Maryland title transfer cost and calculator

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

Putting the title in your name runs $200 in Maryland. Add $40 to record a lien if the car is financed, which brings the paperwork to $240. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. Doing the title and the registration in the same trip costs about $320.50 in fees on a used $20,000 car, before any tax.

On a $20,000 car the Maryland vehicle excise tax in Maryland comes to about $1,300, so that, not the $200 title fee, is what a transfer really costs unless it is exempt.

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

How to transfer a car title in Maryland

1. Get the paperwork right. A Maryland Safety Inspection Certificate (valid for 90 days), the signed title, and the Certificate of Title application (form VR-005), plus Maryland insurance details. Maryland requires the safety inspection before a vehicle can be sold, titled or transferred. source 10
2. Where you go. An MVA office, or a licensed tag and title service. Maryland issues the title and the registration together. source 2
3. Pay. The title fee of $200, 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?

Maryland MVA 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 Maryland MVA before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Maryland?

No. A first registration in your name is an MVA or tag and title service transaction. Renewals are online. source 2

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

Maryland waives its 6% excise tax on a Maryland-titled car given, with no money paid, to a spouse, son, daughter, grandchild, parent, sister, brother, grandparent, or a parent-in-law or child-in-law; an aunt or uncle aged 65 or over can also give one to a niece or nephew. Use form VR-103, the Gift Certification, with proof of the relationship if your surnames differ. A spouse, or a parent and child, can move the tags over and skip the safety inspection; other relatives need the inspection and new tags. With a loan still open, only a spouse stays exempt, with a letter from the lender. source 12

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

Maryland MVA 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.

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 Maryland MVA 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. Maryland charges $40 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 Maryland 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 Maryland MVA before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Maryland wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Maryland 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 Maryland 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