Buying a used car in Pennsylvania: tax, title and inspection

How much sales tax do you pay on a used car in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania charges 6 percent sales tax on a vehicle's purchase price or current market value. Residents of Allegheny County pay 7 percent and residents of Philadelphia pay 8 percent. In the other 65 counties, including Lawrence, Mercer, Butler and Beaver, the rate is 6 percent.

A trade-in lowers the bill. When the seller takes your old vehicle as a trade-in, the tax applies only to the difference between the purchase price and the trade-in value. On a $20,000 car with a $5,000 trade-in, you pay tax on $15,000, which is $900 at 6 percent instead of $1,200.

Title, registration and the license plate

When you buy from a licensed dealer, the dealer normally prepares the title and registration paperwork and lists the fees on your purchase documents. Ask to see those fees itemized, so that you can tell the state's charges from anything added to them.

A private sale takes more of your own effort. PennDOT requires the seller's signature on a Pennsylvania title to be notarized or verified, and it recommends that buyer and seller meet at the office of an authorized agent, tag service or dealer to complete the transfer. The buyer then has 20 days to submit the title documents.

A Pennsylvania plate stays with the seller and is never handed over with the car, so a private purchase also means arranging your own registration before you drive it home.

• A valid government-issued photo ID
• Proof of insurance on the vehicle
• Your lender's details, if you arranged your own loan

Do you need an emissions test in Lawrence County?

Pennsylvania requires an annual safety inspection, and emissions testing is a separate requirement that depends on the county where the vehicle is registered. Lawrence County is not named in the state's emission inspection regulation, and neither is Butler County.

Beaver and Mercer counties are named, along with Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland. So a car registered in New Castle needs the safety inspection, while the same car registered in Hermitage or Sharon, which are in Mercer County, also falls under the emissions program. Where the program applies, it covers gasoline vehicles from model year 1975 onward with a gross weight rating of 9,000 pounds or less, other than the current model year.

Ask when the current inspection sticker expires, because the next inspection is yours to arrange and pay for. If you are unsure about your county, a certified inspection station can confirm it.

Read the Buyers Guide on the window

Federal rules require a dealer to display a Buyers Guide on every used car it offers for sale. It says whether the vehicle is sold as is or with a warranty, and it is worth reading before you talk about price. Our guide to used-car warranties and as-is sales explains what each box means.

Two checks before you sign

Run the VIN through the free NHTSA recall lookup, because open recalls are easy to miss on a vehicle that has changed hands.

Then ask for the out-the-door total in writing: the price, the tax, the title and registration fees, and any dealer fees. That one figure is the fair way to compare two cars or two dealers.