Out-the-door price in Colorado
How Colorado works
- The local sales tax is set by where you live and register the car, not by where the dealer is. It is 2.9% state tax plus your county, city and special-district taxes. Across Colorado that runs from 2.9% in parts of the eastern plains to about 10%. City addresses in the Denver area mostly pay 7% to 9.2%; unincorporated addresses pay about 4% to 5% because they have no city tax.
- Some Colorado local taxes are sales taxes only. Examples are the 0.75% Adams County tax and the 0.5% Jefferson County tax. They apply only when the dealer is in the same county or city as you, or when you buy from a resident. Buy from a dealer outside that area and they aren't charged. The rate we show assumes you buy from a dealer in your own county where the county has car dealers, and leaves out city and district sales-only taxes. In ZIPs where this changes the total there are extra rows for a dealer inside or outside your area.
- Your trade-in comes off the taxable price, with no dollar cap. Manufacturer rebates do not: tax is figured on the price before the rebate. A discount from the dealer does lower the taxable price.
- The doc fee is taxed in Colorado because you can't decline it. Colorado has no cap on it, but the dealer has to include it in the advertised price.
- Optional extended warranties and service contracts are not taxed when they are separate from the sale and listed on their own line. Accessories the dealer installs are taxed. Mandatory fees are taxed.
- The dealer collects the sales tax, issues a 60-day temporary permit and sends your title paperwork to the county. You pay the title fee and the registration, specific ownership tax and plates at your county motor vehicle office when you register, or at the dealer if it offers that. Both are in the calculator's total because you pay them either way.
- The specific ownership tax is the big registration item: 85% of the car's original MSRP times 2.10% in the first year, falling each year to $3 from the tenth year. A $35,000 new car owes about $625 the first year. Enter the MSRP for a close figure.
- Colorado does not let you transfer plates from another car. You get a new set.
Rules last verified Oct 11, 2026. Our methodology.
Try it for your ZIP
What a Colorado advertised price has to include
Colorado's dealer board already requires a dealer's advertised price to include all costs to the buyer at delivery except sales tax, finance charges, the cost of an emissions test, other government fees and taxes, and transportation after the sale. The Board has said that includes the dealer's document fee, and the FTC expects the same: every fee the dealer charges belongs in the advertised price, so only government charges like sales tax, title and registration can be added on top. That still isn't your out-the-door number; the calculator above adds the rest for your ZIP.
Federal law comes first
The FTC requires a dealer's advertised price to include every fee the dealer charges. Only charges the government requires you to pay, like tax, title and registration, can be left out. Where a state's rules let a dealer leave a fee out, the dealer still has to follow the federal rule, so the fee goes in. The FTC says a state's doc-fee rules can add disclosures, but they don't change the price that has to be advertised. Read the FTC's guidance.
Colorado's rule and the FTC conflict on emissions-test charges
Colorado's advertising rule lets a dealer leave the cost of an emissions test out of the advertised price. Colorado dealers must hand a used-car buyer a passing test or a voucher for one. The FTC expects any charge the dealer passes on to be in the advertised price, including a fee the government requires the dealer to pay. So the two conflict on that charge. Ask whether a price includes a test charge, and get the out-the-door price in writing.
What the FTC expects in the advertised price
- The dealer's document fee, which Colorado does not cap, and anything the dealer calls a handling, "D&H", compliance or acquisition fee
- Freight (destination) and dealer preparation charges
- Anything the dealer has added to the car, such as accessories and add-on packages
- Any other fee the dealer requires, whatever it is called
- An emissions-test charge the dealer passes on (Colorado lets it be left out; the FTC expects it in)
Can still be added on top
- Sales tax: 2.9% state tax plus your city, county and district taxes
- The $7.20 title fee, the specific ownership tax, registration fees and plates you pay your county
- Finance charges, and transportation to your home after the sale if you ask for it
- Optional products you choose to buy, such as a service contract or GAP coverage
- The rule: Colorado's Motor Vehicle Dealer Board treats an ad as misleading if it states a price "without including all costs to the purchaser at the time of delivery," apart from the listed exceptions. A dealer can show the price as "price + handling fee = total," but only if the total is displayed at least as prominently as the other figures.
- The Board's 2015 memo says a dealer can't add a handling fee after the advertised price, or tuck it into fine print, and that the same goes for a fee called a "dealer document fee," "compliance fee" or "acquisition fee."
- A general "total price" law: since January 1, 2026 Colorado law has required a seller to state the total price, including mandatory fees but not government charges, as a single number shown more prominently than other prices (C.R.S. 6-1-737, HB25-1090). We found no state guidance written for car dealers.
- Price honoring: a dealer has to sell an advertised vehicle at the advertised price for a few days after the last ad runs unless the ad gives an end date.
- Rebates and discounts: an ad for a specific rebate on a new car has to show the MSRP, and a dealer can't combine offers it can't deliver.
More in our guide: Do dealers have to put fees in the advertised price? What actually changed for 2026
See every state: Which states let dealers leave the doc fee out of the advertised price?
