moving for MS

[don't you dare]

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Hey all, incoming M1 here (woohooo).
I'm trying to figure out logistical things for my move across the states for ms. I'm not sure if I need to change my permanent address and get a new license for the state i'm moving to. I'm also unsure if I need to get my new car insurance when I move there or prior to moving.

on a side note, if anyone has any tips for moving across the state please let me know 🙂 I'm going to fly with a lot of check-in baggage and ship my car. please recommend any shipping companies and such. Thanks 🙂

 

[mehc012]

Hey all, incoming M1 here (woohooo).
I'm trying to figure out logistical things for my move across the states for ms. I'm not sure if I need to change my permanent address and get a new license for the state i'm moving to. I'm also unsure if I need to get my new car insurance when I move there or prior to moving.

on a side note, if anyone has any tips for moving across the state please let me know 🙂 I'm going to fly with a lot of check-in baggage and ship my car. please recommend any shipping companies and such. Thanks 🙂

You're basically in a grey area where you can change the address/get a new license if you please, or else chalk it up as "going to school out of state" and not do that. Choose whichever is easiest for your situation. Match the car insurance to whichever state the car is registered in; you can do it right after moving, it takes 5min on the phone with your insurance company. Your life will be easier if it's all in one place.

If you're shipping your car, just load it up. Shouldn't need to have too much luggage on the flight that way. Order everything you need to buy after you get there, it's easier.

 

[don't you dare]

You're basically in a grey area where you can change the address/get a new license if you please, or else chalk it up as "going to school out of state" and not do that. Choose whichever is easiest for your situation. Match the car insurance to whichever state the car is registered in; you can do it right after moving, it takes 5min on the phone with your insurance company. Your life will be easier if it's all in one place.

If you're shipping your car, just load it up. Shouldn't need to have too much luggage on the flight that way. Order everything you need to buy after you get there, it's easier.

Thanks for your reply. To follow up, are there pros and cons to keeping my current license? It definitely is a hassle to change my license for sure.

I have been looking into different companies for shipping my car, but none of them really specify if I can load up the car and I don't want to assume i can since it can change the total weight of the car therefore transport expenses? If you have any recommendations let me know!

 

[mehc012]

Lol, I always use the road trip option; can't say I've ever considered shipping a car, so no help there.

The pros and cons are going to be specific to your exact circumstances. For example, I kept my OOS registration to avoid having to do yearly inspection in either state, but changed when I bought a new car as that was the rule for the car loan. Sometimes I've made the decision based on car insurance rates - some states require unique policies which cost more. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it probably doesn't apply to you, though (cough cough CA and MA). Unless you have a specific reason one way or the other, it doesn't much matter. I will say that if you're someone who loses their license now and then, it's easier to get a new one if you're in-state...and your license should ideally match your car, though nobody is going to track you down over it.

I changed my voter registration based on where it'd have more impact (always pick the swing state).
Car insurance follows car registration.

 

[esob]

You can also pay someone to drive your car. What about the rest of your stuff? Are you having it shipped or is what you are packing in the car the bulk of your stuff?

 

[mrbreakfast]

Doesn't really answer you questions, but unless it's literally on the other side of the country, I'd really think renting a UHaul and driving would be a lot cheaper/easier. You can fit all your furniture and tow your car.

Keep your home voter registration. Do you really want to be voting on local issues you know nothing about in a location you'll potentially be moving away from soon?

You should probably check state laws to see if you have to register your car in that state.

 

[Momof]

You're basically in a grey area where you can change the address/get a new license if you please, or else chalk it up as "going to school out of state" and not do that. Choose whichever is easiest for your situation. Match the car insurance to whichever state the car is registered in; you can do it right after moving, it takes 5min on the phone with your insurance company. Your life will be easier if it's all in one place.

If you're shipping your car, just load it up. Shouldn't need to have too much luggage on the flight that way. Order everything you need to buy after you get there, it's easier.

In my experience when 'shipping' a car with a vehicle transporter - you are not allowed to have any luggage in it. So, it is not possible to load it up - as practical as this would be.

 

[mehc012]

In my experience when 'shipping' a car with a vehicle transporter - you are not allowed to have any luggage in it. So, it is not possible to load it up - as practical as this would be.

My friend always just packs the trunk, which you can't see, and has some stuff in the back seat with a blanket over it. So long as it looks reasonably low-key.

But, really...this is just more reason to road trip it.

 

[mehc012]

Doesn't really answer you questions, but unless it's literally on the other side of the country, I'd really think renting a UHaul and driving would be a lot cheaper/easier. You can fit all your furniture and tow your car.

