Car buyer out-the-door calculator
Estimate the full price of a car, including tax, title, registration, and the dealer doc fee, before you sign.
Live calculator
Prepared October 31, 2026. Estimates from official sources; not legal or tax advice. Confirm with the DMV.
Texas out-the-door price
Totals update as you type. Every fee links to its official source. A fee that is not verified is a field you fill in, not a guessed number.
Desk worksheet. Government fees and the tax base come from the same verified rules as the buyer calculator. Dealer charges are the amounts you enter.
Before you agree
- Ask for the out-the-door total in writing, with every fee named.
- Compare the doc fee with the state rule shown under the field.
- Optional products (nitrogen, etching, appearance packages) are not government fees.
- Negotiate the out-the-door price, not only the monthly payment.
- Check whether a trade-in or rebate changes the tax base in your state.
Government lines above are the recorded state fees. Dealer charges are only what you typed. If the doc fee is over a verified cap, the note under the result says so.
Buyer mode keeps the form short: the price you agreed on, your trade-in, the doc fee the dealer quoted, and the state where you will register the car. The total updates as you type. Dealer-only lines such as a trade payoff or an add-on stay at zero unless someone sent you a shared quote, in which case those lines are visible and locked.
How to use the total
Ask the dealer for the out-the-door figure in writing and compare each government line with the calculator. A doc fee that does not match the state note is worth a question. Optional products are negotiable because they are not required to title the car. It is usually clearer to negotiate the out-the-door price than to negotiate only the monthly payment.
If you already have a buyer’s order, run it through the quote checker. Doc-fee rules for every state are in the doc fee guide. Trade-in tax treatment is in the trade-in guide.
A worked buyer example
A $22,000 used car with a $4,000 trade-in does not produce the same tax in every state. Some states tax the price before the trade-in. The calculator applies the rule recorded for the state you pick and shows the tax line separately from title and registration, so you can see which part is the tax base and which part is a flat fee.