To register an out-of-state car in South Carolina, you start at your county, not the DMV. The county auditor bills the vehicle property tax, you pay it to the county treasurer, and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) titles and registers the car once you bring the original paid receipt, Form 400 and the fees. New residents have 45 days to finish.
This guide follows that order for a car you already own, using a car shipped from New York to Charleston as the example.
How Long Do You Have to Register a Car After Moving to South Carolina?
Forty-five days. The SCDMV page for new residents moving to South Carolina gives you 45 days to transfer your vehicle registration and says that if you own any vehicles, you must register them in South Carolina. That covers every car in the household, not only the one you drive most.
The same page gives you 45 days to apply for a South Carolina driver's license, and you turn in your out-of-state license when you get it. You need proof of identity, your Social Security number and proof of your South Carolina address, and an eight-year license costs $25.
People living in the state temporarily, such as military members and students, are not required to get a South Carolina license, but they must carry a valid license from their home state. Their vehicle paperwork has its own rules, covered further down.
Why Does the County Come Before the SCDMV?
Because South Carolina taxes cars as personal property, and the SCDMV will not title or register a car until that tax is paid. Its Moving to SC vehicle page says you must pay any property taxes with your county treasurer before you transfer your title and registration, and that you must bring the original paid receipt to the SCDMV.
That order catches people who expect one trip to one office. The first stop is your county auditor, who produces the tax bill. The second is the county treasurer, who takes the payment. Only then does the SCDMV visit work, and a copy of the receipt will not do, so keep the original with your Form 400.
The bill depends on your new address, so the county step is the one to start first. Once you have a South Carolina address and the car's details, you can get it moving even while the car is still on its way south.
How Is Your County Vehicle Tax Bill Worked Out?
From three numbers. County auditors use the Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicle Values manual to set the car's fair market value, multiply it by the assessment ratio set by law, 6 percent for personal cars, light trucks and motorcycles, and multiply that assessed value by the millage rate, as the Lexington County Auditor explains. Motor vehicle taxes are also the only personal property taxes due a year in advance, so the bill covers the year ahead.
Millage is local, so two neighbors in different tax districts can pay different amounts for the same car. Charleston County's sample motor vehicle tax bill shows the lines in order: appraisal, assessment ratio, assessment, millage and gross tax, with the district code for the address.
To get the bill, the SCDMV tells new residents to contact the auditor in their county of residence with the car's VIN and its most recent registration card. Charleston County, for example, asks first-time South Carolina registrants for the registration, title or bill of sale, and lets you request a vehicle tax bill online or in person. The official pages do not say how a new resident's first bill is dated, so ask your auditor when you request it. Moving to downtown Charleston? The city's residential parking permit asks for some of the same paperwork, and our guide to the Charleston residential parking permit explains which documents each applicant needs.
After the first year, the county tax is due every year while the SCDMV registration renews every two years, and Charleston County's treasurer notes that the renewal fee appears on the county tax bill every other year. If the car has high mileage, ask about the adjustment: Lexington County bases it on a Department of Revenue table and warns that an appeal does not extend the due date.
What Order Do the Steps Go In?
The SCDMV lists the steps for a first South Carolina title and registration in this order:
- Update your insurance with your South Carolina address, through a company licensed to do business in South Carolina.
- Contact your county auditor with the VIN and your most recent registration card to get the property tax bill.
- Pay the bill to the county treasurer and keep the original receipt.
- Visit the SCDMV with Form 400, your title or registration, ID, insurance details, the receipt and the fees.
- Watch for the South Carolina title in the mail, which arrives after the registration.
The SCDMV's new-resident steps include no safety inspection or emissions test, so once the receipt is in hand, the SCDMV visit finishes the registration.
Coming from New York, keep your New York registration card handy, because the auditor uses it to build the bill. Leave the New York plates on the car and the New York policy in force while the car ships and until the SCDMV has registered it. Our guide to returning New York license plates covers the surrender and when to cancel the New York policy.
What Insurance Do You Need Before You Register?
A policy from a company licensed to do business in South Carolina. The SCDMV makes updating your insurer with your South Carolina address the first step, and it asks for your liability insurance company information at the visit.
