Let’s say I buy a new car from a dealer. What is a reasonable tag and title fee?
(I know, it varies by state)
Tag and title is probably somewhere around $80 to $100. Plus you’ll have sales tax on the car.
Depends on what state you’re in. You can probably find the exact info online from your state’s motor vehicles dept website.
Here in MA, the title fee (transferring the previous title to you) is $75. If you’re transferring your registration/plate from one car to another, there’s a $25 transfer fee. If it’s a new registration, I believe it’s a $50 fee. The age of the car does not matter for those transactions. It’s the same whether the car is new or used. The difference would be if you had taken a loan out to buy the car, the title will be sent to the lien holder and not to you. Price is still the same.
The big difference between different ages and types of cars is in the sales tax, if your state charges that, and in your insurance premium. In Mass, you’re charged 6.25% of either the amount you paid for the car or the listed trade-in value, whichever is higher. So if your buddy sells you his 2009 Cadillac Escalade and lists the selling price as $10, you’re going to pay the sales tax on the full amount of the NADA listed trade-in value, not on the $10.
Insurance, of course, depends on how old the car is, what type of car it is, what type of coverage you get, where you park it, where you live, whether you use it for business or personal use, how many miles you drive yearly, whether you have a lienholder (and have to have full coverage), your age and your driving record and the ages/driving records of any other listed driver. There’s also multi-driver discounts, discounts for having home and/or life insurance with the same agency, etc. Again, that’s in MA, but is probably fairly typical.
Your best bet is to look up your state’s Motor Vehicles department to get their standard fees and call an insurance company with the specific make/model/year you’re looking at and they can give you an estimate on your yearly insurance costs. Shop around, too. Depending on where you live, you can get different insurance rates from different companies.