How long do I have to transfer a vehicle title in Louisiana?

40 calendar days from the date of purchase, or the delivery date. Penalty and interest are charged. Penalty accrues at 5% of the tax for each 30 days the tax is delinquent, for both state and parish or municipal tax, capped at 25% of the tax. Interest on sales made on or after 01/01/2023 is 1.25% per month on state tax and 1% per month on parish and municipal tax. If the 40th day falls on a weekend or holiday, the last official business day before it is used.

How much does a title transfer cost in Louisiana?

The base title fee is $68.50. The certificate of title fee alone, levied under R.S. 32:728. It excludes the $8.00 handling fee, a local fee of up to $6.00, lien recordation ($15.00 for a UCC instrument or $10.00 for any other security agreement), the license plate fee and sales or use tax. A duplicate title costs the same $68.50. Louisiana charges 5% state sales tax plus the parish and municipal rate for the domicile where the vehicle is kept, on the selling price less any qualifying trade-in and rebate, and OMV will not issue the title or registration until it is paid.

Does a vehicle title transfer need to be notarized in Louisiana?

Required, unless you are exempt. Louisiana is a notary state: the seller's assignment on the certificate of title or MSO must be signed before a notary when the sale takes place in Louisiana, and the notary's Secretary of State identification number must appear next to their printed name or OMV will reject the file.

Does the seller have to notify the title authority in Louisiana?

Yes. Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV). 15 calendar days from the date the vehicle is sold, donated, traded or otherwise transferred. R.S. 47:510(B) requires the notice. R.S. 47:537 provides that a person convicted of violating a provision of this Chapter for which no other penalty is specified "shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned for not more than thirty days, or both." Until the new owner applies for title, the vehicle stays on your OMV record.

Transferring a vehicle title in Louisiana

Issued by Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV). Choose your situation below — the buyer’s and seller’s obligations are listed separately, and every answer links to the official source.

Title fee: $68.50base title fee
Deadline: 40 daysfrom the date of purchase, or the delivery date
Documents: 4incl. DPSMV 1799
Where: By mailno visit needed

Louisiana is a notary state: the seller must sign the assignment on the back of the title in front of a notary, and the notary's Secretary of State identification number has to appear beside their printed name or OMV will reject the file. The buyer then lodges the DPSMV 1799 Vehicle Application with the assigned title by post, at an OMV office or at a Public Tag Agent, and pays $68.50 title fee, $8.00 handling, a local fee of up to $6.00, the plate charge and 5% state sales tax plus the parish and municipal rate. The clock that costs money is 40 days from the date of purchase — after that penalty runs at 5% of the tax per 30 days up to 25%, plus interest. Separately, the seller must give OMV written notice of the transfer within 15 days.

7 things this answer does not settle

OMV's own fee page and its own plate policy disagree about how long a Louisiana automobile plate lasts. The fee table's prose says automobile plates "are sold in two-year increments, therefore the minimum price is $20.00", and Policy 38.00 says "All automobile plates will be valid for two (2) years ONLY" — but the plate table on the same fee page shows a $40.00 / 4 years row and a $70.00 / Permanent row. Those two rows are published with their description cell empty, so the vehicle class they apply to is not stated at all. Treat the plate figures here as indicative and ask OMV or a Public Tag Agent for the charge on your own vehicle.
Parish and municipal sales tax is added to the 5% state rate and is set by where the vehicle is domiciled, but OMV publishes those rates only through a JavaScript Parish & Municipality Tax Table that returns no data to an ordinary page fetch. No individual parish rate is recorded here.
Policy 15.00 on duplicate titles cross-references "Section 4, Policy 18.03, Loss Of Properly Assigned Title After Death Of Titled [Owner]", but that policy is not published in OMV's public Section 4 index. If your title went missing after the owner died and after it was assigned, the governing procedure could not be read.
Louisiana routes a large share of title work through Public Tag Agents and auto title companies rather than OMV counters. They may charge a convenience fee of up to $23 per transaction on top of state fees, and OMV states that the services offered vary by location — so what a particular office will do, and what it will cost, is not uniform across the state.
Several of the OMV policies relied on here carry old revision dates — Policy 38.00 on automobile plates was last revised in 1998, Policy 105.01 on insurance proof in 2010 and Policy 18.01 on small successions in 2017 — while the fee and forms pages are current. Where they disagreed, the more recently published page was preferred and the conflict is noted.
OMV's document list for titling a used vehicle does not include a safety inspection certificate, so it is not clear from the published material whether a current "brake tag" must already be in place before OMV will process the transfer, or only before the vehicle is driven. The statutory duty is that every vehicle registered in the state bears one.
The local fee is published only as "may apply and will not exceed $6" — OMV does not say which offices or parishes charge it.

