Rhode Island title transfer cost and calculator

How much does it cost to transfer a title in Rhode Island?

The title itself costs $53.50 in Rhode Island. Add $53.50 to record a lien if the car is financed, which brings the paperwork to $107. 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 $105.25 on a used $20,000 car, before tax.

The fee is the small part. On a $20,000 car Rhode Island also collects about $1,400 in sales or use tax on the purchase, which is far more than the title fee.

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

How to transfer a car title in Rhode Island

1. Get the paperwork right. The Application for Registration (Form TR-1), the title signed over to you, proof of insurance from a company licensed in Rhode Island, and a VIN check from a police department if the car was titled or registered in another state. source 6
2. Signatures. If two owners are on the title and only one comes in, the absent owner's signature on Form TR-1 has to be notarized. source 6
3. Where you go. A Rhode Island DMV office. New residents register within 30 days of moving in. source 6
4. Pay. The title fee of $53.50, plus the tax on the purchase unless the transfer is exempt.
5. 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?

If two owners are on the title and only one comes in, the absent owner's signature on Form TR-1 has to be notarized. source 6

Can you transfer a title online in Rhode Island?

Partly. Renewals can be done online. A first title and registration in your name is done at a DMV office. source 2

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

A gift between immediate family (parent, step-parent, sibling, step-sibling, spouse, child or step-child) is free of sales tax with a signed letter of gift. A gift from anyone else needs a notarized letter of gift and the Affidavit of Gift of Motor Vehicle (SU 87-65). source 5

Writing $1 on the form does not help in Rhode Island. On a private transfer of a car 7 years old or newer the tax is charged on the higher of your price and the NADA clean retail value, so a low number buys you nothing and is fraud if it is deliberate. 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

New residents register within 30 days of establishing residency in Rhode Island. source 2

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 30-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 Rhode Island 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. Rhode Island charges $53.50 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 Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island DMV before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Rhode Island wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island 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