Snowbirds can ‘rest insured;’ designing teens
Sometimes it doesn’t take much to get a Snowbird into a flap.
Two Sundays ago, these pages (the auto section) delivered a bit of a surprise to me and a decent number of Globe readers in the form of a story about Snowbirds and auto insurance.
It ran just about the time Mrs. G and I were getting our house in order, so to speak, in preparation to drive South.
The story was a syndicated piece by Cars.com and concerned Snowbirds and insurance in Arizona and Florida. One item in particular caused consternation among some Globe readers, many of whom are among the million or so Snowbirds hitting Florida’s highways each winter.
The story seemed to indicate that Snowbirds would need to purchase a separate Florida insurance policy for their auto.
Courtesy of Pat Thrasher, Collier County tax collector, here’s the applicable regulation.
“The Florida No-Fault Law requires owners of motor vehicles…that have been in the state for at least 90 consecutive or non-consecutive days during the past 365 days to purchase a policy delivered or issued for delivery in this state. The minimum coverage is: 1) $10,000 of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 of Property Damage Liability (PDL).
The regulations seems to indicate that we’d need a separate policy for Florida if we were staying for more than three months.
But what if our Massachusetts policy exceeds those limits—which it does? By insurance standards, those Florida limits are bare minimums. Was a Florida policy really necessary?
An email to John Paul, the AAA Car Doctor, brought a somewhat reassuring response.
“Here’s what we have from the AAA Digest of Motor Laws,’’ he said. “Registration is not required for non-residents if the vehicle is registered or licensed under the laws of some other state or foreign country.’’
But it didn’t answer the insurance question.
A call to Amica, my insurance provider, on Monday morning brought reassurance that our Massachusetts policy would govern any issues during our stay in Florida.
That was seconded by a call to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulations where we were told that our home state insurance policy is sufficient when we come to Florida as long as we meet those minimums.
And re-confirmed by Jason Huff of the Huff Insurance Co. of Fort Myers and Sanibel. For what it’s worth, friends give him a five-star rating. He noted, however, that you’ll face different requirements if you want to register a car in Florida and leave it there in the off-season or plan to become Florida residents.
Still, it might be a good idea to make a copy of your insurance coverage to keep with your registration—just in case some questions arise.
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The best and worst car insurance deals
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Know a Talented Teen?
For those of us who have trouble drawing stick figures, designing a future Dodge SRT Hellcat is out of the question.
But I’ve seen and met loads of talented high school students who should be taking part in FCA’s 2016 Drive for Design contest. (FCA stands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.)
The contest is open to students from Grades 10-12 and involves designing what a 2025 Hellcat might look like.
There’s a deadline, just like real-world designers face. Entries are due Jan. 8, 2016, according to guidelines at FCADriveForDesign.com.
The top four entries win top-level Apple products, a three-week summer automotive design course at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit (with housing, meals, field trips), passes to the Detroit Autorama, and a dinner with FCA US design team members.
Makes me wish I’d learned to color within the lines and think outside them.
NEW-LOOK LOGO: Buick’s traditional tri-crest logo gets a makeover for the 2017 LaCrosse and future vehicles.
Factoid Dept.
Loose items we’ve seen in recent days.
1. Given recent talk of batteries and energy savings, Toyota’s just-introduced Mirai is the only zero emissions vehicle that currently tops the 300-mile range milestone. Those Northeast hydrogen stations can’t open fast enough.
2. The Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park is reusing Toyota Camry hybrid battery packs combined with solar power for a reliable and sustainable zero-emission power source.
3. Backup cameras are great, but unless the vehicle is in reverse, rear vision still can be a problem. Cadillac now has a rear camera mirror that streams rear video and improves rear vision by roughly four times over a conventional rearview mirror. It will be on the upcoming CT6 sedan and XT5 crossover. The mirror was a Popular Science “Best of What’s New’’ award winner.
4. I remember Buick’s tri-shield logo from the 1960 LeSabre, Invicta, and Electra models. The logo, which has evolved and has had varying degrees of prominence over the years, gets a makeover for the 2017 LaCrosse and will go on all models by 2018.
5. In 2016, Ford will be introducing a line of licensed and approved travel trailers, slide-in campers, and “toy’’ haulers. The project is in conjunction with Indiana-based Livin Lite, which specializes in aluminum alloy RV products. Somehow that seems more fun than the company’s testing of road salt spreaders in heavy duty pickup beds.
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