Do this first

Complete and sign the DPSMV 1799 Vehicle Application, filling in the VIN, make, body, year, mileage, model or weight, your name and driver's license or ID number, any joint owner, your residence address with parish and domicile code, whether the vehicle is new or used, the date acquired and the tax date — and answer the two yes/no questions about living inside a municipality's corporate limits and inside a special tax district or ward. Every owner named on the application signs and dates it.
Before you leave the seller, check the notary block on the title: the notary's name and identification number must be typed, stamped or printed legibly with the number next to the name, and your full first and last names must be written out — not initials or a nickname. A document notarised after 1 January 2005 without the notary identification number or Louisiana bar roll number cannot be accepted and will be rejected back to you.

Your checklist

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The seller's checklist

Sign the assignment on the back of the Louisiana certificate of title in front of a notary public, and check that the notary prints or stamps their name with their Louisiana Secretary of State identification number next to it. An ex-officio notary is not accepted.Official page
If you sign in front of two witnesses instead of a notary, the Acknowledgement of Witness section of the title must also be completed — and it may not be completed by either of the two people who witnessed your signature. If it is, OMV will not accept the file.Applies when: You are using the two-witness alternative to notarisation on a private sale.Official page
If the buyer is financing the purchase, an authorised agent of a federally insured financial institution may witness your assignment in place of a notary — but only where you are present, a lien is being recorded at the time ownership transfers, and the institution supplies a designation of its authorised officers on its letterhead stating that the named person may witness a seller's endorsement.Applies when: A lien is being recorded at the moment ownership transfers and the lender's authorised agent is present.Official page
Write the selling price into the title assignment, or give the buyer an original notarised bill of sale that states the actual consideration and describes the vehicle by make, model, year and VIN. OMV's Bill of Sale of a Movable is executed before a notary and carries your warranty that there are no mortgages, liens or encumbrances against the vehicle.Official page
Do not hand over a title with the assignment left blank: R.S. 32:705 provides that no person shall sell a vehicle without delivering to the purchaser a certificate of title properly assigned. If you genuinely cannot sign — for instance you are not available at the closing — the buyer needs either a power of attorney from you or, on a non-conforming title, a signed and notarised bill of sale plus a notation on the first assignment that the seller was not available to sign.Official page
Give OMV written notice of the transfer within 15 days, either by filing the DPSMV 1697 Notice of Transfer of Vehicle by post to P.O. Box 64886, Baton Rouge, LA 70896-4886 or through the Notice of Vehicle Transfer online service. You will need the plate number, the registration expiration date, the VIN, your driver's license number or company EIN, the buyer's name and address, the date and the selling price.DPSMV 1697Official page
Understand what the notice does and does not do: "Your OMV record will be immediately flagged indicating the disposition of the vehicle. Vehicle ownership will not be legally transferred until the new owner makes application for title." The form itself repeats the warning: "This is not a transfer."DPSMV 1697Official page
Take your plate off the vehicle. A private automobile plate is not transferable between owners, so it stays with you: move it to another vehicle you own for a $3.00 license transfer fee, surrender it to OMV for cancellation, or cancel it yourself through OMV's online Cancel Plate service using the VIN, plate number, your driver's license number, your name and the registered owner's zip code.Official page
If you are cancelling the insurance rather than moving it, surrender the plate and registration to OMV before the cancellation takes effect, or within 10 days of the date on the insurance cancellation notice. Surrendering more than 10 days after the notice will not waive fees that are due.Applies when: You are cancelling the liability insurance on the vehicle you sold.Official page

