Question on residency

[Rojo Zoso]

I live in Las Vegas. I'll be getting my van soon. Vegas is not the ideal place to register due to insurance and smog testing.

I have family in both Oregon and Washington. I searched on this forum if anyone used either of these states and found nothing.

My options are move address to Pahrump for cheaper insurance, no smog or an Oregon residence (lower insurance and smaller registration fees}

Anyone use Oregon or Washington as a permanent address/registration place?

 

[maki2]

I am in Washington state. The car fees can be quite high in the city of Seattle and they require the air quality testing on vehicles. So if you decide to register in the state you are better off using a location that is not in an area where they do the emission testing and where there are not extra fees added onto the vehicle registration fees. At the moment state does have a law on emission testing but it is a strange setup as many counties are exempt from having to do the testing. So Washington state can be both good or bad, it just depends on where within the state you decide to have you residency address at. My registration address is in a county that does not require emissions testing.

There is no state income tax in Washington state which makes it easier for you if you do have to file to pay income taxes.
There is a state income tax in Oregon.
It depends on your income what you will have to pay in. If you are low income it might not even be a factor as you might not owe any taxes.
You should talk to a tax consultant if you don't know what your tax situation is.

What can I say about vehicle insurance except the cost can vary considerably not just from state to state but also from policy to policy. But all you have to do to find out how much it would be is to call up an insurance agent and get quotes. Remember insurance quotes are also a factor of very specific address locations within a state. Cities can be more expensive than rural areas. More traffic equals higher risk factors which means more expensive insurance. They also want to know how many miles you drive. Usually that question refers to what distance you are from your place of employment. Long commute equals higher rates. That is a tricky one to answer for a nomad. But it is easy to answer for a sticks and bricks based retired person; they get the best rates since they don't drive as much as the average person.

As to health insurance you will find that varies as well. But what I have seen in articles on health insurance cost rankings by state Oregon is a little lower than Washington state but neither one is either great or terrible, very much in the middle of the pack. This is a map showing average cost by the state in 2018. The most expensive was Wyoming, the least expensive was Hawaii https://howmuch.net/articles/health-insurance-rates-by-state

 

[DannyB1954]

Smog checks go by the number of people that live in the county. Pahrump is in Nye County which is considered rural. Las Vegas is in Clark County. In every State there will be smog checks in counties that have a large population. even if the town you happen to pick has nobody in it. Some States also have safety inspections.
There are other factors in considering a domicile, like where will your health care be and how much will it cost. If you get picked for jury duty, do you want to drive a thousand miles to get there? You can end up spending hundreds to save a couple of dollars.
If you will be staying in the Las Vegas area, Pahrump is the way to go.

 

[B and C]

Jury duty can be got out of because you are traveling so that shouldn't figure into the equation (at least in Texas).

 

[Qxxx]

Rojo, you should check back through some of Bob Wells' videos on this. He is registered in Pahrump, I am pretty certain. Of course, Bob is all over the place all the time and does not have a permanent S&B residence in Pahrump, as far as I know. He has some info on this page.

https://www.cheaprvliving.com/stay-touch/

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

Jury duty can be got out of because you are traveling so that shouldn't figure into the equation (at least in Texas).

I actually got out of jury duty in Los Angeles county due to a signed physician note stating I had memory problems.  I showed that to my current Colorado county as well.  Now, several years past that I think my memory is fine but I still ask for things in writing just in case.

From our research we are relocating to Pahrump as well, at least initially.  We would like to travel around for 1 or 2 years and find a nice small place to settle down for the final years.  We learned that renting a house that you can't check out for yourself is a pretty bad idea LOL.

 

[Rojo Zoso]

I remember when I moved to Vegas in 2000, had a brand new truck, and my insurance went from $50/mo in rural Oregon to $180/mo in Vegas.

So ideally yes, you want a remote location for permanent address.

Oregon has some of the lowest vehicle registration rates in the country. Unless that's changed.

Not sure on RV conversions though. I'm having a difficult time finding a good explanation of those laws on Google.

As always, thanks to everyone for their replies.

 

[maki2]

No jury duty for me, I can't sit in a chair that long without needing a break. Easy to get a note for it since it is a permanent physical issue that will never improve.