Delaware License Plate Transfer: Fees, Deadlines, and Inheritance

To complete a Delaware license plate transfer, you file a written application with the Division of Motor Vehicles and pay a $20 fee, whether you are moving your tag to a different vehicle you own, retaining it for later use, or passing it to another person. That rule comes from Title 21, Section 2128 of the Delaware Code, and it starts from an unusual default: when you sell a vehicle, the plates stay attached to it unless you take action to keep them.¹

Which paperwork you bring, and what else you owe, depends on which of those three scenarios you are in.

Moving Your Plate to Another Vehicle You Own

The DMV calls this a switch tag transaction. It is the most common plate transfer in the state, and Section 2128 authorizes it directly: on written application and payment of $20, the DMV reassigns your existing plate to another vehicle registered in your name.¹

To process it in person, bring the titles for every vehicle involved and proof of current Delaware insurance. Record the odometer reading for each vehicle in the disclosure section, and if you are the sole owner of both vehicles, sign as both seller and buyer. The switch tag fee is $20 per tag and title, and you may owe additional title and registration fees depending on what else the transaction involves.²

One trap to watch for: if a registration has been expired for a year or more, the DMV can reissue that number to someone else. The same happens if a Delaware-registered vehicle is titled and registered in another state, which cancels the Delaware registration immediately and frees the number.¹ If the number matters to you, do not let the registration lapse while you decide what to do with it.

Retaining a Tag or Transferring It to Someone Else

If you want to hold onto a plate without immediately putting it on another vehicle, or if you want to sell, gift, or otherwise transfer the tag to a different person, use Form MV72.³ The retention fee is also $20.⁴

To process a tag retention in person, bring:

The Delaware title. If it lists multiple owners joined by “AND,” every listed owner has to appear. If joined by “AND/OR,” only one needs to be present.
Lien clearance, if the vehicle is still financed. You complete Form MV35 first and have the lienholder mail the title to the DMV; the DMV then emails you to come in and finish.
Proof of Delaware insurance, if you are moving the plate to another vehicle or putting a different tag on the same vehicle. Insurance is not required at the moment of retention if you are simply holding the tag with no vehicle assignment.

The DMV recommends that all parties to a transfer appear in person.⁵ When someone cannot be there, a notarized Power of Attorney on Form MV386 can stand in.⁶

Whether the state treats the plate as your property depends on the type. Standard number plates belong to the state, and you have the right to use the number. Vanity plates are classified by statute as the personal property of the owner so long as the owner keeps up with registration requirements. That distinction is what lets vanity plates be sold, gifted, or inherited.¹

What It Costs

The DMV fees you are most likely to encounter around a plate transfer:

Retain tag: $20
Switch tag, per tag and title: $20
Title without lien: $35
Title with lien: $55
Annual registration for vehicles 5,000 lbs or less: $40
Late registration renewal: $20
Document fee on vehicle purchase: 5.25% of the purchase price or NADA book value, whichever is greater, with an $8 minimum

The $20 transfer fee is modest by itself. What runs the bill up is a transaction that also involves titling and registering a newly purchased vehicle, because the 5.25% document fee attaches to the vehicle purchase.⁴ That document fee does not apply to a standalone plate transfer.

Titles, Liens, and Insurance You Need Ready

The DMV will not process a title transfer while a lien is outstanding on the vehicle. Check the front of the existing title before you go. If a lienholder appears, the seller needs a notarized lien release that describes the vehicle, names the seller, and states the date and amount of the lien.⁷

For insurance, a valid Delaware insurance card or binder is what the DMV accepts. It is required any time a plate is being moved onto a vehicle or a different tag is being installed on an existing vehicle.³

The 30-Day Title Deadline

When you buy a Delaware-registered vehicle, you have 30 days to apply for a new certificate of title. The Director of the DMV can grant extensions in extraordinary circumstances, but the default deadline is firm, and you generally cannot process a plate change without a clean title in hand.⁸

Miss the window and a $35 penalty fee is added on top of the standard title fee. The penalty is waived only if the Director granted a time extension in advance. Chapter 25 also authorizes criminal fines and jail time for violations, though prosecution for a late title application is unusual in practice.⁸

Inheriting a Plate

When a Delaware vehicle owner dies, Section 2506 says the registration expires and the vehicle cannot be driven on public roads until the new owner applies for fresh registration and a title transfer. A surviving spouse, children, or immediate family living in the household can keep operating the vehicle under the existing registration until it expires on its normal schedule, provided they notify the DMV on the form the department provides.⁹

Executors, administrators, and trustees can move the vehicle up to 125 miles from where it was kept by displaying the existing plates and obtaining a temporary permit.⁹

For special plates, several sections of Chapter 21 (2137 through 2139N) let a surviving spouse move the deceased owner’s special plate to a vehicle owned by the spouse, with no fee beyond the standard annual registration.¹ If you inherit a valuable tag and are not the surviving spouse, expect the transfer to go through the standard title and tag retention process after the estate is settled.

Selling a High-Value Delaware Plate

Delaware’s low-digit plates trade at prices unlike anything most drivers associate with a license plate, so the tax picture on a sale is worth thinking through before you sign anything. Single-digit tags have sold in the $1 million to $2 million range, two-digit plates in the $450,000 to $850,000 range, and even four-digit numbers reach five figures.¹⁰

The IRS treats a license plate sold at a profit the same as any other collectible. Held for more than a year, the gain is taxed at the collectibles capital gains rate, which tops out at 28% and runs higher than the long-term rate on stocks and most other assets. Held for a year or less, the gain is ordinary income at your marginal rate.¹¹ Higher earners may also owe the 3.8% net investment income tax, which can bring the effective federal rate to 31.8% on a long-term collectible gain.

Delaware’s 5.25% document fee does not apply to a standalone plate transfer, so gifting a plate rather than selling it avoids that charge. Federal gift tax annual exclusion and lifetime exemption rules still apply, though, and anyone contemplating a six- or seven-figure plate transaction should work with a tax professional before closing.

1
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 21 Chapter 21 – Registration of Vehicles
2
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Vehicle Services FAQs
3
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Tag Retention
4
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Fees
5
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Vehicle Services Titling
6
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Application for Delaware Title Form MV212
7
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Vehicle Services Titling
8
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 21 Chapter 25
9
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. MV14
10
TheDelaware3000.org. Values of Active Tags
11
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses