Buying a car in South Carolina
Every figure below is sourced to South Carolina’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.
South Carolina at a glance
- State sales tax
- 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
- $55.00
- $15.00 title + $40.00 registration.
Local tax in South Carolina
South Carolina is structurally unlike every other state here. Vehicle sales AND leases titled in SC are EXEMPT from state and local sales and use tax under S.C. Code s. 12-36-2120(83). In its place the buyer pays a one-time Infrastructure Maintenance Fee to the SCDMV at registration: 5% of gross proceeds, CAPPED AT $500. The cap is the whole story — the effective rate is 5% only up to about $9,999, and at $10,000 and above it is a flat $500 no matter how expensive the car. A vehicle first registered in another state and later registered here by the same owner pays a flat $250 instead. SEPARATELY, SC levies a recurring annual county vehicle property tax: passenger vehicles are assessed at a 6% ratio and multiplied by millage set annually by each county, municipality and school district. No representative millage is published by the state, so annualVehiclePropertyTax is omitted rather than half-populated.