- Title fee
- From $18varies — details under fees
- Deadline
- 30 daysfrom the assignment or delivery of the motor vehicle, whichever is later
- Documents
- 4incl. BMV 3770
- Where
- Countytax office, in person
The seller signs the assignment of ownership on the back of the Ohio title in front of a notary and hands the title to the buyer; if the title is held electronically the seller uses form BMV 3770 instead. The buyer then has 30 days from the assignment or delivery to apply at any County Clerk of Courts title office, swearing the application before a notary and paying the title fee ($18 in most counties, $23 in some) plus Ohio sales tax on the price at the rate for the buyer's county of residence. A late application costs an extra $5.00, and the seller must take the license plates off the car immediately.
10 things this answer does not settle
- Ohio titles are issued by 88 county clerk of courts title offices, not by the BMV. Statewide pages describe the procedure, but the certificate fee ($18 or $23), the accepted identification documents, the accepted payment methods and the lienholder transfer request form are all set or supplied at county level, and the BMV routinely defers to "your County Clerk of Courts Title Office" for those details.
- The BMV's title pages carry no publication or effective dates, so a change to them cannot be dated. Fee amounts here are anchored to R.C. 4505.09 (effective 1 January 2026) and to the BMV fee schedule, whose vehicle registration section is stamped "Last Updated 1/5/2026" while its title-fee section carries no date.
- Ohio EPA's E-Check "Testing Information" page is stamped 14 July 2021 but describes 2026 testing years and the June 2025 legislation, and one paragraph on it still gives the pre-HB 54 age range of four to 25 years while the paragraph immediately below gives the current 6-to-25 and 7-to-25 ranges. The current figures are used here.
- The BMV forms index lists BMV 3787 as "Motor Vehicle Physical Inspection for Ohio Residents and Military Personnel Temporarily Living Out-of-State", while the PDF itself is headed "Out of State Motor Vehicle Inspection for Ohio Residents and Military Personnel Temporarily Living Out of State". The PDF's own title is used here.
- We found no Ohio publication of a seller notice-of-sale or release-of-liability filing. The only published post-sale duty on an Ohio seller is R.C. 4503.12(A): the registration expires on transfer and the original owner must immediately remove the license plates. Because this is a negative finding rather than a published statement, treat it as unconfirmed.
- The BMV publishes its form PDFs at publicsafety.ohio.gov/links/, which redirects through a CDN. Those URLs served the correct PDFs when checked, but they returned a 404 error page on a first uncached request without a referring page, so a link check may need a retry.
- The Ohio Department of Taxation's motor vehicle guidance is served identically at several URLs (its /business/sales-and-use-tax/motor-vehicles page and its vehicle-taxability FAQ paths all render the same document), so a citation to one is a citation to all of them.
- The certificate of title fee is $18 in most counties but $23 where the board of county commissioners has adopted the higher fee; check your county's figure on the BMV's county title office list before you go.
- The BMV does not publish a statewide list of the identification documents a clerk of courts title office accepts — it tells applicants to ask their county office, and payment methods vary by county too.
- Ohio sales tax is charged at the combined state and county or transit-authority rate for the buyer's county of residence; the Department of Taxation publishes rate tables and The Finder lookup, but no motor-vehicle-specific calculator.
Do this first
- Before you pay, check the front of the Ohio title against the seller's photo ID and check the odometer listing and the vehicle description — the BMV makes both the seller and the buyer responsible for verifying the accuracy of the odometer listing and all other information on the certificate of title at the time of transfer.
- Take the original Ohio certificate of title with the assignment of ownership on the back completed and the seller's signature notarised. A photocopy of a title is not accepted at the title office.
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
- Original Ohio certificate of title with the assignment of ownership completed and the seller's signature notarisedPhotocopies of a title are not accepted. Where the title is electronic, both pages of BMV 3770 take its place.
- Acceptable identification for each person who will be named on the new titleThe BMV does not publish one statewide list — it tells applicants to ask their County Clerk of Courts title office for details.
- Social Security number for every party to the transferThe BMV states that Social Security numbers are required for all parties, and that dual ownership requires both parties to be present unless a notarised power of attorney is provided.
- Payment for the title fee and Ohio sales taxAccepted payment methods differ by county; the BMV directs applicants to the county title office for payment options.
Also required in some cases
The current Ohio title is held electronically and neither party is a licensed Ohio dealer.
- BMV 3770Ownership Assignment and Title Application for Casual Sale, both pages
An owner or applicant cannot appear at the title office.
- BMV 3771Power of Attorney for Certificate of Title
The seller or the applicant is under 18.
- BMV 3751Minor Consent Form
A separate written federal odometer statement is needed rather than the certification in the title assignment.
- BMV 3724Odometer Disclosure Statement
The vehicle will be registered in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage or Summit county and is a gasoline or diesel vehicle 6–25 years old or a non-plug-in hybrid 7–25 years old at 10,000 lbs GVWR or less.
- Valid E-Check certificate
Deadlines
- Deadline30 calendar days from the assignment or delivery of the motor vehicle, whichever is later — Buyer: Apply for the certificate of title within 30 daysA $5.00 late fee is added to the title fee.
