Used car sales tax calculator by state

How used car sales tax works for private-party sales

Buy a used car from a private seller and nobody collects sales tax at the moment money changes hands. There's no dealer F&I office to run the paperwork. You pay the tax yourself, directly to your home state DMV, when you go to register and title the car. Most states technically call this a "use tax," but the rate is just your state's regular sales tax rate applied to whatever the bill of sale says you paid.

Four states impose no general state sales tax on vehicles: Alaska, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon. A separate group of five states skips standard sales tax in favor of a special program:

• Delaware — 4.25% Document Fee on the higher of purchase price or NADA value, charged in place of sales tax when you title the car
• Georgia — 7.0% Title Ad Valorem Tax (TAVT) on fair market value, replacing standard sales tax since 2013
• Hawaii — 4.0% General Excise Tax (GET) rather than sales tax; Honolulu County adds a 0.5% surcharge for a 4.5% total there
• North Carolina — 3.0% Highway Use Tax (HUT) instead of standard sales tax
• South Carolina — 5% Infrastructure Maintenance Fee capped at $500, so anything priced at $10,000 or more pays a flat $500. Big savings on expensive vehicles.

Roughly 22 states won't simply take your word on the price. If the figure on your bill of sale looks suspiciously low, they'll assess the tax on the higher of what you paid or the NADA / Kelley Blue Book value for that year and trim. So writing "$1" on a $12,000 truck rarely works the way people hope. Gifts and sales between spouses or direct relatives (parent to child, grandparent to grandchild) are usually exempt entirely, provided you file the right affidavit.

For the full mechanics including family-transfer rules, the Montana LLC structure, and trade-in credit nuances, see our sales tax on a used car from a private seller guide and vehicle bill of sale by state.

One caveat on the number above: the calculator shows the state-level tax only. Plenty of states (California, Illinois, New York, Colorado, Nevada, Louisiana, New Mexico, and others) tack on county or city sales tax of roughly 1% to 4% on top. North Carolina's Highway Use Tax is the exception there, with no local add-on. Look up the combined rate for your own county before you assume the figure is final.