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Both of you, together

Complete the odometer disclosure together. If the title is conforming — it has the federally mandated odometer block — the reading goes on the title itself and a separate statement will not be accepted; if it is non-conforming, use the DPSMV 1606 Odometer Disclosure Statement. Both the seller and the buyer sign and print their names; no verbal statement is accepted, and one person may not sign as both transferor and transferee.Applies when: The vehicle is not exempt from odometer reporting.DPSMV 1606Official page
Get the mileage right the first time. If an error or alteration is made in the odometer reading on a conforming title, a new title must be re-issued in the previous owner's name before the sale can go through, and an affidavit of correction may not be used to fix an odometer error.Official page

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Documents and official forms

DPSMV 1799DPSMV 1799 Vehicle Application, completed and signed by every new ownerRequired on all transactions in which a title will be generated, including Electronic Lien Title transactions.
The current Louisiana certificate of title, assigned before a notary by the seller to the purchaser, with any lien properly releasedIn a private sale the seller's signature may instead be made before two witnesses, but only if the Acknowledgement of Witness section of the title is completed by someone who is not one of those two witnesses.
Evidence of the actual consideration — either the selling price entered in the title assignment or an original notarised bill of sale with a full description of the vehicleOMV publishes a Bill of Sale of a Movable form for this, executed before a notary. It carries no DPSMV number.
DPSMV 1606Odometer disclosure signed and printed by both seller and buyer — on the title if it is conforming, otherwise on the DPSMV 1606A separate odometer statement is not acceptable with a conforming title.

Also required in some cases

You are asking for a license plate. Front only for a Louisiana credential; front and back for an out-of-state or US territory credential. An Active Duty Military ID must be shown in person and never photocopied.

Copy of each vehicle owner's current and valid photo identification

You are asking for a license plate. Required for sales between individuals on both walk-in and mail-in files.

Proof of liability insurance covering this vehicle

A lien is to be recorded against the new title.

Original or copy of a completed UCC-1 financing statement or other security agreement

A lien is shown on the last title record and was not released on the face of the title.

Satisfaction of lien on the lienholder's letterhead, or the original note marked paid

The name on the certificate of title does not match the name on the other documents submitted.

Affidavit of One and the Same

Someone other than the registered owner is signing the title assignment or the application.

Original power of attorney or mandate, or a certified true copy

Someone else is taking your paperwork to OMV or a Public Tag Agent but you have signed the documents yourself.

DPSMV 1806DPSMV 1806 Permission to Process Transaction

Deadlines

Deadline40 calendar days from the date of purchase, or the delivery date — Buyer: Submit the title file and pay the sales tax by the 40th day after the salePenalty at 5% of the tax for each 30 days delinquent, capped at 25%, plus interest of 1.25% per month on state tax and 1% per month on parish and municipal tax for sales on or after 01/01/2023. Only the penalty can be waived, by the Commissioner for reasonable cause on a written request.
Deadline30 calendar days from the date the rejected application is received back by the applicant — Buyer: Resubmit a rejected application within 30 days to keep penalty and interest offThe extension is granted once only. Reapply outside it and penalty and interest run for that period as well.
Deadline15 calendar days from the date the vehicle is sold, donated or traded — Seller: Give OMV written notice of the transfer within 15 daysR.S. 47:537 provides a fine of not more than $100, or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both, on conviction. Until the buyer applies for title the vehicle remains on your OMV record.