- Deadline30 calendar days from the transfer of the vehicle the plates were originally issued for — Seller: Transfer the plates to a replacement vehicle within 30 daysDuring those thirty days the old plates may be displayed on the succeeding vehicle and it may be driven on Ohio roads; after that the transfer window closes.
Fees and taxes
| Charge | Amount | Paid by |
|---|---|---|
| Base title fee | From $18Varies by the county whose clerk of courts issues the title — $18 statewide, or $23 where the board of county commissioners has adopted a resolution authorising the increased fee.Official calculator | Buyer |
| Certificate of title fee | From $18Varies by the county whose clerk of courts issues the title — $18 statewide, or $23 where the board of county commissioners has adopted a resolution authorising the increased fee.Covers the certificate of title and the notation of a lien applied for at the same time. It does not cover sales tax, registration, plates or an out-of-state VIN inspection.Official calculator | Buyer |
| Late title application fee | $5Charged for each certificate of title not applied for within thirty days after the later of the assignment or delivery of the vehicle. In addition to the title fee.The clerk of courts retains the entire fee. | Buyer |
| Ohio sales tax on the purchase price | VariesVaries by the purchase price — or the fair market value of any non-money consideration — and the combined state and county or transit-authority sales tax rate in the buyer's county of residence.Paid to the clerk of courts at the time of title transfer. An even trade is taxed on the fair market value of each vehicle; an assumed loan balance is taxed on the balance assumed.Official calculator | Buyer |
| Plate / registration transfer to a replacement vehicle | $9BMV fee for transferring a registration and plates; excludes any additional registration tax computed on the succeeding vehicle and local permissive tax.Only applies if the seller moves the plates to another vehicle they own. | Seller |
| 45-day temporary tag | $23BMV fee schedule figure, deputy registrar fee included. Must be bought before the title is transferred.Optional — only if you need to drive before the Ohio title is issued. | Buyer |
| Vehicle registration and plates | From $36Varies by vehicle type, fuel type, the local permissive tax in your taxing district (capped at $30.00 per vehicle) and the number of years registered.$36.00 is the annual passenger-vehicle registration fee. A one-year deputy registrar fee of $8.00 and permissive tax are added, and hybrid ($100), plug-in hybrid ($150) and electric ($200) vehicles pay an extra annual fuel-type fee.Official calculator | Buyer |
Ohio sales or use tax is paid to the clerk of courts at the time of title transfer, at the combined rate for the buyer's county of residence; a casual (non-dealer) sale of a motor vehicle is expressly not exempt.
Inspection, emissions, notary and odometer
- Inspection
- Not requiredOhio has no periodic safety inspection, but a vehicle last registered outside Ohio needs a physical VIN inspection before a title can be issued, and self-assembled, rebuilt-salvage and replica vehicles need an Ohio State Highway Patrol inspection.
- Emissions
- Sometimes required
- The vehicle will be registered in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage or Summit county.
- It is a gasoline or diesel vehicle 6 to 25 years old, or a non-plug-in hybrid 7 to 25 years old, at 10,000 lbs GVWR or less.
- There is no passing test certificate less than 365 days old — the previous owner's unexpired certificate can be used by the new owner.
- The certificate is needed to register the vehicle and get plates, not to obtain the certificate of title.
- Notarization
- RequiredOhio is a notarised-title state: every application for a certificate of title must be sworn before a notary public or other officer empowered to administer oaths, and on a paper title the seller's assignment of ownership must be notarised too.
- Odometer disclosure
- Sometimes required
- Required on the ownership assignment for any motor vehicle sold — the reading goes on the back of the paper title, or on page 1 of BMV 3770 for an electronic title.
- Not required for a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating over 16,000 pounds, or in connection with the creation of a security interest (R.C. 4505.06(C)(2)).
- Federal law does not require disclosure for a vehicle of model year 2010 or earlier transferred at least ten years after 1 January of its model year — for a transfer during 2026 that means model year 2010 and older (49 CFR 580.17).
What happens to the plates
On transfer of ownership the vehicle's registration expires and the previous owner must immediately remove the license plates; the buyer registers the vehicle in their own name at a deputy registrar.
- The seller keeps the plates
- The seller may move the plates to a replacement vehicle
- The buyer gets new plates
R.C. 4503.12(A) is explicit that registration expires on transfer and the original owner shall immediately remove the plates. The seller may instead apply to transfer the registration and plates to a replacement vehicle bought during the remaining registration period; that transfer must be done within thirty days, the plates may be displayed on the succeeding vehicle during those thirty days, and the BMV charges $9.00 for a plate/registration transfer. The statute carves out three continuations: a corporate merger or incorporation, a surviving spouse or right-of-survivorship joint owner, and a transfer-on-death beneficiary — each of whom keeps the registration by filing for an amended certificate of registration.
How to submit
- In person at a county office
- By mail
- Online
Titling and registering are two separate errands in Ohio: the certificate of title is issued by a County Clerk of Courts title office, and license plates and registration are issued afterwards by a deputy registrar license agency.
Official state links
- Start here on the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), Ohio Department of Public Safety — certificates of title are issued by County Clerk of Courts title offices site
- Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), Ohio Department of Public Safety — certificates of title are issued by County Clerk of Courts title offices
Source: Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), Ohio Department of Public Safety — certificates of title are issued by County Clerk of Courts title offices. Checked July 26, 2026. Report a correction