Good Afternoon Gents,

Well it appears that I will be transferred to your beautiful city of Jacksonville for a minimum of 3 years. I'm being sent there to open a new office and warehouse for the company I am working for.

First off, I have no clue wtf i'm doing. Ideally I would take the long drive down from Montreal so I can bring as much of my crap as possible. Is anyone familiar with what needs to be done once I arrive. Do I need to get my car plated and registered for Florida? Do I need to pay to "import" my car? I have a 2008 TL which is pretty much stock so I'm not worried about passing any of the necessary emission tests, just trying to figure out if it's going to be a headache for me once I arrive and should therefore bite the bullet, sell my car here and just buy something once I arrive.

My company is ironing out all the work-visa/ immigration crap so I'm not stressed about that. As I am essentially moving over blindly as I have never been to Jacksonville and don't know anyone in Florida, would you guys know of any nice places where I could find a apartment? What would be a average monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment? I am looking for I guess the middle point between cost and location. I don't want to get screwed into living somewhere expensive simply because I don't know what the average cost is. Also if you guys have any tips, suggestions or things to watch out for that would be awesome.

I apologize for the long post and none of it having to do with cars but Acurazine peeps usually seem to be very helpful and I thought I would give it a shot. Any info you guys can help with would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hey Bud, sorry for the delay, as for some of the questions, yes, you would probably need to plate/register your car for Florida, seeing as you would be here for that length of time - 3 years. I'm not certain on the "importing" rule - i will check into it and let you know. fortunately we do not have any emissions requirements to worry about in Florida - so there shouldn't be any testing of that sort.
Rent depends on location - fully furnished, or not..etc. there are a lot of new areas being built up in town - I would avoid the beaches areas as those costs will be higher i'm sure. you could try looking around the St. Johns Town Center area - kind of centrally located in Jacksonville, access to shopping/dining/etc. Riverside/Downtown/San Marco areas are kind of trendy, there is south Jacksonville/Mandarin Area that is the most residential area - so just depends on the setting you are looking for.
Sorry I couldn't be more helpful check out coj.net for more information pertaining to the city.
Take Care,

 

Thanks for the reply man, it is much appreciated. I have been doing my fair share of googling in the apartment front was just looking for a few good locations so thanks for the info. It's also good to know that I don't have to worry about passing any emissions tests when I get there, I plan on calling sometime this week to figure out what needs to be done by people bringing their cars when moving on a work visa. Thanks again for the info.