Relocating from New England to Austin

[uday_r]

Hello All,

I'm planning to get there by mid February and I have a couple of questions and I would appreciate it if someone could answer them.

1) Registration - I'm leasing my car and would that lease payment get affected once I register in TX?

2) I do have winter tires obviously, do you guys swap them out for winter like we do over here?

3) Is the insurance any cheaper compared to New England. I'm paying around $1700/year.

4) I'll be driving to Austin and I'm thinking of doing it over 5 days. Any route suggestions?

Thank you so much!

[=[monkey]=]

1)

2) I drive on summer tire year around. Texas is hot!

3) i pay about 1700-1800 a year as well. 29 year old

4)

[SakhirM4]

It has been below freezing in the mornings for several weeks so far this winter. We have also had snow and ice three or four times.



MPSS tires are no good in those temperatures, even on dry streets. I have MPSS A/S 3+ tires on both of my cars during the winter and have been very happy with them.

Interstate 40 is a pretty nice route.

[uday_r]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

It has been below freezing in the mornings for several weeks so far this winter. We have also had snow and ice three or four times.

Attachment 1757288

MPSS tires are no good in those temperatures, even on dry streets. I have MPSS A/S 3+ tires on both of my cars during the winter and have been very happy with them.

Interstate 40 is a pretty nice route.

So, I guess I'll switch to the winter tires for a couple of months every year(December and January) I hope. I have the stock summers and I'm not planning to switch to all seasons

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by uday_r

So, I guess I'll switch to the winter tires for a couple of months every year(December and January) I hope. I have the stock summers and I'm not planning to switch to all seasons

More like December thru March.

[backhill]

Run down the east coast and along the gulf. Baltimore, Charleston, New Orleans, Houston, etc. Charleston and NOLA are great stops

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by backhill

Run down the east coast and along the gulf. Baltimore, Charleston, New Orleans, Houston, etc. Charleston and NOLA are great stops

That's a good drive too, but Carolina. Tennessee and Arkansas are beautiful country.

[uday_r]

Thanks for your input fellas! I really appreciate it!

[hlothery]

Just have to add that, having been in San Antonio (60 miles from Austin) since 1988, we have only seen snow and ice three times in that time. It is not the usual winter condition here, although we do have days below freezing almost every year. However, the vast majority of the time it is in the 50's and 60's in the winter here. I have seen no need to change tires, just be careful on certain days and know that in a couple of days it will be back to normal. Just my $.02. YMMV.

[indiefan24]

Originally Posted by uday_r

Hello All,

I'm planning to get there by mid February and I have a couple of questions and I would appreciate it if someone could answer them.

1) Registration - I'm leasing my car and would that lease payment get affected once I register in TX?

2) I do have winter tires obviously, do you guys swap them out for winter like we do over here?

3) Is the insurance any cheaper compared to New England. I'm paying around $1700/year.

4) I'll be driving to Austin and I'm thinking of doing it over 5 days. Any route suggestions?

Thank you so much!

I moved to Texas (DFW) from Boston last year.

1. BMWFS should take out tax from your payment once you change your billing address.
2. Nope
3. It depends on so many factors - for me it's been $100-200 more expensive for my six month premium.

[mischiefbenz]

Originally Posted by uday_r

Hello All,

I'm planning to get there by mid February and I have a couple of questions and I would appreciate it if someone could answer them.

1) Registration - I'm leasing my car and would that lease payment get affected once I register in TX?

2) I do have winter tires obviously, do you guys swap them out for winter like we do over here?

3) Is the insurance any cheaper compared to New England. I'm paying around $1700/year.

4) I'll be driving to Austin and I'm thinking of doing it over 5 days. Any route suggestions?

Thank you so much!

