RENEW ONLINE HERE
All motor vehicles and trailers in the State of Florida must be registered and /or titled. It is the responsibility of the Tax Collector, in his capacity as agent for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, to provide the necessary services and operations to accomplish this job. The Tax Collector works very closely with this state agency to ensure all transactions are conducted according to state statutes.
Florida uses a metal license plate with the alpha numeric system, meaning there are combinations of letters and numbers used for identification. We have gone to a single decal system recently, in which the single decal denotes the month and year, and is to be placed in the upper right hand corner of plate. The license plate is displayed on the rear of the vehicle with the exception of certain commercial vehicles. The plate is issued to the owner for ten years. The owner will receive a new plate (with new numbers and letters) during the tenth year.
Vehicles are registered on a staggered basis according to the registered owner’s birth month (including trucks that weigh up to 8000lbs). The Registration expires at MIDNIGHT on the owner’s birthday. The only exceptions to this schedule are: Privately owned vehicle with a GVW over 8000lbs are renewed in December, truck-tractors, semi-trailers, and trucks in a business name weighing over 5000 pounds are renewed in December, company owned vehicles and short term leased vehicles are renewed in June; long term leased vehicle renewals are staggered throughout the calendar year;. Nine passenger and over vehicles used for hire are also renewed in December. All vehicles are licensed according to weight. Travel trailers and mobile homes are licensed according to length.
Two Year Registration (Biennial Registration)
Effective January 1, 2008, most Florida residents are now able to purchase an extended registration for their vehicles.
Exceptions to the biennial registration are as follows:
- Trucks in Class Code 41 unless the net weight is less than 8,000 pounds.
- Registrations with a restricted license plate
- Dealer registration
- Transporters
- Registrations issued to government vehicles
- Registrations issued to out-of-state military
- Semi-trailer registrations
- Any registration where the National Guard Exemption is being used
This extended registration period is for twenty-four (24) months. The fee is double the regular twelve (12) month fee and non-refundable for any unused portion under any circumstances.
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