- Title fee
- $15base title fee
- Deadline
- 45 daysfrom the date the vehicle is purchased or otherwise acquired
- Documents
- 4incl. 205
- Where
- State officein person
The seller fills in both the seller and the purchaser sections of the Indiana certificate of title in full — signatures, odometer reading, date of sale, purchase price and the buyer's name and address — and hands the title over at the sale. The buyer must apply for a new certificate of title within 45 days of acquiring the vehicle or the BMV adds a $30 administrative penalty to the $15 title fee, and pays Indiana's 7% sales tax at the branch because no dealer collected it. The seller takes the plate off the vehicle; the registration expires on transfer and the buyer registers separately, also within 45 days.
9 things this answer does not settle
- The Indiana BMV rebuilt its website in 2026 and several title pages carry no publication or effective date, so a change to them cannot be dated. Fee amounts here are anchored to the BMV Fee Chart, which is stamped "Revised 1/1/26", and to the fee figures repeated inside the BMV's own mail-in title packets.
- Indiana notarises nothing in a vehicle title transfer — every BMV title form is signed under penalty of perjury with no notary block — with one exception worth knowing: the Affidavit of Ownership instructions accept "a notarized Bill of Sale, or a Bill of Sale signed under penalty of perjury", while the BMV's Bill of Sale page says a bill of sale "is not required to be notarized or signed under penalties for perjury". The two published statements do not sit comfortably together, and notarisation is treated here as never mandatory.
- Indiana publishes no mandatory seller notice of sale or release of liability. IC 9-18.1-4-6 makes removing the plate a duty but makes reporting the transfer to the BMV optional, within 30 days, with no published penalty for skipping it. A seller who wants their name off the BMV record has to take that optional step.
- The BMV forms index and the form PDFs do not always agree on a form's name: the index calls State Form 39530 "Affidavit – Physical Inspection of a Vehicle or Watercraft" while the PDF is headed "Physical Inspection of a Vehicle or Watercraft". The PDF's own heading is used here.
- Several BMV title forms — 205 and 43230 among them — were revised in April 2026, while ST-108E, the only published list of Indiana sales-tax exemption codes, still carries a 5-23 revision stamp. The exemption codes have not been re-verified against a 2026 Department of Revenue publication.
- Indiana's registration cost is genuinely variable — annual excise tax depends on the vehicle's age and manufacturer's suggested retail price, and county and municipal excise or wheel taxes depend on where you live — so no flat figure for "what it costs to put it on the road" exists. The BMV's Quick Quote estimator is the only published way to get a number.
- The BMV publishes the 45-day rule, the plate rule and the tax rule in prose on its Buying & Selling a Vehicle page, but its only itemised document list is the Vehicle Title and/or Registration Application Checklist, which is written for a mailed or service-provider application. A counter transaction at a branch may ask for slightly different proof.
- Registration cost is not a fixed figure in Indiana: annual excise tax depends on the vehicle's age and manufacturer's suggested retail price, and county or municipal excise and wheel taxes depend on where you live. Use the BMV Quick Quote estimator for your own number.
- The BMV's court-order packet says that where no purchase price is available sales tax is assessed on the J.D. Power fair market value. No BMV page says whether the same fallback applies to an ordinary private sale, so treat that as unconfirmed.
Do this first
- Before you go anywhere, check that the seller has completed both the seller and the purchaser sections of the certificate of title in full, including the odometer reading, date of sale and purchase price.
- Complete and sign Application for Certificate of Title for a Vehicle – State Form 205. Your Social Security Number or Federal Identification Number is mandatory; the BMV cannot process the record without it.
Your checklist
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The seller's checklist
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Both of you, together
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Documents and official forms
- The Indiana certificate of title, with the seller and purchaser sections completed in fullBoth sections must be complete before the buyer goes to a branch. Leaving the sale price or purchaser details blank is a Class B infraction for the seller.
- 205Application for Certificate of Title for a Vehicle – State Form 205Signed by the applicant under penalty of perjury. SSN or FEIN is mandatory.
- Proof of identityA copy of your driver's license, or proof of a Federal Identification Number from the IRS for a business. At a branch, bring photo identification.
- Payment for the $15 title fee and the 7% sales taxMailed applications take MasterCard or Visa, cheque, electronic cheque or money order; a personal cheque is not accepted with an out-of-state address.
Also required in some cases
The odometer statement is not completed on the certificate of title
- 43230Odometer Disclosure Statement – State Form 43230
The certificate of title shows a lien
- Lien release — signed lien release section on the title, or a letter on the lienholder's letterhead
The date of sale or selling price is missing from the title or bill of sale and the seller cannot be reached
- 56620Affidavit of Missing Title Information – State Form 56620
The transfer qualifies for one of the exemptions printed on the reverse of the form
- 48841ST-108E Certificate of Gross Retail or Use Tax Exemption – State Form 48841
You are also applying for the registration and plate
- Proof of insurance — carrier and policy number
You are registering in Lake or Porter county and the vehicle is due for testing
- Clean Air Car Check vehicle inspection report number
You are mailing the application and paying by card
- 56163Collection of Payment Information – State Form 56163
Deadlines
- Deadline45 calendar days from the date the vehicle is purchased or otherwise acquired — Buyer: Apply for the Indiana certificate of title within 45 daysThe BMV charges a $30 administrative penalty on top of the $15 title fee.
