home base in a smaller town that is an hours distance from a large city. Choose one that has mild weather and low wildfire or flood risk. But when choosing a home base also look at the health insurance rates for that state because health insurance rates are also the regulated by the state you reside in.

There are websites that show insurance rates state by state. But you will have to get quotes based on the actual address of your domicile

Thanks Maki2 - any idea if a home base (even out of state) requires that the vehicle being insured actually be there for a certain amount of time? If I’m full timing out in the road and dont really occupy that residential address, what difference would those risk factors make?

 

[aytee]

I found out early on that insurance companies won't insure us. Sadly, this causes dishonesty, but in this case one has to break God's law in order to fulfill man's law. I tried to insure the contents of my car but was told that that falls under renter's insurance. That was when Geico found out I had a UPS store address and cancelled me immediately!

Second, I am not sure why you want to keep your address in CA. I changed from there to SD after a couple of years and am very pleased with the decision, not least of all because of the costs. But the people are so much nicer too. The first time I called the DMV a real person answered and I was quite flummoxed - I was all ready to push 1 for English etc. etc! And no car hassles, like smog in CA or inspections in TX. Once every 5 years I make the trek up there, no big deal. One can do it 6 months before one's birthday.

I get so little mail any more, even my car license is done via email, they send me a reminder. Then it is once a year when my tags arrive to get them sent to me wherever I am, along with any other accumulated mail. I've been on the road a long time and by now have become almost totally paperless.

 

[AJ452]

Progressive has yet to hassle me for using a UPS Store address for both mailing and garaging.

 

[RavenOnCa]

I use a public mailbox at the UPS store. I use my mailbox number as my Suite #
eg.
Suite 102
123 Anystreet St
Anytown, ON

Never had any issues with insurance, medical, driver's licence, even passport office accepted it.

 

[Chipotle Burrito Guy]

I found out early on that insurance companies won't insure us. Sadly, this causes dishonesty, but in this case one has to break God's law in order to fulfill man's law. I tried to insure the contents of my car but was told that that falls under renter's insurance. That was when Geico found out I had a UPS store address and cancelled me immediately!

Second, I am not sure why you want to keep your address in CA. I changed from there to SD after a couple of years and am very pleased with the decision, not least of all because of the costs. But the people are so much nicer too. The first time I called the DMV a real person answered and I was quite flummoxed - I was all ready to push 1 for English etc. etc! And no car hassles, like smog in CA or inspections in TX. Once every 5 years I make the trek up there, no big deal. One can do it 6 months before one's birthday.

I get so little mail any more, even my car license is done via email, they send me a reminder. Then it is once a year when my tags arrive to get them sent to me wherever I am, along with any other accumulated mail. I've been on the road a long time and by now have become almost totally paperless.

 

[Chipotle Burrito Guy]

Sounds like it worked out in your favor. Im not looking to Insure the contents of what’s in my car, just need to keep car insurance. I read somewhere that certain or maybe most insurance companies don’t insurance full time living in a vehicle and that it’s in the fine print somewhere in the contract agreement.
Im not entirely against doing something like what you did, I just dont see alot of van lifers with SD plates here in CA, and I see a lot of van and car lifers here.

 

[towboater]

You could join Escapees’s. They have an outstanding mail service that I know will allow u to pick TX or FL for sure and maybe even SD. They also have insurance companies that they work with in Livingston TX that will insure u knowing u r a full timer.

 

[afblangley]

You may want to call an/your insurance company and ask them. Be careful about lying to an insurance company. They may take your premium and not do any investigation. Until you file a claim. You don't want them denying your claim on the basis of misrepresentation.

The advantage of using a friend's/family's address is that it's hard to prove that you don't live there.

Another thing to consider: you declare your residence on your federal IRS return. There may be tax implications if your state of residence has income taxes.

 

[Chipotle Burrito Guy]

You could join Escapees’s. They have an outstanding mail service that I know will allow u to pick TX or FL for sure and maybe even SD. They also have insurance companies that they work with in Livingston TX that will insure u knowing u r a full timer.

Ok, I’ll have to give that some serious thought. I had the impression that most of those types of companies are more for the RV crowd.

 

[GotSmart]

We are the rv crowd.

Think outside the box you live in.

 

[t001tom]

Years ago when vehicle dwelling in Ca the Catholic Church had a homeless outreach facility and allowed folks to use their address as their own, and pickup mail. Also offered showers and other services. Some dmv,'s say homeless should use their last address and a mailing address. If you do that, you might want to file a address change with PO. You can do that more than once, like every year when the forwarding expires

 

[Jim D]

I'm going to have this problem myself in the near future.
I don't care what rhymes or reason the government has for denying nomads from public services and insurance, they are the ones that cause people to live out in their vehicles because they are the wealthy and kicking underperformers to the side of the road that are not profitable to them is their game.

 

[Wassup]

We are the rv crowd.

Think outside the box you live in.

I'm confused by your statement as I will be living soon in my car also and not an RV. Will the Escapees still apply to me as well?