Idaho title transfer cost and calculator

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

Idaho charges $14 for the title. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. If you are plating the car at the same time, the title, registration and plate fees add up to about $84.25 on a used $20,000 car, not counting tax and before the county administration fee, which depends on where you live.

The tax is the number that matters. A $20,000 purchase in Idaho carries roughly $1,200 in sales or use tax, several times the title fee.

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

How to transfer a car title in Idaho

1. Get the paperwork right. The title signed over to you (or the dealer's paperwork), your Idaho driver license, ID, Social Security or business EIN number, and a physical and mailing address. A car being titled in Idaho for the first time needs a $5 VIN inspection. source 6
2. Where you go. Your county assessor's motor vehicle office. The car has to be titled in Idaho before it can be registered, and you can register straight after submitting the title paperwork. source 1
3. Pay. The title fee of $14, 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?

Idaho 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 Idaho DMV before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Idaho?

Partly. Renewals are online. A first title and registration in your name is done at the county office. source 1

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

A car given to you in Idaho is free of use tax, so long as you take on none of the giver's debt. The giver fills in form ST-133GT, the Gift Transfer Affidavit, for you to hand in at registration. Idaho also has a family sale exemption on form ST-133 for a parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother or sister (step-relatives while the marriage lasts; not cousins, aunts, uncles or foster family), and it is void if the seller never paid tax on the car. source 9

Do not write $1 on the form to dodge the tax. Idaho 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

Apply for the title within 30 days of the sale, or a $20 late filing penalty is added. The seller should file a release of liability ($3.50) within 5 days of handing the car over. source 6

The countdown runs from when the title was signed, not from your first free afternoon, so do not sit on it. 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

A lot of these searches start with "what if I do not have". The honest general answer, worth confirming with Idaho 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.
• 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 Idaho 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 Idaho DMV before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Idaho wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Idaho 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 Idaho 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