Title FAQs

Please read our vehicle requirements for new residents.

We don't know your car is paid off until you submit an updated title application and title fee ($28 or $33 depending on your county) to your county tax office.

Visit our lost vehicle titles page.

If the divorce decree awards the vehicle to you, give a certified copy to your county tax office and apply for a title. If the decree does not award the vehicle to you, a properly assigned title (a title where your ex-spouse signed the document over to you) will be required.

Allow two weeks for processing. After two weeks, if you have not received your title, call us at (512) 465-7611. If there is a lien on the vehicle, the lienholder will receive the title.

Please give the recipient your (signed) negotiable title and request that the recipient complete a title application. Which must be provided to their county tax office.

Effective September 1, 2009, when a motor vehicle is transferred as a result of a gift, the title application must be accompanied by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Form 14-317, Affidavit of Motor Vehicle Gift Transfer. The donor and recipient must both sign the affidavit and title application. The "$10 Gift Tax" only applies to a person who receives the vehicle from a:

• Spouse
• Parent or Stepparent
• Grandparent or Grandchild
• Child or Stepchild
• Sibling
• Guardian
• A decedent’s estate
• A vehicle donated to or given by a Nonprofit IRC Sec. 501(c)(3)

On the title application, the recipient who qualifies should check the "$10 Gift Tax - Affidavit required. Use Comptroller Form 14-317." box found in Section 21. The recipient will have to provide proof of auto insurance at the county tax office to register the vehicle.

Yes. For a $5 fee, you can also transfer your plates to a new vehicle and receive a new registration sticker. Be sure to remove and destroy the registration sticker on your old vehicle when you take off the plates.

Any general issue license plate that is not a passenger car or light truck plate.

Plates may only be transferred to the same vehicle classification, car-to-car or truck-to-truck.

Plates that are seven years old or older (these plates must be replaced due to loss of reflectivity).

No. You may only transfer plates to an eligible car or truck.

Yes, if your name has not changed.

A motor vehicle inquiry at the county.

A registration receipt in your name that shows the plate number.

• If the seller chooses the recommended option of removing the license plates and registration sticker from the vehicle, you will need to download a Vehicle Transit Permit. This will allow you to legally drive the vehicle to the county tax office to transfer the title and obtain registration (license plates and sticker) for the vehicle or, if the county tax office is closed, to a place of your choice. This permit is valid for five calendar days and only one permit may be issued per vehicle sale.
• You also have the option of moving the un-plated vehicle on a trailer (no permit required) if you need to move it prior to contacting the county.

Note: Operating a vehicle on public roadways without valid license plates and a registration sticker is against the law, and the driver is subject to fines by law enforcement.

That's because dealers are required to remove the plates and registration stickers from any vehicles they buy or take in trade. Dealers usually offer to give you the plates (even if you don't plan to transfer). If you don't want to use the plates again you may deface them with indelible black ink or some other method that will prevent someone else using them. Some dealers will dispose of the plates for you.

your spouse had a will, the vehicle becomes part of the probate process.

If your spouse did not have a will, you can fill out an affidavit of heirship.

It is very important that you notify us of the sale of your former vehicle so we can update the vehicle record. Complete a Texas Motor Vehicle Transfer Notification and mail it to the address on the form. When received, we will place a notation on the vehicle record indicating the vehicle was transferred and the date the transfer occurred. Our record will continue to show the seller's name until the new owner transfers the Texas Certificate of Title into their name.

Keep your license plates and transfer them to your new vehicle.

When you keep your license plates, the buyer has to transfer the vehicle title and this helps to protect you.

When you take off the plates, the buyer will need a Vehicle Transit Permit to drive the vehicle to the county tax office to re-title the car or truck.

Provide the buyer with all the documents needed to transfer the title:

• A signed title
• A signed vehicle title application
• The vehicle's latest registration receipt
• Any other supporting documents, such as a release of lien, power of attorney, etc.

  Then, accompany the buyer to the county tax office to verify the buyer files a new vehicle title application under his/her name. If you sell or trade in your vehicle to a dealer, or if the buyer can't go to the tax office, you need to notify us of the sale by filing a vehicle vehicle transfer notification within 30 days of selling the vehicle.

Let us know the vehicle is no longer yours by filing a vehicle transfer notification. You only have 30 days from the vehicle's sale date to submit the vehicle transfer notification to protect yourself.

After we receive your transfer notification request, we will update the record to show the vehicle as sold. When you file the notification within 30 days, you cannot be held responsible for such things as parking tickets and toll violations that may be committed by the person who bought your vehicle.

Another way to protect yourself, is to always keep your license plates whenever you sell a vehicle. You can transfer the plates to another vehicle.

In order to protect yourself, it is very important that you notify us when you sell a vehicle.

After we receive and process your vehicle transfer notification, the buyer is presumed to be the new owner and may be subject to criminal and civil liability for the vehicle. For this reason, make sure to request the buyer's contact information before the sale is complete, and include this contact information on your vehicle transfer notification.

The vehicle transfer notification does not remove your name from the state's record, but the record is marked to show that you have notified us that you no longer own the vehicle. Your name will not be removed from the record until a new title is applied for and issued to the new owner.

About two weeks from the day we receive it.

Provide documentation, which shows you sold the vehicle, to the ticketing agency. Documents that agencies typically accept include the following:

• A confirmation letter (no fee) from TxDMV indicating that the vehicle is sold. Call us at (512) 465-7611 to request a letter.
• A copy of the vehicle transfer notification form you submitted to us (no fee), which you can get by completing a request for vehicle information form.
• In the "Information Requested" section, check the third box (other) and then write "Vehicle Transfer Notification" and the month and year you sold the vehicle.
• A "title and registration verification" ($2.30 fee) that shows the month and year the vehicle title was transferred, which you can order by completing a request for vehicle information form.

Some agencies may not accept all of the documents mentioned above, so please contact the agency that issued your citation before you request any of these documents.

The state's record will continue to show you as the last recorded owner until a new title is applied for and recorded in the buyer's name.

A licensed motor vehicle dealer is not required to apply for a new title until the vehicle is sold to a retail purchaser.