Indiana title transfer cost and calculator

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

The title itself costs $15 in Indiana. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. Title and registration together, the way most people do it in one visit, come to about $51.35 on a used $20,000 car, before tax and before the county or city vehicle excise surtax, which depends on where you live.

The fee is the small part. On a $20,000 car Indiana also collects about $1,650 in sales or use tax on the purchase, which is far more than the title fee.

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

How to transfer a car title in Indiana

1. Get the paperwork right. The seller signs the title over to you and you fill in an application to put it in your name. Indiana BMV lists the exact forms on its own site.
2. Where you go. A BMV branch, a BMV Connect kiosk, or online at myBMV.com if the sale is under 60 days old and the car is not leased. The car has to be titled first. source 6
3. Pay. The title fee of $15, plus the tax on the purchase unless the transfer is exempt.
4. Do it in time. File within 45 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?

Indiana BMV 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 Indiana BMV before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Indiana?

Partly. Renewals and many transactions are online at mybmv.com. A first title and registration in your name is done at a branch. source 1

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

An outright gift owes no Indiana sales tax when no money changes hands and you do not start paying off the giver's loan. Claim exemption 7 on form ST-108E. Adding or taking off a spouse, child, grandparent, parent or sibling on the title is exemption 11; in-laws are not on that list, and the Department of Revenue refused a 2026 claim made between them. source 11 source 12

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

Forty-five days from the date you bought the car. New residents get 60 days. source 6

What being late costs in Indiana: Register a car bought from another Indiana resident within 45 days. After that the BMV adds a $15 late registration penalty, and a late title adds $30.

The clock starts on the sale date, not the day you get round to it, so a signed title left in a drawer is already running down. 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 45-day window is worth keeping to.

When something is missing

Most of what people search here is a version of "can I still do this without". The honest general answer, worth confirming with Indiana BMV 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 Indiana 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 Indiana BMV before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Indiana wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Indiana 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 Indiana 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