Virginia title transfer cost and calculator

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

Virginia charges $15 for the title. Add $15 to record a lien if the car is financed, which brings the paperwork to $30. That is the figure most people mean by a title transfer. If you are plating the car at the same time, the title, registration and plate fees add up to about $45.75 on a used $20,000 car, not counting tax and before the local personal property tax (car tax), which depends on where you live.

The tax is the number that matters. A $20,000 purchase in Virginia carries roughly $830 in sales or use tax, several times the title fee.

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

How to transfer a car title in Virginia

1. Get the paperwork right. For a car already titled in Virginia the title itself is the form. For one coming in from another state you need form VSA 17A, the Virginia Application Certificate for Title and Registration. source 4
2. Signatures. The seller fills in Section A of the title and every owner named on it has to sign. The odometer reading has to be the actual reading, which the DMV spells out as do not guess or estimate, along with the date and the price. source 4
3. Where you go. A DMV customer service center, a DMV Select office, or by posting the title to the DMV. source 4
4. Pay. The title fee of $15, plus the tax on the purchase unless the transfer is exempt.
5. 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?

The seller fills in Section A of the title and every owner named on it has to sign. The odometer reading has to be the actual reading, which the DMV spells out as do not guess or estimate, along with the date and the price. source 4

Can you transfer a title online in Virginia?

Partly. Some of the Virginia process is online and some is done in person, and which applies depends on the transaction. Check the Virginia DMV page before you plan a trip.

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

Write the word gift in place of the sale price, and have the buyer complete form SUT-3, the Purchaser's Statement of Tax Exemption. That certifies the car was a gift and not subject to sales and use tax. The qualifying relationships are listed on the back of the SUT-3, so check it before you write gift on the title. Given Virginia's $75.00 minimum tax and 4.15% rate, this is worth $75.00 at the very least and far more on a valuable car. source 4

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

Virginia DMV 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.

What being late costs in Virginia: Virginia charges a $10.00 vehicle registration late fee.

The countdown runs from when the title was signed, not from your first free afternoon, so do not sit on it. 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

A lot of these searches start with "what if I do not have". The honest general answer, worth confirming with Virginia 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. Virginia charges $15 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 Virginia 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 Virginia DMV before you turn up.
• The other person cannot come. Where Virginia wants both people, a notarized power of attorney is usually the way round it.

Questions about Virginia 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 Virginia 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