Texas title transfer cost and calculator

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

The Texas title transfer fee comes in two amounts, and your home county decides which one you pay. Buyers in the 42 counties on the TxDMV nonattainment and affected county list pay $33, and buyers in the other 212 counties pay $28. Bexar, Collin, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Fort Bend, Harris, Tarrant and Travis are all on the $33 list. It is the county you live in that counts, not the county where you bought the car. source 8

Whether you call it transferring the title, switching it over, changing the name on it or putting the car in your name, it is the same title application and the same fee. Bought or gifted, the fee is the same; only the tax differs.

Title and registration together, the way most people do it in one visit, come to about $92 or $97 on a used $20,000 car, depending on your county's title fee. That is before tax and before the county fees (road, bridge and transportation), $0 to $21.50 depending on the county.

The fee is the small part. On a $20,000 car Texas also collects about $1,250 in sales or use tax on the purchase, which is far more than the title fee.

Tax on a title transfer: dealer, private seller or even trade

Texas charges 6.25% motor vehicle tax on the sales price, after taking off any trade-in allowance, which is where the $1,250 on a $20,000 car comes from. On a private sale of a used car the taxable value can instead be the Standard Presumptive Value, the state's own figure for what that car is worth, so the price on the bill of sale is not always the price you are taxed on. The calculator above works on the price you enter, so expect more if the tax office uses the presumptive value. An even trade, one car swapped for another, is a flat $5, and a qualifying gift is $10. source 2 What to check before you pay, and the order to do things in, is in the guide to buying a car from a private seller.

If you need a "new title", check which one you mean. Getting a title in your name after you buy a car is the $28 or $33 title application above. A replacement for a title that was lost is a different form: Texas calls it a certified copy, and it costs $5.45 (form VTR-34).

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

How to transfer a car title in Texas

1. Get the paperwork right. Form 130-U, the Application for Texas Title and Registration, with the sale price filled in, plus the title signed and dated by the seller with the odometer reading. source 5
2. Signatures. The seller signs the title. source 4
3. Where you go. Your county tax assessor collector office handles the transfer. TxDMV sets the rules, the county does the paperwork. source 4
4. Pay. The title fee of $28 or $33, depending on your county, 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?

The seller signs the title. TxDMV advises the seller to go to the county tax office with the buyer so the title can be checked before the application is filed. source 4

Can you transfer a title online in Texas?

No. There is no online title transfer in Texas. It is done in person at the county tax office, or filed by the dealer when you buy from one. source 4

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

A car given by a spouse, parent, stepparent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, guardian, an estate, or a qualifying 501(c)(3) charity is taxed at a flat $10 gift tax instead of the usual sales tax. On a $20,000 car that is the difference between $10 and $1,250. source 4

Writing $1 on the form does not help in Texas. The tax on a private transfer can be worked out on the state's Standard Presumptive Value instead of your figure, so an understated price is taxed at the state's number anyway and treated as fraud on top. If it truly is a gift, claim it as one on the proper form at the time of the transfer. How other states treat a family transfer, and where federal gift tax comes in, is on the page about gifting a car to a family member.

How long you have, and what late costs

Thirty days from the date of sale. The penalty for not transferring a title within 30 days is a $25 late fee, or $10 if a dealer sold the car, plus another $25 for each 30 days once you pass 60 days, up to $250 (Transportation Code 501.146). Active-duty military have 60 days. source 8

What being late costs in Texas: Pay the motor vehicle tax late and the Comptroller charges its own penalty on top, 5% when the payment is 1 to 30 days overdue and 10% once it is later than that.

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 TxDMV for your own case:

• No title. The seller applies for a certified copy 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. If you already have the car and the seller cannot get a title, Texas offers a bonded title instead.
• 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. Form 130-U records the sale price, but write a bill of sale anyway. It is your own record of what you paid, and in Texas 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 TxDMV before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. The seller's part is signing the title. If the seller cannot come with you, ask your county tax office what it needs before you go.

Questions about Texas 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 Texas 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. Texas plates now stay with the seller rather than the car, so you register it on plates of your own. The rule in each state is on the license plate transfer page.

Nearby states

Or see car title transfer by state for all 51.

Where these numbers come from