Kansas car registration and title fees

• Title fee — $10.00. The certificate of title in your name, paid to your county treasurer when you register the car, which you do within 60 days. The same on a new or a used car. (K.S.A. 8-135(c)(4))
• Registration (by weight) — $30.00. One year of registration for a car up to 4,500 pounds. A car over 4,500 pounds pays $40, and many SUVs and large cars do. This uses $30 because the calculator does not know the weight. Your first registration runs only to the month set by the first letter of your last name, so the first bill can be less. (K.S.A. 8-143(a)(4)(A)-(B))
• Registration (pickup or truck, 12,000 lb or less) — $40.00. One year of registration for a truck with a gross weight of 12,000 pounds or less. Your first registration runs only to the month set by the first letter of your last name, so the first bill can be less. (K.S.A. 8-143(b)(1))
• Registration (hybrid) — $70.00. One year of registration for an electric hybrid car. It takes the place of the $30 or $40 weight fee. Kansas raised it from $50 on January 1, 2026. (K.S.A. 8-143(a)(4)(C); 2025 HB 2122)
• Registration (plug-in hybrid) — $100.00. One year of registration for a plug-in hybrid car. It takes the place of the $30 or $40 weight fee. Kansas raised it from $50 on January 1, 2026. (K.S.A. 8-143(a)(4)(D); 2025 HB 2122)
• Registration (all-electric) — $165.00. One year of registration for an all-electric car. It takes the place of the $30 or $40 weight fee, and it is how Kansas collects road-use money from electric cars. Kansas raised it from $100 on January 1, 2026. (K.S.A. 8-143(a)(4)(E); 2025 HB 2122)
• Registration (hybrid or plug-in hybrid truck) — $125.00. One year of registration for an electric hybrid or plug-in hybrid truck of 12,000 pounds or less. It takes the place of the $40 truck fee. (K.S.A. 8-143(b)(1); 2025 HB 2122)
• Registration (all-electric truck) — $200.00. One year of registration for an all-electric truck of 12,000 pounds or less. It takes the place of the $40 truck fee. (K.S.A. 8-143(b)(1); 2025 HB 2122)
• Plate transfer fee — $1.50. Moving the plate from the car you are replacing. If the new car's fee class costs more, you also pay the difference, which the calculator does not add. You keep the old registration month, so no new registration fee is charged. (K.S.A. 8-135(a); K.S.A. 8-143(d))
• County service fee — $5.00. A $5 fee the county treasurer collects on every registration, on top of the registration fee. (K.S.A. 8-145d)
• County registration transaction fee — $5.00. Each county treasurer may add up to $5 in a county with more than one registration office, or up to $2.50 where it has one. Johnson and Sedgwick counties charge $5. From January 1, 2027, a county commission may raise it to as much as $10 through 2029. Your county's amount may differ. (K.S.A. 8-145d, as amended by 2026 SB 325)
• Highway Patrol staffing and training surcharge — $2.00. A $2 state surcharge on each vehicle registration. (K.S.A. 8-1,176)
• Vehicle registration surcharge — $1.25. A $1.25 state surcharge on each vehicle registration. County treasurers list it as the law enforcement training surcharge. (K.S.A. 8-1,177)
• Division of vehicles modernization surcharge — $4.00. A $4 state surcharge on each vehicle registration. (K.S.A. 75-5160)
• Lien processing fee — $1.50. The county treasurer's fee for processing and mailing the title application to your lender. (K.S.A. 8-135(c)(5))

• Tire excise tax — $1.00 (government-mandated). A state tax of 25 cents on each new tire mounted on a car sold at retail for the first time. The dealer collects it and counts four tires, not the spare. It is a government charge on you, separate from sales tax. (K.S.A. 65-3424d; KDOR Pub. KS-1526)
• Temporary permit (est.) — $3.00 (dealer fee). The 60-day temporary registration the dealer issues so you can drive until you register the car. The dealer buys each permit from the state for $3. Kansas does not say whether a dealer may pass it on, and some do not. A charge the dealer pays and passes on belongs in the advertised price. (K.S.A. 8-2409(a))

• Kansas taxes a car as personal property every year, and the county collects the tax when you register and again at each renewal. The tax is 20% of a formula value times your county's average vehicle mill rate. The value starts from the car's original MSRP, drops 15% a year, and has a $24 minimum. For a car with a $40,000 MSRP in its first year, the formula value is about $33,000, so the tax is roughly $590 a year in Johnson County, $640 in Sedgwick County, $825 in Shawnee County and $890 in Wyandotte County. It is not in this total. KDOR's vehicle property tax calculator gives the exact figure.
• You register the car with your county treasurer within 60 days of buying it, and a $2 penalty is added after that. Your registration and property tax run to the month set by the first letter of your last name (A in February through U, X, Y and Z in December), so the first bill can cover fewer than 12 months. This total shows a full year.
• Each year you renew for the registration fee, the state surcharges ($7.25 in all), the county service fee ($5) and any county transaction fee, plus the property tax.

• The $165 all-electric fee ($200 for a truck) is the car's whole registration fee, not an add-on to the $30 or $40 weight fee. It renews every year at the same amount.
• The hybrid fee ($70) or plug-in hybrid fee ($100) is the car's whole registration fee, not an add-on to the $30 or $40 weight fee. A hybrid or plug-in hybrid truck pays $125. It renews every year at the same amount.

• Registering the car: in Kansas you title and register the car yourself at your county treasurer's office within 60 days of buying it. The dealer collects the sales tax at the sale, gives you a receipt (form DST-8) to take with you, and issues a 60-day temporary permit. The title, registration and county fees in the total are paid at the treasurer's office.
• Sales tax is 6.5% state plus local tax. The dealer charges the rate at the dealership's location. If the rate where you live is higher, you pay the difference to the county treasurer when you register, so you always end up paying the higher of the two. The calculator uses the rate for your ZIP, which is right when you buy in or near your own town. If you enter the dealer's ZIP in the optional dealer field, it uses the higher of the two rates. A dealership inside a community improvement or transportation development district can add 1 to 2 points more, which a ZIP cannot show.
• Registration depends on weight, which is not on the window sticker, so this estimate uses $30 for a car and $40 for a pickup. Cars over 4,500 pounds pay $40. Hybrids, plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars pay a higher flat fee that replaces the weight fee.
• A used car with a title from another state needs a Highway Patrol VIN inspection before you can register it. It costs $20 and is not in the total.

Source: Kansas Department of Revenue — Pub. KS-1526 and Local Sales Tax Rate Files (Pub. 1700) · rules last verified Oct 11, 2026. Methodology.