Georgia title transfer cost and calculator

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

Putting the title in your name runs $18 in Georgia. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. Doing the title and the registration in the same trip costs about $38 in fees on a used $20,000 car, before any tax.

On a $20,000 car the Title Ad Valorem Tax in Georgia comes to about $1,400, so that, not the $18 title fee, is what a transfer really costs unless it is exempt.

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

How to transfer a car title in Georgia

1. Get the paperwork right. Form MV-1, the title and tag application, with the assigned title. source 1
2. Where you go. Your county tag office, run for the Department of Revenue. source 1
3. Pay. The title fee of $18, plus the tax on the purchase unless the transfer is exempt.
4. Do it in time. File within 30 days of the sale; what being late costs is under the deadline section below.

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

Georgia DOR 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 Georgia DOR before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Georgia?

Partly. Some of the Georgia process is online and some is done in person, and which applies depends on the transaction. Check the Georgia DOR page before you plan a trip.

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

This is the one worth knowing. If the car already has a Georgia title with TAVT paid on it, an immediate family member pays TAVT at 0.5% of fair market value instead of 7%. On a $20,000 car that is $100 rather than $1,400. You have to file Form MV-16, the Affidavit to Certify Immediate Family Relationship. source 2

Writing $1 on the form does not help in Georgia. The tax comes off the state's own assessment of the car's value, not the figure you write down. 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

Apply within 30 days of the sale. Past that there is a $10 penalty on the title application, and the TAVT itself gains 5% after day 30 on a dealer sale or 10% on a private one, rising each month it stays unpaid. source 1

What being late costs in Georgia: Renewing a plate late costs 10% of the ad valorem tax due plus 25% of the tag fee, with a $5.00 minimum.

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, so the 30-day window is worth keeping to.

When something is missing

The common thread in these questions is something missing from the deal. The honest general answer, worth confirming with Georgia DOR 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.
• 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 Georgia 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 Georgia DOR before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Georgia wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Georgia 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 Georgia 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