Do I need to buy car insurance insurance before I purchase a new commercial vehicle in Anaheim, CA?

Diane

Anaheim, CA

If this is your first vehicle, yes, you will have to purchase car insurance before you drive your new automobile in Anaheim, CA off the dealer’s lot. If you are financing the purchase, the lien holder will require that you purchase an insurance policy with collision and comprehensive coverage.

If you already have a car insurance policy, and you are replacing a car generally it will cover your new vehicle for a few days (regulated by each individual state and/or company). Once that period is over, check with your insurance carrier to confirm that the new automobile has been added to your car insurance policy.

I have a vacation home in Orlando, Florida and I reside most of the time in New York. I want to buy a car in Florida, register and insure it there. Is it possible that I could use it when I went on vacation? This is a commercial vehicle, can I still get a quote online?

Henry

Orlando, FL

Yes Henry, it should be possible for you to register and insure a car to keep at your vacation home in Florida. There are actually many “snowbirds” that live part of the year in Florida and the other part in different parts of the US or even out of the country. The state of Florida requires any seasonal or part time resident living in Florida for 90 days or more during the year to get a Florida personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability (PDL) car insurance for their vehicle.

Since it sounds as if your car will remain in Florida year round then you will need to keep this Florida minimum insurance on the car for the whole year. For the months that you are not in Orlando, Florida you must continue to maintain car insurance on your vehicle or surrender your Florida tag and registration at the nearest driver license or tag office. If you opt to do this, when you next return to Florida you can register the vehicle after you have obtained proof of Florida insurance once again. Contact the FL Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (HSMV) to get information on how to register a car in Florida.