Buying a car in Arkansas
Every figure below is sourced to Arkansas’s own revenue or motor vehicle publications and dated. Estimates only.
Auto loan calculator
The real out-the-door number — including whether your state credits your trade-in against the sales tax.
Auto lease calculator
Money factor, residual, and the payment — taxed by your state's actual method, since some states tax a lease's full value upfront instead of each payment.
Loan payoff calculator
What paying extra actually saves you — in interest and in months — on a car loan, a personal loan, or anything else that amortizes.
0% APR vs. cash rebate
Which dealer offer actually costs less over the life of the loan, and the rate at which they tie.
Personal loan calculator
Payment, total interest, and the effective APR once an origination fee is deducted from what actually reaches your account.
Debt consolidation calculator
Whether one loan actually beats paying your existing debts off as they are — measured against the best you could do without consolidating.
Auto refinance calculator
Whether refinancing your car loan is worth it — including whether a lower payment is being bought with a longer term on a depreciating asset.
Lease vs. buy a car
The same car both ways over the same months, with the resale value credited to the buyer — the part most comparisons leave out.
Arkansas at a glance
- State sales tax
- 6.5%
- Local tax is added on top in most states — treat this as a floor.
- Trade-in credit
- Reduces your tax
- You are taxed on the price less your trade-in allowance.
- Dealer doc fee
- Not confirmed
- We have not confirmed a cap for this state, so we do not claim one.
- Title and registration
- $17.00
- $17.00 registration.
Arkansas taxes the car every year, not just at purchase
A recurring annual tax on the vehicle’s value applies here — assessed at 20% of value at a representative 4.88% rate. It never appears in a monthly payment and is easy to miss when comparing states.Arkansas levies an annual county personal property tax that includes motor vehicles. Assessed value is 20% of market value statewide (Ark. Code Ann. s. 26-26-303). The 4.88% is 48.80 mills, the statewide 'Overall Total' average millage published by the DFA Assessment Coordination Division for the 2025 millage year (2026 collections) — itself an average of per-county averages, composed of 38.52 school mills, 4.17 city and 7.93 county. Actual millage varies materially by school district, city and county, and city mills apply only inside municipal limits. ACD republishes this annually, so the figure moves each year.
Local tax in Arkansas
The 6.5% state rate applies only where the vehicle's gross purchase price is $4,000 or greater; below that no state sales tax is due. Texarkana residents pay 7%. City and county local sales taxes apply in addition.