North Carolina Used Car Cost Calculator

A used car priced at $20,000.00 in North Carolina will cost you between $713.00 and $944.50 in sales tax, title, and registration fees, on top of the purchase price.

Showing an example at $20,000 — enter your own purchase price below for a number that's actually yours.

That range isn't guesswork — here is exactly what moves it:

• County/regional registration tax (Durham, Orange, Randolph, Wake only): Official NCDMV Title & Registration Fees table, 'Regional Fees & Taxes' section: only four counties charge this, each as two separate line items -- 'County Registration Tax' ($7 in Durham, Orange, and Wake; $1 in Randolph) plus 'Regional Transportation Tax' ($10 in Durham, Orange, and Wake; $1 in Randolph). Combined per-county total: Durham/Orange/Wake $17.00, Randolph $2.00, all other North Carolina counties $0.00 (not listed in the source table, so not charged). This is a REGISTRATION tax, separate from the Highway-Use Tax above.
• Electric/plug-in hybrid vehicle registration fee: NCDMV form MVR-94 (rev. 7/24, https://www.ncdot.gov/dmv/downloads/Documents/MVR-94.pdf): an additional annual fee on top of the standard registration fee above -- $214.50/year for a fully electric vehicle, or $107.25/year for a plug-in hybrid. $0 for a gasoline vehicle or a non-plug-in hybrid, which this calculator cannot distinguish from an EV/plug-in hybrid since it has no fuel-type input. For a used-EV buyer this fee alone can be a large fraction of the total shown on this page -- check MVR-94 for your exact vehicle.