Tennessee car sales tax and registration fees

The $1,600 rule

Tennessee treats a car as a single article. The Department of Revenue explains the three layers: the 7% state rate applies to the entire price, the local rate of your county or city applies only to the first $1,600, and an extra state tax of 2.75% applies to the part between $1,600 and $3,200. Local rates run from 2% to 2.75%, so the local share of the tax can never exceed $44, and the single article tax is $44 on any car priced above $3,200. Since February 2025, Davidson County's 0.5% transit surcharge has raised the Nashville rate to 2.75%, as the Department’s rate map notes.

What the county clerk collects

Titles and plates are issued by the county clerk where you live. The clerk collects the sales tax on cars bought from private sellers, the tax on the dealer's document fee, the $11 title fee, the $26.50 standard plate and the county wheel tax, which each county sets on its own. Expect the clerk to add processing fees as well. New residents have 30 days to register a car, and a resident who buys out of state pays the difference if the other state's tax was lower.

Electric and hybrid fees, no inspection

An all-electric car pays $200 on top of the plate for renewals through 2026, then $274 in 2027; hybrids and plug-in hybrids pay $100. Both fees follow inflation from 2028. Emissions testing ended in 2022 in Hamilton, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, Wilson and Davidson counties, and there is no safety inspection. Compare with Georgia, which replaced its sales tax on cars with a one-time title tax, or with Mississippi.

What sets Tennessee apart

• Tennessee taxes a car at the 7% state rate on the whole price, then adds the local rate on the first $1,600 only (Tennessee DOR).
• On top of that comes a state single article tax of 2.75% on the slice of the price between $1,600 and $3,200, so at most $44 (Tennessee DOR).
• Because the local rate stops at $1,600, the county you live in changes the tax on a car by $44 at most (Tennessee DOR).
• The sales tax is due on new and used cars alike, including a sale between private individuals, and the county clerk collects it at titling (Tennessee DOR).
• The county clerk also collects sales tax on the dealer's document fee shown on the bill of sale (Tennessee DOR).
• A standard passenger plate costs $26.50 a year before county fees (Tennessee DOR).
• An all-electric car pays an extra $200 at each renewal through 2026 and $274 in 2027, while hybrids and plug-in hybrids pay $100 (Tennessee DOR).
• A trade-in lowers the tax: only the difference between the price of the car bought and the value of the one traded in is taxable (Tennessee DOR).
• Tennessee ended vehicle emissions testing in 2022, in five counties in January and in Davidson County in February (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation).
• The title fee is $11, and noting a lien costs another $11 (Tennessee DOR).

What the Tennessee calculation cannot know

• Counties add a wheel tax and clerk fees to the registration; the Department of Revenue publishes no statewide table, so that line has no amount.
• Local rates are the county-wide rates of the Department of Revenue rate file of March 2025 (the latest copy that could be read; tn.gov refused connections during this check), plus the 0.5% Nashville transit surcharge the Department's rate map shows for Davidson County. Many cities levy a higher rate than their county, up to 2.75%: type your city's rate if it differs.
• The trade-in credit rests on Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-6-510(a), read through the Department's article on traded-in manufactured homes; no vehicle-specific article on trade-ins was found.
• From 2028 the electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid fees are indexed to inflation and the amounts are not published yet; renewals from 2028 show that line without an amount.
• The title fee is the $11 state fee; county clerks may add processing fees that vary by county.