Fees and taxes

Charge	Amount	Paid by
Base title fee	$68.50The certificate of title fee alone, levied under R.S. 32:728. It excludes the $8.00 handling fee, a local fee of up to $6.00, lien recordation ($15.00 for a UCC instrument or $10.00 for any other security agreement), the license plate fee and sales or use tax. A duplicate title costs the same $68.50.	Buyer
Certificate of title fee	$68.50Levied under R.S. 32:728. Excludes handling, local fee, lien recordation, plate charge and tax.	Buyer
Handling fee	$8Charged under R.S. 32:412.1 on a transfer of ownership whether the plate is transferred, replaced or newly issued.	Buyer
Local fee	$0–$6OMV states only "$6.00 local fee (may apply and will not exceed $6)" and does not publish which parishes or offices charge it.	Buyer
Automobile license plate charge	0.1%Varies by the value of the vehicle: OMV publishes the rate as 0.1% of the value per year with a $10,000 minimum base, sold in two-year increments, so the minimum is $20.00; its table runs from $20.00 for a $10,000-$10,499 vehicle to $82.00 for a $40,500-$41,499 vehicle.Policy 38.00 computes the same charge as $10.00 per year on the first $10,000 of value plus $1.00 per $1,000 above that, with "actual value" being the higher of the gross sales price on the bill of sale or the full loan value in the current NADA book. See the state-level caveat about the conflicting plate durations on OMV's fee page.Official calculator	Buyer
License transfer fee, if you move a plate you already hold onto this vehicle	$3Levied under R.S. 47:509. Applies to moving your own existing plate between your own vehicles — plates cannot be transferred between owners.	Buyer
Lien recordation fee where a UCC instrument is filed	$15Charged under R.S. 32:710 when a UCC-1 or UCC-3 is submitted to record the lien. If any other security agreement is used the fee is $10.00, made up of $5.00 recordation and $5.00 cancellation paid in advance, so no further fee is due to remove the lien later.	Buyer
State and local sales tax on the selling price	5%Varies by the 5% Louisiana state rate plus the parish and municipal rate for the domicile where the vehicle is kept, applied to the selling price less any qualifying trade-in and rebate.The Department of Revenue publishes the state rate as 5.00% as of 1 January 2025; local rates are added on top. Title and registration will not be issued until the tax is paid.Official calculator	Buyer
Public Tag Agent convenience fee	$0–$23Only charged if you use a Public Tag Agent or auto title company rather than an OMV counter or the post. OMV states PTAs "can charge a convenience fee of up to $23 per transaction".	Buyer
Louisiana safety inspection certificate ("brake tag")	Not publishedOMV publishes only the wholesale price of sticker books sold to licensed inspection stations — $131.25 for a 25-sticker one-year book, $262.50 for a two-year book, $156.25 for a commercial book and $50.00 per set of 25 emissions inserts. Neither OMV nor Louisiana State Police publishes the retail price an inspection station charges a vehicle owner.	Buyer
Electric and hybrid vehicle road usage fee	From $60Varies by fuel type and months registered — $110 for a full year on an electric vehicle and $60 on a hybrid, prorated from $9 and $5 respectively for a single month.Not collected at the title counter. OMV brands the record EV or HV at registration, mails a notice on 1 April or 1 May assessing the previous calendar year, and the fee is payable by 30 June through the Electric/Hybrid Vehicle Fee Payment Portal.	Current owner

Louisiana charges 5% state sales tax plus the parish and municipal rate for the domicile where the vehicle is kept, on the selling price less any qualifying trade-in and rebate, and OMV will not issue the title or registration until it is paid.

Inspection, emissions, notary and odometer

Inspection: Required, unless you are exempt
Every motor vehicle registered in Louisiana must bear a valid Louisiana safety inspection certificate.
Exempt: single-axle two-wheel trailers, boat trailers, farm tractors and self-propelled farm equipment, mini trucks, and vehicles 25 years or older registered and licensed as antique and used primarily for exhibition.
Vehicles of 26,000 lb GVWR or more, vehicles of 10,000 lb GVWR or more carrying hazardous materials, and vehicles designed to carry more than 15 passengers need a commercial inspection sticker instead.
Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer and pole trailer registered in Louisiana must carry a valid Louisiana safety inspection certificate — the "brake tag" — unless it falls in one of the exempt classes in R.S. 32:1311.
Emissions: Sometimes required
The vehicle is domiciled in East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston or Iberville parish.
Exempt even there: vehicles manufactured before 1980, non-gasoline vehicles such as diesels, trailers outside the commercial inspection guidelines, and vehicles over 10,000 lb GVWR.
Emissions testing applies only to gasoline vehicles domiciled in the five ozone non-attainment parishes — East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston and Iberville — where an emissions insert is issued alongside a 12-month inspection sticker.
Notarization: Required, unless you are exempt
The seller's assignment on the title must be signed before a notary whose Louisiana Secretary of State identification number appears next to their printed name.
Alternative: the seller may sign before two witnesses if the Acknowledgement of Witness section of the title is completed by someone other than those two witnesses.
Alternative: an authorised agent of a federally insured financial institution may witness the assignment where the seller is present, a lien is being recorded at the time of transfer, and a designation of authorised officers on institution letterhead is supplied.
A separate bill of sale, where one is used instead of writing the price into the assignment, must also be notarised.
Louisiana is a notary state: the seller's assignment on the certificate of title or MSO must be signed before a notary when the sale takes place in Louisiana, and the notary's Secretary of State identification number must appear next to their printed name or OMV will reject the file.
Odometer disclosure: Required, unless you are exempt
Exempt: vehicles with a gross weight rating of more than 16,000 pounds.
Exempt: vehicles that are not self-propelled, such as trailers.
Exempt: a 2010 or earlier model year vehicle transferred at least ten years after 1 January of its model year.
Exempt: a 2011 or later model year vehicle transferred at least twenty years after 1 January of its model year — a 2011 model becomes exempt on 1 January 2031.
A completed odometer disclosure signed and printed by both seller and buyer must be in every title transfer file for a non-exempt vehicle, and where the title is conforming the disclosure must be made on the title itself, not on a separate form.

