Buying a car in Delaware
Every figure below is sourced to Delaware’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.
Delaware at a glance
- State sales tax
- 0%
- Trade-in credit
- Not applicable
- Delaware charges no sales tax on a car, so there is nothing for a trade-in to reduce.
- Dealer doc fee
- Not confirmed
- We have not confirmed a cap for this state, so we do not claim one.
- Title and registration
- $40.00
- $40.00 registration.
Local tax in Delaware
Delaware has NO state or local sales tax — 0% explicitly. BUT a vehicle purchase is not tax-free: Delaware levies a DOCUMENT FEE on titling which functions as the state's equivalent charge. Effective 2025-10-01 (HB 164) it rose from 4.25% to 5.25% of purchase price or NADA book value, whichever is greater — statutorily $5.25 per each $100 or fraction thereof, rounded to the nearest dollar. Minimum fees are unchanged: $8.00 for a price of $0-399 and $13.75 for $400-500. UNLIKE the sales tax that does not exist here, this document fee IS computed net of a trade-in, so a calculator must not use the trade-in boolean to decide the doc-fee base.