Methods and sources

CarTax adds up the government taxes and fees on a car purchase or renewal from each state's official sources, for 16 states.

Where the numbers come from

248 official pages and documents from state revenue departments, DMVs, legislatures and county-rate publications (206 rules). Each value sits next to a short verbatim quote from its source.

The quote gate

Every build re-checks every quote against our cached copy of the official page; the build stops if one is missing or a number has no quote. A deliberately fake quote is checked too, so a broken checker can't pass. Local rate tables are checked row by row.

Ranges and lines you fill in

When a rule depends on something we don't know (your county, the car's weight, a district boundary), we show a range or a line for you to fill in instead of guessing. Lines you fill in stay out of the total until you type a figure.

Archived and captured sources

Some official pages block automated access. We cite those from Internet Archive copies of the official page, labelled "as archived <date>", and from captures of official calculators, labelled "captured <date>":

Illinois: Illinois Secretary of State: Vehicle fees (license plates renewal, replacement, title) (as archived 2026-10-08)
New York: New York State DMV: Passenger Vehicle Registration Fees, Use Taxes and Supplemental Fees (as archived 2026-10-26)
New York: New York State DMV: Estimate Registration Fees and Taxes (as archived 2026-10-26)
New York: New York State DMV: Sales Tax Information (as archived 2026-10-12)
New York: New York State DMV: Register an Out-of-State Vehicle (as archived 2026-05-11)
New York: New York State DMV: Let the Buyer Be Aware (brochure) (as archived 2026-08-12)
New York: New York State DMV: Register and Title a Vehicle (as archived 2026-10-28)
Tennessee: Tennessee Department of Revenue: County Clerk Tax Manual (June 2025) (as archived 2025-09-13)
Illinois: Illinois General Assembly (ILCS): 625 ILCS 5/3-806 Registration Fees; Motor Vehicles of the First Division
Illinois: Illinois General Assembly (ILCS): 625 ILCS 5/3-805 Electric vehicles
Illinois: Illinois General Assembly (ILCS): 625 ILCS 5/3-815 Flat weight tax; vehicles of the second division
Illinois: Illinois General Assembly (ILCS): 625 ILCS 5/3-821 Miscellaneous registration and title fees
Illinois: Illinois General Assembly (ILCS): 815 ILCS 375/11.1 Documentary fee (Motor Vehicle Retail Installment Sales Act)
North Carolina: N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDOT): Title and Registration Fees (rendered tables)
North Carolina: N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDOT): Highway-Use Tax (rendered tables)
Utah: Utah Division of Motor Vehicles (Utah State Tax Commission): Motor Vehicle Portal Fee Estimator result: 2020 gasoline passenger vehicle, Salt Lake City, $20,000 (captured 2026-11-05)
Utah: Utah Division of Motor Vehicles (Utah State Tax Commission): Motor Vehicle Portal Fee Estimator result: same inputs, Electric (captured 2026-11-05)
Utah: Utah Division of Motor Vehicles (Utah State Tax Commission): Motor Vehicle Portal Fee Estimator result: same inputs, Hybrid (captured 2026-11-05)
Utah: Utah Division of Motor Vehicles (Utah State Tax Commission): Motor Vehicle Portal Fee Estimator result: same inputs, Plug-in Hybrid (captured 2026-11-05)

Review decisions

Where official sources disagreed or a value wasn't reachable, a reviewer decided how to show it:

FL: new-vehicle title fee conflict ($77.25 fees page vs $75.25 HSMV 83140): Keep as a range $75.25-$77.25 with both sources shown. Don't pick one.
GA: dealer used-car TAVT base conflict (2025-26 manual: price minus trade-in; older FAQ: assessment value): Use the 2025-26 Motor Vehicle Online Manual (newer, more specific) as primary. Show a note that the county tag office may use the DOR assessment value, with a link to the DOR TAVT Estimator.
VA: title fee $15 (DMV fee chart) vs $10 (cached Code 46.2-627): Use the DMV fee chart ($15): it's what DMV charges and the more recent document. Note the statute figure in the per-state report only.
TN: no title fee in a reachable official source: Keep TN, but make the title fee a user_input ('ask your county clerk') linked to the TN Revenue help center. Never show a number. The page states that TN data comes from the Revenue help center and the County Clerk Tax Manual.
NY: DMV values from Internet Archive copies (2026-05-11 to 2026-10-28): Accepted. Cite each as 'official NY DMV page as archived <date>'. The monitor checks the newest snapshot and also tells users that the NY DMV fee calculator is the authority.
IL: SOS fees from an Internet Archive copy (2026-10-08), cross-checked with statutes: Accepted with the same archive labelling.
NY: Pub 838 (2012) reciprocal-credit list may be outdated: Don't state the NJ/CT/PA no-credit list as current. Say 'credit depends on the other state's rules; see NY Tax TB-ST-765' and link it.
WA: DOL tab-fee page shows the pre-2026 'basic fee $43.25': Use the RCW values (newer law). Show a note that DOL's page may lag.
WA: truck weight fee rises 2% each July from 2026, no current table: Show the statutory base figures as 'at least' values, with a note and the DOL calculator link. Don't extrapolate +2%.
WA: official RTA example $150.00 vs computed $150.48: Allow a $1 tolerance in that textbook test only, with the reason recorded.
NJ: ZEV fee July 2026-June 2027 ($270) not printed: Keep the $250-$290 range. Don't print the arithmetic value as official.
CA: VLF depreciation schedule unreachable (leginfo blocked): The first-year VLF of 0.65% of the price is shown. Renewal VLF is user_input with the DMV VLF calculator link.
UT: indexed fees from browser captures of the official DMV Fee Estimator: Accepted. The source label says 'Utah DMV Fee Estimator, captured <date>'. The monitor must re-capture in January.
General: 'Estimate' framing: Every result says these are estimates of government charges, that the DMV/county calculates the final amount, and links the state's official calculator where one exists.

Monitoring

Each month every source is fetched again, the quoted sections are compared and every quote is re-checked. Changes are reviewed by a person before the site is rebuilt; quarterly local tables and January fee indexing are flagged ahead of time. 120 open notes are kept in the state records for review.

What we don't do

No tax or legal advice, no dealer ratings, no exemptions applied for you, no states outside the 16 we cover.

Estimates of government taxes and fees from official sources; your DMV or county calculates the final amount; not tax or legal advice. Every figure is taken from an official state page (quoted and dated in the sources) and can change. Dealer-set fees are not government fees. Exemptions are described, never applied for you: check the official rule and form.