How to Title a Car in Texas: Documents, Fees, and Sales Tax

To title a car in Texas, take the signed title, a completed Form 130-U, your photo ID, proof of Texas insurance, and payment for the fees and sales tax to any county tax assessor-collector’s office within 30 days of the sale date.¹ The title is the legal document proving you own the vehicle, and until it’s in your name you can’t register or sell the car. Active-duty military personnel get 60 days instead of 30.²

The 30-day clock starts on the date the seller signs the title over to you, not the day you take delivery or the day you get around to visiting the tax office. Miss it and the penalties are automatic; the county has no authority to waive them.

Documents to Bring

Every item on this list matters. Show up short one document and you’ll be sent home.

The original title signed over by the seller, or the Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin if the vehicle is new from a dealer.
Form 130-U, Application for Texas Title and/or Registration, signed by both buyer and seller. You can download it from TxDMV or pick one up at the tax office.³
A valid Texas driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID. Businesses use an FEIN or EIN.²
Proof of current Texas liability insurance in your name, if you’re registering the vehicle at the same time.
The odometer reading at the time of sale, recorded in whole numbers. The seller is required by law to disclose it on the title assignment.²
A lien release from the previous lienholder, if the vehicle had a loan on it.

Form 130-U also has sections for calculating sales tax, where you’ll write in the purchase price, any trade-in credit, and any exemption you’re claiming. Fill it in accurately. Falsifying information on a title application is a criminal offense under Texas law.

Where to File and What Happens Next

Applications are filed in person at a county tax assessor-collector’s office.¹ You can use the office in the county where the sale happened, where you live, or where the lienholder is located.² Some offices will accept applications from outside their jurisdiction, so if a neighboring county is closer, call first.

Once you’ve submitted the paperwork and paid, the office hands you a temporary registration receipt. The physical title arrives by mail. TxDMV asks that you allow at least 20 business days; if 30 business days pass with nothing in the mailbox, call TxDMV.¹ If you financed the purchase, the title is mailed to your lienholder rather than to you.

Fees and Sales Tax

The title application fee is $28 or $33 depending on the county.³ If you’re also registering the vehicle, the standard passenger registration fee is $50.75.⁴

The largest line item is usually motor vehicle sales tax, which is 6.25% of the purchase price. For a private-party sale, Texas calculates the tax on the purchase price or the Standard Presumptive Value (SPV), whichever is higher.⁵ The SPV is a TxDMV valuation built from comparable-sale data, and it exists to keep buyers and sellers from underreporting what changed hands. Vehicles bought from a licensed dealer are exempt from SPV; the tax is based on what you paid the dealer. The SPV rule catches people off guard when the state’s number comes in thousands of dollars above what they actually paid for a used car.

What Happens If You File Late

Missing the 30-day deadline triggers two separate penalties, and neither one can be waived at the counter.

The title transfer penalty is $25 starting on the 31st day, with another $25 added every 30 days you continue to delay, up to a $250 ceiling. The sales tax penalty is a 5% surcharge on the tax owed, rising to 10% if payment is still outstanding another 30 days later. The minimum sales tax penalty is $1.⁶ The two penalties stack on top of the regular fees. Waiting six months can add $350 or more to your bill.

Gifted Vehicles

When a vehicle is transferred as a gift between qualifying family members, the recipient pays a flat $10 gift tax instead of the 6.25% sales tax. The qualifying relationships are parent, stepparent, grandparent, child, stepchild, grandchild, sibling, spouse, foster parent, and guardian.⁷ Transfers from a decedent’s estate to lawful heirs and transfers to qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofits also qualify.

To get the $10 rate, donor and recipient both complete the Texas Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Gift Transfer (Comptroller’s Form 14-317), signed before a notary or a county tax office employee, and submit it with Form 130-U.⁷ The tax office may ask for proof of the relationship, so bring a marriage certificate, birth certificate, or adoption decree if you have one handy.

Inherited Vehicles

How you title an inherited car depends on whether the estate goes through probate.

If a court has appointed an executor or administrator, that person signs the title over to the heir. Bring a certified copy of the Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration along with the standard documents; no additional affidavit is required.⁸

If no administration is necessary, all eligible heirs sign the Affidavit of Heirship for a Motor Vehicle (Form VTR-262). Every signature must be notarized, and a power of attorney cannot substitute.⁸ Which heirs need to sign depends on whether there’s a surviving spouse and whether the deceased had children from another relationship. Up to three heirs fit on one form; more than that means additional copies submitted together.

Out-of-State Vehicles

Moving to Texas with a car titled elsewhere means you’ll also need a Texas title. Two things change compared with the standard process.

First, the Vehicle Identification Number must be inspected and verified as part of the application.⁹ Bring the original out-of-state title (or other valid proof of ownership from the prior state) to surrender with your Texas paperwork.

Second, new residents bringing a vehicle they already owned pay a flat $90 new resident use tax instead of the 6.25% sales tax.¹⁰ On anything worth more than roughly $1,440, that’s a real savings.

If the vehicle will be registered in a designated emissions county, it also needs to pass an emissions test before registration.¹¹ The list covers the Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, and El Paso areas, with San Antonio’s Bexar County joining on November 1, 2026.

Rebuilt or Salvage Vehicles

A car that was declared a total loss or carries a salvage title has to clear extra steps. The person who did the repair completes a Rebuilt Vehicle Statement (Form VTR-61) describing the work and identifying where every replaced component came from.¹² Replaced engines, frames, or body parts require ownership evidence, such as a bill of sale or component title. The rebuilder and the owner both sign the form, and it’s submitted with Form 130-U. The reissued title carries a permanent “rebuilt” brand.

Removing a Lien After Payoff

Once you pay off the loan, the lienholder has 10 days to release the lien. If your lien was on a paper title, the lienholder mails the title to you, and you take it, a lien release letter, and Form 130-U to the county tax office to get a clean title issued. If the lien was recorded electronically, the lienholder updates it with TxDMV directly and you don’t need to do anything.¹³

If You’re the Seller

The buyer files for the new title, but you have your own paperwork to file. Until the buyer transfers the title, the vehicle is still in your name, which means tolls, parking tickets, and even accident liability can come back to you. File a Vehicle Transfer Notification (Form VTR-346) within 30 days of the sale. TxDMV notates your record to reflect the transfer, which insulates you from liability for what the buyer does afterward. Late filings are still accepted, but the protection only works if the notification is on record before something goes wrong.¹⁴

1
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Buying or Selling a Vehicle
2
TxDMV.gov. Detailed Instructions for Application for Texas Title and/or Registration (Form VTR-130-UIF)
3
TxDMV.gov. Application for Texas Title and/or Registration (Form 130-U)
4
TxDMV.gov. Fee Chart
5
Walker County, Texas. Motor Vehicle Tax
6
Travis County Tax Office. Vehicle Title Transfer Fees and Penalties
7
Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Motor Vehicles Transferred as a Gift or for No Consideration
8
TxDMV.gov. Affidavit of Heirship for a Motor Vehicle (Form VTR-262)
9
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Proof of Out-of-State Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Certification
10
State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code – Title 2 Subtitle E Chapter 152 Subchapter B Section 152.023
11
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Vehicle Emissions Inspections in Texas
12
TxDMV.gov. Rebuilt Vehicle Statement (Form VTR-61)
13
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Add or Remove a Lien on a Vehicle
14
TxDMV.gov. Texas Motor Vehicle Transfer Notification (Form VTR-346)