Tennessee title transfer cost and calculator

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

Putting the title in your name runs $11 in Tennessee. Add $11 to record a lien if the car is financed, which brings the paperwork to $22. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. Doing the title and the registration in the same trip costs about $37.50 in fees on a used $20,000 car, before any tax and before the county wheel tax, which depends on where you live.

On a $20,000 car the sales or use tax in Tennessee comes to about $1,488, so that, not the $11 title fee, is what a transfer really costs unless it is exempt.

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

How to transfer a car title in Tennessee

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. Tennessee Revenue lists the exact forms on its own site.
2. Where you go. Your county clerk. Tennessee runs titling and registration through the clerks rather than a state counter, which is why the total differs from one county to the next. source 1
3. Pay. The title fee of $11, 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?

Tennessee Revenue 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 Tennessee Revenue before you both take time off.

Can you transfer a title online in Tennessee?

No. Titling is done at the county clerk. Most counties take renewals online. source 1

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

A real gift between individuals is free of sales tax with a gift affidavit. Sales between spouses, siblings, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, or great-grandparents and great-grandchildren are also exempt, reported on the Affidavit of Non-Dealer Transfer of Motor Vehicles and Boats. source 12

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

Tennessee Revenue 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 Tennessee Revenue 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. Tennessee charges $11 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee Revenue before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Tennessee wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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