The South Carolina Department of Insurance sets the minimums: $25,000 for bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident and $25,000 for property damage. Uninsured motorist coverage is required at the same limits. Insurers must offer underinsured motorist coverage, but buying it is optional.
Ask your insurer to move the policy to your South Carolina address, or buy a South Carolina policy, before you go to the auditor. That way the insurance details are settled before the step that needs them.
What Do You Bring to the SCDMV?
The SCDMV lists these for a first South Carolina title and registration:
- A completed Title Application (Form 400).
- Your out-of-state title, registration, or both.
- Acceptable identification.
- Your liability insurance company information.
- The original paid property tax receipt from your county treasurer.
- The $250 Infrastructure Maintenance Fee and the title and registration fees.
If a lender holds your title, bring the lender's name and address and your valid current registration. If the registration has expired, the SCDMV says you send the information to the lender, and the lender mails it to the SCDMV with the title. If you lease the car and sign Form 400 on behalf of the leasing company, you also need a power of attorney.
ID is the one point where the SCDMV's own pages differ. Its step list accepts an out-of-state license, permit or ID card, while its quick-help lists for financed and owned cars name a South Carolina license, permit or ID card along with Form TI-006C. Getting your South Carolina license first, which you need within 45 days anyway, avoids the question. Otherwise, check with the SCDMV before your visit.
How Much Does It Cost to Register an Out-of-State Car in South Carolina?
For most passenger vehicles, $305 at the SCDMV, plus your county property tax. The SCDMV breaks the $305 into a $250 Infrastructure Maintenance Fee, a $15 title fee and a $40 registration and plate fee. Vehicles with a higher gross vehicle weight may pay more, and a specialty plate raises the plate fee.
The IMF is paid once per vehicle. The Department of Revenue's sales and use tax guide for automobile dealers, which reprints Information Letter 25-5, sets it at $250 when a car first registered in another state by its owner is registered in South Carolina for the first time by the same owner. The $40 registration fee renews every two years, and the county tax is billed every year.
The county tax is the part that varies, because it depends on the car's value and your district's millage. Ask your auditor for the figure rather than budgeting from someone else's bill.
What If You Are Military, a Student or Keep a Second Home Here?
Active duty military members, their spouses and their dependents pay no IMF when they register a car in South Carolina that they previously registered in another state, under Information Letter 25-5. Separately, members whose home of record is not South Carolina do not pay personal property tax on property they own while permanently stationed here. The Lexington County Auditor requires the car to be registered in the service member's name for the full exemption and asks for a new application each year, so talk to your own county auditor before paying a bill you may not owe.
If you title or register a car without a South Carolina license, the SCDMV asks for a Statement of Vehicle Operation (Form TI-006C), linked from its Moving to SC vehicle page. It records that you are an active duty military member in South Carolina, that you are enrolled in a South Carolina school, or that the vehicle is kept here at least six months a year. Students who own their car and have no South Carolina license complete the same form and keep the registration and proof of insurance in the car.
For a car kept at a South Carolina vacation home for at least six months of the year, the SCDMV wants Form TI-006C plus one proof of your connection to the state. That can be a South Carolina proof of address if you own or lease a home here, a letter from your employer if you work here, or Form TI-006A completed with a South Carolina homeowner you live with, who comes to the branch with you.
Why Does the Title Arrive After the Registration?
Because your out-of-state title has to clear the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System first. The SCDMV says you receive your registration before that check is complete, and it mails the new South Carolina title to your South Carolina address once the check clears.
The gap is normal, and it is one more reason to finish the SCDMV visit early in your 45 days. If your registration has expired and a lender holds the title, the lender mails the title to the SCDMV, which adds a step.
Rivalane coordinates door to door transport into South Carolina with licensed, insured carriers. We typically assign a carrier within one to three working days after you book, and pickup and delivery dates are estimates, not guarantees, so line up the county tax bill as soon as your new address is settled.
Our New York to South Carolina car shipping route covers the lane itself, and our page on car shipping in South Carolina covers pickups and deliveries across the state. To price your move, use the car shipping calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to register my car after moving to South Carolina?
How much does it cost to register an out-of-state car in South Carolina?
Can I register my car before I get a South Carolina license?
Is the $250 infrastructure maintenance fee charged every year?
Do military members have to pay the IMF or county vehicle tax?
