Buying a car in Virginia
Every figure below is sourced to Virginia’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.
Virginia at a glance
- State sales tax
- 4.15%
- Local tax is added on top in most states — treat this as a floor.
- Trade-in credit
- No credit
- You are taxed on the full price even when you trade a car in.
- Dealer doc fee
- Not confirmed
- We have not confirmed a cap for this state, so we do not claim one.
- Title and registration
- $45.75
- $15.00 title + $30.75 registration.
Virginia taxes a lease up front, not monthly
The whole sales tax on a lease is due at signing here rather than riding on each monthly payment. That is a different method, not a different rate, and it changes what you owe on the day — see the lease calculator above, which applies it.
Virginia taxes the car every year, not just at purchase
A recurring annual tax on the vehicle’s value applies here — assessed at 100% of value at a representative 4% rate. It never appears in a monthly payment and is easy to miss when comparing states.Virginia localities levy a recurring annual tangible personal property tax on vehicles, at rates each sets itself: Richmond $3.70 per $100, Virginia Beach $4.00, Loudoun $3.09, Fairfax $4.57. The 4.0% figure is Virginia Beach's actual published rate, chosen as a representative mid-range value rather than a computed average. Assessed value is normally the January J.D. Power clean trade-in or loan value. TWO CAVEATS: some localities have adopted temporary reduced assessment ratios in particular years, so confirm the current year for any specific locality; and the Personal Property Tax Relief Act subsidises the first $20,000 of assessed value, so the effective rate actually billed is lower than the nominal rate.
Local tax in Virginia
The 4.15% Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax is a single statewide rate collected by DMV at titling, with a $75 minimum, and there is no county or city add-on for ordinary vehicles. Localities do not layer a local sales tax onto a car purchase; they levy a separate recurring annual personal property tax instead. Different rates apply only to mopeds, ATVs and off-road motorcycles (6% in Northern Virginia / Hampton Roads / Central Virginia, 7.0% in the Historic Triangle, 5.3% elsewhere). The dealer processing fee IS part of the taxable price. A separate Highway Use Fee applies to fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.