What happens to the plates

Louisiana plates belong to the person, not the vehicle: a private automobile plate is not transferable between owners, so the seller keeps or cancels theirs and the buyer is issued a new plate.

The seller keeps the plates
The buyer gets new plates
The seller may move the plates to a replacement vehicle
The seller surrenders the plates

Policy 38.00 states flatly that "Private auto license plates are not transferable between owners. New metal plates are issued when the vehicle is transferred." An owner may move a plate they already hold from one of their own vehicles to another for a $3.00 license transfer fee, using the Transfer of Plate section of the DPSMV 1799. Plates can be surrendered to OMV for cancellation, or cancelled through OMV's online Cancel Plate service. The automobile plate charge is a registration license tax computed from the vehicle's value at 0.1% per year with a $10,000 minimum base.

How to submit

By mail
In person at a state title office
In person at an authorized third-party office

One form and one file does both: the DPSMV 1799 Vehicle Application is the application for the title and for the plate, and OMV, a Public Tag Agent or the post handles them as a single transaction.

Official state links

Source: Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV). Checked July 31, 2026. Report a correction

Common questions about Louisiana

How long do I have to transfer a vehicle title in Louisiana?: 40 calendar days from the date of purchase, or the delivery date. Penalty and interest are charged. Penalty accrues at 5% of the tax for each 30 days the tax is delinquent, for both state and parish or municipal tax, capped at 25% of the tax. Interest on sales made on or after 01/01/2023 is 1.25% per month on state tax and 1% per month on parish and municipal tax. If the 40th day falls on a weekend or holiday, the last official business day before it is used.
How much does a title transfer cost in Louisiana?: The base title fee is $68.50. The certificate of title fee alone, levied under R.S. 32:728. It excludes the $8.00 handling fee, a local fee of up to $6.00, lien recordation ($15.00 for a UCC instrument or $10.00 for any other security agreement), the license plate fee and sales or use tax. A duplicate title costs the same $68.50. Louisiana charges 5% state sales tax plus the parish and municipal rate for the domicile where the vehicle is kept, on the selling price less any qualifying trade-in and rebate, and OMV will not issue the title or registration until it is paid.
Does a vehicle title transfer need to be notarized in Louisiana?: Required, unless you are exempt. Louisiana is a notary state: the seller's assignment on the certificate of title or MSO must be signed before a notary when the sale takes place in Louisiana, and the notary's Secretary of State identification number must appear next to their printed name or OMV will reject the file.
Does the seller have to notify the title authority in Louisiana?: Yes. Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV). 15 calendar days from the date the vehicle is sold, donated, traded or otherwise transferred. R.S. 47:510(B) requires the notice. R.S. 47:537 provides that a person convicted of violating a provision of this Chapter for which no other penalty is specified "shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned for not more than thirty days, or both." Until the new owner applies for title, the vehicle stays on your OMV record.
What happens to the license plates in Louisiana?: Louisiana plates belong to the person, not the vehicle: a private automobile plate is not transferable between owners, so the seller keeps or cancels theirs and the buyer is issued a new plate.

About this page

Everything here is a summary of procedures published by official state title authorities, with a link to the source for each answer.

Unusual ownership, probate, lien, salvage, court-order or identity situations commonly require steps beyond those listed here.

We do not file anything with any agency, and we cannot submit, expedite, or check the status of a transfer. Ticking a box on this site records your own progress in your browser and nothing more.

67 official sources · last checked July 31, 2026 · How this was compiled · Report a correction