- Deadline45 calendar days from the date the vehicle was purchased or acquired — Buyer: Register the vehicle and get a plate within 45 daysIndiana publishes the 45-day registration duty on its Vehicle Registrations page but states no penalty for a late first registration; the $15 administrative penalty on the Fee Chart is tied to late renewal.
- Deadline30 calendar days from the transfer of ownership — Seller: Optional: report the transfer to the BMV within 30 daysNothing. Indiana makes this optional and publishes no penalty; it only updates the BMV's record of who owns the vehicle.
Fees and taxes
| Charge | Amount | Paid by |
|---|---|---|
| Base title fee | $15The BMV Fee Chart line "Issue, duplicate or replace title", revised 1 January 2026, and the same figure the BMV's own title application packets quote as the "$15 title application fee". It excludes the optional $25 speed title fee, the 7% Indiana sales and use tax collected at titling, the $30 administrative penalty for applying more than 45 days after acquiring the vehicle, and every registration fee, plate fee and excise tax. | Buyer |
| Certificate of title application fee | $15The BMV Fee Chart line "Issue, duplicate or replace title". It does not include the 7% sales tax, the optional $25 speed title fee, the $30 late-title penalty, or any registration fee, plate fee or excise tax.Payable at a BMV branch, at a Full or Partial Service Provider, or with a mailed application. | Buyer |
| Speed title (expedited processing) — optional | $25Charged in addition to the $15 title application fee. It buys faster processing only, not a different title.Speed titles go out by FedEx Ground to a street address, or USPS Priority Mail to an Indiana PO Box. | Buyer |
| Indiana gross retail (sales) and use tax | 7%Varies by the purchase price of the vehicle; Indiana charges a flat 7% state rate with no local add-on for vehicles.On a private sale the tax is paid at the BMV branch when you apply for the title, because no dealer collected it. Credit is given for sales tax already paid to another state; if that was less than 7% you pay the difference. | Buyer |
| Administrative penalty for a late title application | $30The BMV Fee Chart line "Administrative penalty for late title". Charged in addition to the $15 title application fee.Charged when the title application is made, or the mailed packet is received, more than 45 days after the vehicle was acquired. | Buyer |
| Registration, plate and excise tax | From $21.35Varies by the vehicle type and registered weight, the age and manufacturer's suggested retail price of the vehicle, and the county and municipality you register in.A separate transaction from the title. The $21.35 floor is the BMV Fee Chart's passenger motor vehicle registration fee; on top of it sit the $15 Transportation Infrastructure Improvement Fee, annual vehicle excise tax, any county or municipal excise or wheel tax, and the $242 electric or $81 hybrid supplemental fee where they apply. Use the BMV Quick Quote tool for your own figure.Official calculator | Buyer |
Indiana charges a flat 7% gross retail (sales) and use tax on a vehicle purchase, and on a private sale you pay it at the BMV branch when you apply for the title.
Inspection, emissions, notary and odometer
- Inspection
- Not requiredIndiana requires a VIN inspection only for vehicles arriving on another state's title or a certificate of origin, and for its affidavit, bill-of-sale and court-order title routes — not for an ordinary transfer of an existing Indiana title.
- Emissions
- Sometimes required
- The vehicle will be registered in Lake or Porter county.
- The vehicle was manufactured after 1975 and has a gross vehicle weight rating of 9,000 pounds or less.
- Testing is every two years, in odd years for odd model years and in even years for even model years.
- Vehicles manufactured during the four latest model years are exempt, as are antique vehicles as defined by 326 IAC 13-1.1-1.
- Notarization
- Not requiredIndiana does not notarise vehicle title paperwork: the certificate of title assignment and every BMV title form are signed under penalty of perjury, and the BMV states expressly that a bill of sale "is not required to be notarized".
- Odometer disclosure
- Required, unless you are exempt
- Trailers and semitrailers are exempt.
- Vehicles registered at a declared gross weight of more than 16,000 pounds are exempt.
- Watercraft, off-road vehicles and manufactured or mobile homes are exempt.
- A separate Odometer Disclosure Statement (State Form 43230) is only needed when the odometer statement is not already completed on the certificate of title or certificate of origin.
What happens to the plates
Plates follow the person in Indiana, not the vehicle: the seller takes the plate off at the sale, the registration expires on transfer, and the buyer either gets a new plate or moves a plate they already own onto the vehicle.
- The seller keeps the plates
- The seller may move the plates to a replacement vehicle
- The buyer gets new plates
- The buyer supplies a plate registered in their own name
"The seller should remove the license plate from the vehicle at the time of the transaction." IC 9-18.1-4-6 makes that a duty and expires the registration on transfer. "The Indiana BMV does not require the license plates of sold vehicles to be returned to the BMV. The license plates of sold vehicles may be transferred to a different vehicle owned by that same person." A plate you no longer want should be made permanently unreadable and unusable rather than handed in. A plate transfer can be done alongside a new, renewal or amendment registration transaction, and passenger, truck up to 11,000 pounds, motorcycle and In God We Trust plates can be transferred online at myBMV.com. The Fee Chart charges $9.50 to transfer, amend, duplicate or replace a plate, decal or certificate of registration. Excise tax already paid on a sold vehicle may be partly refunded or credited on State Form 55296.
How to submit
- In person at a state title office
- In person at an authorized third-party office
- By mail
Titling and registering are two separate Indiana transactions with separate fees and separate 45-day clocks — "The vehicle must first be titled" — although a branch will normally process both in one visit, and the BMV's own checklist lets you tick "Title only", "Registration Only" or "Title and Registration".
Official state links
Source: Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). Checked July 30, 2026. Report a correction