Colorado in detail
Rates by county in Colorado
Counties where the rate differs from the rest of Colorado, or changes from one city to the next. The 63 listed here are the ones where your county actually changes the number.
| County | Combined rate | ZIPs |
|---|---|---|
| Denver County | 9.15% | 60 |
| Adams County | 3%–9.75% | 79 |
| Broomfield County | 8.15% | 5 |
| Arapahoe County | 3.25%–8.05% | 81 |
| Hinsdale County | 6.9%–9.15% | 2 |
| Delta County | 2.9%–9.5% | 24 |
| Alamosa County | 2.9%–8.4% | 10 |
| La Plata County | 2.9%–9.9% | 21 |
| Sedgwick County | 5.9%–8.2% | 7 |
| Fremont County | 5.4%–8.7% | 17 |
| Boulder County | 5.335%–9.335% | 43 |
| Mesa County | 4.9%–8.66% | 49 |
| El Paso County | 5.13%–9.03% | 106 |
| Conejos County | 4.9%–8.9% | 12 |
| Crowley County | 4.9%–6.9% | 7 |
| Custer County | 4.9%–7.9% | 3 |
| Lincoln County | 4.9%–7.9% | 12 |
| Montrose County | 3.9%–8.65% | 29 |
| Jefferson County | 4%–8.75% | 91 |
| Las Animas County | 4.4%–8.4% | 12 |
| Washington County | 4.4%–6.9% | 12 |
| Garfield County | 3.15%–10.15% | 26 |
| Pitkin County | 4.05%–10.65% | 16 |
| Douglas County | 4%–8.1% | 27 |
| Larimer County | 3.95%–8.95% | 48 |
| Bent County | 3.9%–7.9% | 5 |
| Elbert County | 3.9%–7.9% | 13 |
| Logan County | 3.9%–7% | 12 |
| Otero County | 3.9%–8.9% | 14 |
| Phillips County | 3.9%–7.4% | 6 |
| Prowers County | 3.9%–7.9% | 10 |
| Pueblo County | 3.9%–7.6% | 28 |
| Routt County | 3.9%–8.9% | 18 |
| Teller County | 3.9%–8.4% | 15 |
| Montezuma County | 3.3%–7.69% | 12 |
| Summit County | 3.025%–8.875% | 13 |
| Archuleta County | 2.9%–7.9% | 8 |
| Baca County | 2.9%–5.9% | 8 |
| Chaffee County | 2.9%–8.65% | 15 |
| Cheyenne County | 2.9%–4.9% | 6 |
| Clear Creek County | 2.9%–10.55% | 14 |
| Costilla County | 2.9%–8.9% | 11 |
| Dolores County | 2.9%–8.97% | 7 |
| Eagle County | 2.9%–9.69% | 31 |
| Gilpin County | 2.9%–8.9% | 4 |
| Grand County | 2.9%–11.2% | 20 |
| Gunnison County | 2.9%–9.9% | 26 |
| Huerfano County | 2.9%–9.9% | 8 |
| Jackson County | 2.9%–7.9% | 8 |
| Kiowa County | 2.9%–4.9% | 5 |
| Kit Carson County | 2.9%–5.9% | 10 |
| Lake County | 2.9%–7.4% | 6 |
| Mineral County | 2.9%–9.5% | 2 |
| Moffat County | 2.9%–7% | 13 |
| Morgan County | 2.9%–7.9% | 13 |
| Ouray County | 2.9%–9.45% | 6 |
| Park County | 2.9%–8.9% | 22 |
| Rio Grande County | 2.9%–9.5% | 8 |
| Saguache County | 2.9%–9.5% | 13 |
| San Juan County | 2.9%–10.4% | 2 |
| San Miguel County | 2.9%–9.47% | 12 |
| Weld County | 2.9%–8.4% | 71 |
| Yuma County | 2.9%–6.65% | 10 |
Colorado OTD questions, answered
Does a trade-in reduce sales tax in Colorado?
Yes — Colorado taxes the difference: your trade-in's value is subtracted before tax is computed.
Are manufacturer rebates taxed in Colorado?
Effectively yes — tax is computed before the rebate is applied, so you pay tax on the pre-rebate price.
Is the doc fee capped in Colorado?
No — doc fees are uncapped in Colorado; buyers report a typical $636.00. It's negotiable as part of your total OTD.
What does a Colorado dealer's advertised price have to include?
Every cost you pay the dealer at delivery, including the document fee, freight and dealer prep. Colorado's rule leaves out sales tax, finance charges, an emissions-test cost, government fees and taxes, and transportation after the sale. The FTC expects any emissions charge the dealer passes on to be in the price, so the two differ only on that.
Is there a cap on the doc fee in Colorado?
No. Colorado sets no dollar limit and no formula. The dealer has to include it in the advertised price, and it is subject to sales tax because it is not optional.
Who collects the sales tax on a car in Colorado?
The dealer collects state and local sales tax when you buy and sends in your title paperwork. Whatever local tax the dealer could not collect, because you live in a different city or county, is collected by your county clerk when you register. The rate follows your home address.
When do I register the car?
Within 60 days of the purchase. The dealer gives you a temporary permit good for 60 days. After the county processes the title it mails a notice and you register online or at the county office. Late registration costs $25 a month, up to $100.