Keep your home voter registration. Do you really want to be voting on local issues you know nothing about in a location you'll potentially be moving away from soon?

You should probably check state laws to see if you have to register your car in that state.

Problem is, this describes EVERY location I've ever lived. I've never moved anywhere with intent to live there more than 4-5 years. So at some point you just go with practicality.

If you don't have furniture yet (a lot of my classmates didn't, if they came straight from college), you don't even need the UHaul. I still vote road trip.

 

[mvenus929]

If you don't have furniture yet (a lot of my classmates didn't, if they came straight from college), you don't even need the UHaul. I still vote road trip.

Ditto this. I had an suv and loaded up the back, then spent 2.5 days driving across the country. When I got to my new apartment, I went to ikea to buy bedroom furniture, which lasted me through the rest of Med school.

 

[themoonman2]

vacuum pack clothes in suite cases. You can fit lots of stuff like pots, pans, forks, knives, baking sheet in a separate suite case from clothes.

The only real reason to change drivers license is if you can get in-state status and, therefore, lower tuition because of it- that's what I did. Ikea is great for lots of stuff, but you can also search local vendors and online too for most, if not all the things you need. My bed and bedframe were cheaper from local company than just the mattress would have been from Ikea, and local company included free delivery and setup.

Like others said, if you have all your own furniture and the drive is manageable, uhaul will be way cheaper and road trip will be fun. I moved to literal opposite side of the country so it wasn't reasonable for me.

 

[mehc012]

vacuum pack clothes in suite cases. You can fit lots of stuff like pots, pans, forks, knives, baking sheet in a separate suite case from clothes.

The only real reason to change drivers license is if you can get in-state status and, therefore, lower tuition because of it- that's what I did. Ikea is great for lots of stuff, but you can also search local vendors and online too for most, if not all the things you need. My bed and bedframe were cheaper from local company than just the mattress would have been from Ikea, and local company included free delivery and setup.

Like others said, if you have all your own furniture and the drive is manageable, uhaul will be way cheaper and road trip will be fun. I moved to literal opposite side of the country so it wasn't reasonable for me.

I mean, it can be done in a weekend if need be.

 

[don't you dare]

Thanks everyone for answering. Let's just say i have to drive 2300 miles from where I'm from. I'm fortunate to have my parents to tag along and help me settle down at a new city, so I don't think if I were to drive I can fit a whole lot of things in the car haha.

 

[mehc012]

Thanks everyone for answering. Let's just say i have to drive 2300 miles from where I'm from. I'm fortunate to have my parents to tag along and help me settle down at a new city, so I don't think if I were to drive I can fit a whole lot of things in the car haha.

I mean, you can drive and they fly, or 2 of you drive to spell each other and the third flies, etc.

There are solutions if you're trying to do this efficiently and budget-conscious.

If you don't care about budget, pack a Pod with all of your stuff and ship your car, done.

 

[themoonman2]

Thanks everyone for answering. Let's just say i have to drive 2300 miles from where I'm from. I'm fortunate to have my parents to tag along and help me settle down at a new city, so I don't think if I were to drive I can fit a whole lot of things in the car haha.

You could drive the car and they drive uhaul with stuff or vice versa, but that would probably only be worth it if you have enough large items to justify the uhaul and parents have enough time to spare for the trip. My old roommate and his dad rented two uhauls and drove up the coast together over a weekend and it was definitely very helpful to not have to buy everything at once.

If you're going to be living with roommates, you can also coordinate with them on what they can bring.

 

[JSReed]

Thanks everyone for answering. Let's just say i have to drive 2300 miles from where I'm from. I'm fortunate to have my parents to tag along and help me settle down at a new city, so I don't think if I were to drive I can fit a whole lot of things in the car haha.

You should run the numbers, but I'm pretty sure its way cheaper to rent a uhaul or van, throw some stuff in there (you're at least going to need a bed desk and chair), have one of your parents drive it (or switch off or whatever), and put a few more things in your car. Moving somewhere and then buying a bunch of furniture is probably more costly and just an annoyance, I'd think...

Alternative is to ship all your personal items, fly, and then spend a weekend at ikea. I'd recommend that approach, makes it easier to move for rotations and/or residency.

 

[AJBell]

I spend time on both coasts and use a company called A-1 Auto Transport to ship my car. They were able to move all my furniture too when I moved out of state. Not exactly sure how they match up price wise with other options, but they're a good choice if you happen to need both. I've been happy with them each time. Having said that, it's always a good approach to contact a few different companies and see what kind of price they offer. Be sure to ask about any discounts they may offer too. I've dealt with some that have discounts and it wasn't brought up until I asked about it.