Ohio Used Car Cost Calculator

A used car priced at $20,000.00 in Ohio will cost you between $1,371.00 and $2,104.00 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:

• Local sales tax: Depends on the county you register in. Pick your county for an exact figure.
• County/local permissive registration tax: Ohio law (assessed per the BMV's published registration-fee page) lets each taxing district -- finer-grained than county -- levy a permissive tax in $5 increments, capped at $30/vehicle/year (prorated 50% for 7-month-or-shorter registrations). It is not derivable from county alone. Ask your county auto title/BMV office or use OPLATES.com's estimator for your specific address.
• County additional title-fee surcharge: Ohio Revised Code 4505.09 lets a county's board of commissioners adopt a resolution raising the $18 statewide title fee to $23 for titles issued in that county. Whether your county has adopted this is not published in a single statewide table; check with your county clerk of courts title office.
• Dealer documentation (documentary service) fee: Set by the dealer, capped by Ohio Revised Code 4517.261 at whichever is less of: the Registrar's CPI-adjusted maximum (widely reported as $398 for 2026, but the Registrar publishes the exact current figure on the Department of Public Safety website rather than in statute text, and that specific publication could not be located during this pass), or 10% of the vehicle's price excluding tax/title/registration. Ask to see the current cap before you sign.