Connecticut title transfer cost and calculator

How much does it cost to transfer a title in Connecticut?

Putting the title in your name runs $25 in Connecticut. Add $10 to record a lien if the car is financed, which brings the paperwork to $35. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. Doing the title and the registration in the same trip costs about $239 in fees on a used $20,000 car, before any tax and before the municipal motor vehicle property tax, which depends on where you live.

On a $20,000 car the sales or use tax in Connecticut comes to about $1,270, so that, not the $25 title fee, is what a transfer really costs unless it is exempt.

Work out your own figure on the Connecticut registration fee calculator, which itemizes every line and links to the source for each one.

How to transfer a car title in Connecticut

1. Get the paperwork right. The title signed over to you, a bill of sale (Form H-31) and proof of Connecticut insurance. A vehicle more than 20 model years old is not titled in Connecticut, so it is registered with the last owner's registration plus the bill of sale or a Supplemental Assignment of Ownership (Form Q-1). source 9
2. Where you go. A Connecticut DMV office, by appointment, or a participating dealer for a dealer sale. New residents have 90 days to transfer their registration. source 8
3. Pay. The title fee of $25, plus the tax on the purchase unless the transfer is exempt.
4. Do it in time. Treat the deadline as short and go in the first week, before the sale date turns into a late fee.

Do both of you need to be there, and can you do it online?

Connecticut DMV does not say whether both of you have to be there. As a rule the seller has to sign the title over and the buyer signs the application, and where a state wants both signatures notarized a notary can stand in for one party being present. Confirm it with the Connecticut DMV before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Connecticut?

Partly. Renewals are online. A first registration in your name is handled at the DMV or by the dealer. source 1

Transferring a title to a family member, or as a gift

Connecticut charges no sales tax on a car given to you. The giver signs form AU-463, the Motor Vehicle and Vessel Gift Declaration, stating nothing was swapped for it. A transfer from a mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, husband, wife or civil union partner can also go through section 5 of form H-13B, if that relative had it registered for 60 days or more and paid tax on their purchase. Unpaid car tax or a suspended registration stops the transfer until it is cleared. source 12

Do not write $1 on the form to dodge the tax. Connecticut taxes what you actually paid, which is exactly why an understated price is treated as fraud rather than a smart move. If it truly is a gift, claim it as one on the proper form at the time of the transfer.

How long you have, and what late costs

Connecticut DMV does not publish a deadline. Treat it as short: every state in this set that does publish one gives you 30 days or fewer from the date of sale.

What being late costs in Connecticut: Connecticut gives five days after the expiration date.

Late fees here come from waiting for a payday or a day off, not from anything complicated, so the fix is simply to go early. A transfer you never finish leaves the car in the seller's name, and tickets, tolls and abandoned-vehicle notices all follow the registered owner.

When something is missing

The common thread in these questions is something missing from the deal. The honest general answer, worth confirming with Connecticut DMV for your own case:

• No title. The seller applies for a duplicate before selling. A car sold without its title is not a car you can register, and a seller who cannot produce one is a seller to walk away from.
• There is still a loan on it. The lender holds the title or the lien is recorded against it, and it only moves cleanly once the loan is cleared. Never hand over money for a financed car before you have seen the lien released in writing. Connecticut charges $10 to record a lien, so that line shows up on your own paperwork when you finance a car here.
• No bill of sale. Some states require one and some do not, but write one anyway. It is the only record of what you paid, and in Connecticut what you paid is what any tax is worked out on.
• The owner has died. This goes through the estate rather than a normal transfer, and what is needed depends on whether there is a will and whether the estate goes to probate. It is the one case here where it is worth ringing Connecticut DMV before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Connecticut wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Connecticut title transfers

Once the title is in your name

The title is half of it. The plate and the registration are the other half, and the tax lands with them. The Connecticut registration fee calculator works out the whole bill line by line, including what a dealer means when they quote a single tax, title and license number.

Nearby states

Or see car title transfer by state for all 51.

Where these numbers come from