I personally moved from Calgary to Texas back in 2011. I've lived in Dallas, Houston and now Austin in the 7 years I've been in TX. I've owned 4 BMW's during this time (E90 335i, F30 335i, 2 F80's) all running summer tires year round. On average there has probably been one snow/sleet/ice day a year since I've moved down. On those days, I don't leave the house. You probably don't want to be out on the roads as they don't have the same equipment to treat the roads as your accustom to in NE. Local authorities typically advise against driving on these days. For example, we had a ice storm 2 weeks ago here in Austin and most of the city was paralyzed for a day and a half. Most businesses and offices close as the do not want their employees on the roads.

Texas can have some very large temperature swings in the winter. It can get below freezing over night, but warm back up to the 60's/70's during the day. You can probably count on one had the number of days this happens in a year though. I've had no issues driving on summer tires on these cool mornings. You just have to be cautious in the am as it will take a lot more time to build up heat in your summer tires and you'll have less grip until they are warm. I personally think that you'd destroy winter tires very quickly trying to run them in the winter and you'd hate how they handle when its warm. If you're really concerned about it, I'd switch to a good performance A/S tire setup year round (i.e. Michelin PS3 A/S, BFGoodrich Comp A2 A/S).

As for taxes, I believe NE charges taxes on the monthly payment for leases. In Texas, 6.25% in sales tax is due on the purchase price of the vehicle at inception. Most ppl choose to roll this into their monthly payment. Texas does have a clause that sales taxes is waived for ppl moving into the state as long as the owned the vehicle for 6 months prior to their move to the state. I think the charge a flat transfer fee of $70 when your register the vehicle in TX. So in short BMWFS will take the NE tax out of your monthly payment once you move and you shouldn't owe any additional taxes upon your move to TX.

Hope this helps.

[uday_r]

Originally Posted by mischiefbenz

I personally moved from Calgary to Texas back in 2011. I've lived in Dallas, Houston and now Austin in the 7 years I've been in TX. I've owned 4 BMW's during this time (E90 335i, F30 335i, 2 F80's) all running summer tires year round. On average there has probably been one snow/sleet/ice day a year since I've moved down. On those days, I don't leave the house. You probably don't want to be out on the roads as they don't have the same equipment to treat the roads as your accustom to in NE. Local authorities typically advise against driving on these days. For example, we had a ice storm 2 weeks ago here in Austin and most of the city was paralyzed for a day and a half. Most businesses and offices close as the do not want their employees on the roads.

Texas can have some very large temperature swings in the winter. It can get below freezing over night, but warm back up to the 60's/70's during the day. You can probably count on one had the number of days this happens in a year though. I've had no issues driving on summer tires on these cool mornings. You just have to be cautious in the am as it will take a lot more time to build up heat in your summer tires and you'll have less grip until they are warm. I personally think that you'd destroy winter tires very quickly trying to run them in the winter and you'd hate how they handle when its warm. If you're really concerned about it, I'd switch to a good performance A/S tire setup year round (i.e. Michelin PS3 A/S, BFGoodrich Comp A2 A/S).

As for taxes, I believe NE charges taxes on the monthly payment for leases. In Texas, 6.25% in sales tax is due on the purchase price of the vehicle at inception. Most ppl choose to roll this into their monthly payment. Texas does have a clause that sales taxes is waived for ppl moving into the state as long as the owned the vehicle for 6 months prior to their move to the state. I think the charge a flat transfer fee of $70 when your register the vehicle in TX. So in short BMWFS will take the NE tax out of your monthly payment once you move and you shouldn't owe any additional taxes upon your move to TX.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your detailed response! I will have to drive down to Austin with winter tires on of course. I'll swap to summer once I get there and I'll think about selling the winter tires.

Thanks!

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by uday_r

Thanks for your detailed response! I will have to drive down to Austin with winter tires on of course. I'll swap to summer once I get there and I'll think about selling the winter tires.

Thanks!

Wouldn't you be better off selling the winter tires before you leave? Won't be a market for them in Austin.

[uday_r]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Wouldn't you be better off selling the winter tires before you leave? Won't be a market for them in Austin.

That's a good suggestion but I will need them because I'm driving from here. I don't want to risk the whole trip as it's still cold up here.