Illinois title transfer cost and calculator

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

Illinois charges $165 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 $316 on a used $20,000 car, not counting tax and before the local sales tax, which depends on where you live.

The tax is the number that matters. A $20,000 purchase in Illinois carries roughly $1,250 in sales or use tax, several times the title fee.

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

How to transfer a car title in Illinois

1. Get the paperwork right. Form VSD-190 for the title, plus a tax return: RUT-25 when you buy from a dealer, RUT-50 when you buy privately. source 4
2. Where you go. The Secretary of State, through a facility or by post, usually handled by the dealer when you buy from one. source 1
3. Pay. The title fee of $165, 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?

Illinois SOS 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 Secretary of State office before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Illinois?

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

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

A transfer between a spouse, parent, brother, sister or child, adopted children and civil union partners included, is taxed at a flat $15 rather than the private party table. On a five year old car that is $15 instead of $190. source 4

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

The RUT-50 is due within 30 days of getting the vehicle, or within 30 days of bringing it into Illinois if you bought it elsewhere. A late filing penalty applies after that. source 4

What being late costs in Illinois: the certificate of title has to be sent to the Secretary of State within 20 days of the sale, and missing that deadline is a petty offense rather than a fee.

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 Illinois SOS 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 Illinois 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 Illinois SOS before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Illinois wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Illinois 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 Illinois 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