Arkansas car registration and title fees

• Title fee — $10.00. Certificate of title, issued by the Office of Motor Vehicle when you register the car. Charged once, when it is first titled in your name. (DFA Motor Vehicle Registration Fee Schedule (MyDMV edition, 2024-11-06); DFA DSMV FAQs)
• Registration (by weight) — $25.00. One year of registration. Arkansas sets it by the car's unladen weight: $17 up to 3,000 lb, $25 from 3,001 to 4,500 lb, $30 above 4,500 lb. A pickup or van rated up to three-quarter ton pays a flat $21. This uses the middle bracket, which most sedans and crossovers fall in. (A.C.A. 27-14-601(a); DFA Motor Vehicle Registration Fee Schedule)
• Validation decal — $2.50. The year decal for your plate. (DFA Motor Vehicle Registration Fee Schedule)
• Postage — $0.50. The Office of Motor Vehicle's mailing charge on a registration. It rises by $1 if the plate has to be mailed from Little Rock. (DFA Motor Vehicle Registration Fee Schedule)
• Plate transfer fee — $1.00. Moving your plate from the car you're replacing. If the new car is in a heavier weight class you also pay the difference between the two registration fees; that difference is not included here. (DFA Motor Vehicle Registration Fee Schedule)
• Electric vehicle fee — $200.00. An extra annual fee on an electric car, charged on top of the weight-based registration. It renews every year. (A.C.A. 27-14-614(b)(1); Act 416 of 2019; DFA fee schedule)
• Plug-in hybrid fee — $100.00. An extra annual fee on a plug-in hybrid, charged on top of the weight-based registration. It renews every year. (A.C.A. 27-14-614(b)(3); Act 376 of 2021 (eff. 2022-01-01))
• Hybrid fee — $50.00. An extra annual fee on a hybrid that does not plug in, charged on top of the weight-based registration. It renews every year. (A.C.A. 27-14-614(b)(2); Act 376 of 2021 (eff. 2022-01-01))
• Lien filing fee — $0.50. Recording your lender's lien on the title. Charged only when you finance. (DFA Motor Vehicle Registration Fee Schedule)

• Buyer's temporary tag (est.) — $1.00 (government-mandated). The paper tag that covers you until your plate is issued. The dealer prints it, or the revenue office does if the dealer can't. You pay the actual cost, never more than $1, when you register. It is a state charge, so it goes on top of the advertised price. Not needed if you move your own plate. (DFA Rule 2005-7 (dealer plates and temporary tags), section C(1)(e), as amended by Act 484 of 2009; Ark. Code Ann. 27-14-403)

• Arkansas taxes cars as personal property every year. You have to assess the car with your county assessor before you can register it, and you need proof of assessment and of last year's property tax paid to renew. The assessed value is 20% of the car's market value times your local millage, which averages about 45 to 56 mills by county, so expect roughly 1% of the car's value each year. The county bills it in the fall. It is not in this total.
• You have 60 days from the purchase to title and register the car. Late, you owe a 10% penalty on the sales tax, plus $3 for each 10 days up to the amount of the annual registration fee.
• Liability insurance is required, and the state checks it when you renew. Registration renews every year; the weight-based fee stays the same.

• The $200 electric vehicle fee comes back with every yearly registration renewal.
• The $100 plug-in hybrid fee comes back with every yearly registration renewal.
• The $50 hybrid fee comes back with every yearly registration renewal.

• Registering the car: in Arkansas the law makes you, the buyer, pay the sales tax and register the car at a state revenue office within 60 days of the purchase. The dealer's paper tag covers you meanwhile. Many dealers offer to file the paperwork; if yours does, ask for an itemized receipt, because state law lets a dealer fill in the forms but not charge separately for it; the service and handling fee is what covers that work. The tax, title and registration are in the calculator's total because you pay them either way.
• The rate is set by where you register the car, not where the dealer is: the 6.5% state tax on the whole taxable amount, plus your city's and your county's local taxes, which apply only to the first $2,500. Local tax is therefore never more than $2,500 times your local rate: about $87.50 at 3.5%.

Source: Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration — Local Tax Lookup Tools (TaxRateFile.txt) · rules last verified Oct 11, 2026. Methodology.