Indiana vehicle taxes & fees

In short

Seven percent, and no county version of it

The rate does not change with your address, which removes the single most common source of confusion in other states. At a dealership the 7% applies after the trade-in allowance comes off, so a $10,000 trade against a $30,000 purchase drops the taxable base to $20,000 and saves $700. Private-party buyers get no trade-in credit and pay the 7% themselves at the BMV branch when they title the car, because the seller never collected it. Indiana also runs a fair-market-value check on private sales: if the stated price sits well below the vehicle's Kelley Blue Book value, the Department of Revenue can assess the 7% on that higher figure instead. A signed bill of sale on BMV Form 44237 is the documentation the branch looks for.

The excise tax is most of your registration

Excise tax is keyed to the original window-sticker price, not what you paid for the car used and not what it is worth today, so two identical-trim vehicles from the same model year land in the same class no matter what either owner spent. Class XVII covers anything with an MSRP of $42,500 and up: $532 in year one, $461 in year two, $304 across years three and four, $135 through years five to eight, and $63 from year nine. Class X ($12,500 to $14,999 MSRP) runs $172 down to $50 over the same span, and Class I, under $1,500 MSRP, stays at $12 for life. There is no way to negotiate it down at the counter; only time moves it.

County wheel tax and surtax, where adopted

This is the one part of an Indiana registration that genuinely depends on your address. Dozens of the state's 92 county councils have adopted a wheel tax, a motor vehicle excise surtax, or both, and each sets its own rate. Marion County, covering Indianapolis, currently charges $77.50 combined for a passenger car. A typical adopting county such as Allen sits nearer $40. Hamilton County adopted one decades ago and later rescinded it, so it charges nothing today, and plenty of rural counties never adopted one at all. The amount does not fall as the vehicle ages the way excise tax does, so it becomes a larger share of the bill on an older car.

EV, hybrid and motorcycle surcharges

Battery-electric vehicles pay a $221 annual supplemental fee and hybrids and plug-in hybrids pay $74, both indexed since January 2024 to stand in for the gas tax those vehicles do not generate at the pump. Both ride on top of the base fee, the $15 infrastructure fee, the excise tax and any county wheel tax. Motorcycles pay a higher base registration than cars, $26.35 against $21.35, but carry the same infrastructure fee and the same 17-class excise schedule, and because their original MSRP is usually well below a car's they generally land in a cheaper excise class. Low-powered mopeds and scooters that meet Indiana's speed and engine-size definition are exempt from titling and registration entirely.

Forty-five days to title, and no grace period on renewal

Indiana gives a buyer 45 days from the date of purchase to get the title into their name, and the transfer has to happen in person at a BMV branch - myBMV handles renewals but not first-time transfers, because staff have to review the physical title and any lien. Miss the 45th day and a flat $30 administrative penalty applies. It is one-time and does not compound month after month the way escalating penalties do elsewhere. Renewals are stricter: a $15 administrative penalty attaches the day after expiration with no grace period at all. Your expiration month is assigned by the first letters of your last name rather than your birthday, so the BMV's Registration Expiration Schedule, not your driver's license, tells you when you are due.