Illinois Title Transfer for a Private Sale: VSD 190, RUT-50 and Fees

In an Illinois private-party sale, the seller signs and dates the title and hands it over at delivery. The buyer then has 20 days to get the title into their own name with the Secretary of State. You file a VSD 190 application with the signed title, plus Form RUT-50 and a separate payment for the private party vehicle use tax. Title and plate transfer together run $190, and the tax depends on the car's age or price. Plates stay with the seller.

Here is the part that surprises people coming from other states. Illinois does not charge regular sales tax on a private sale. RUT-50 uses a flat table, so a ten-year-old commuter bought for $6,000 can owe less tax than the title fee. I checked the Department of Revenue's RUT-50 instructions (revision R-04/26) on the morning of October 16, 2026. The Secretary of State site would not connect to our link checker at all, so its pages and its "Buying or Selling a Vehicle in Illinois" brochure are cited by name without links.

What the seller does

The Secretary of State brochure tells sellers to give the buyer a valid title at delivery, signed and dated when the sale is final. Sellers also fill out the Notice of Sale form attached to the bottom of the title and mail it to the Secretary of State. If your title has no Notice of Sale stub, the form can be downloaded from ilsos.gov. Take your plates off before the buyer drives away. In Illinois, plates belong to the owner, not the vehicle, and you can move them only to another vehicle you own.

Buyers, the same brochure gives you a short checklist worth following. Never accept a title with alterations or erasure marks, because those void it. Confirm the seller's name matches the title and the VIN on the title matches the car, and make sure every prior lien has been released. Get the seller's phone number in case the title has a problem later. Our VIN verification for title transfer guide shows where to find the VIN on the dash and door jamb so you can match them before money changes hands.

RUT-50: the Illinois private party use tax

RUT-50 is due within 30 days of buying the car, but the Secretary of State will not issue your title or plates without it, so in practice you file it before the 20-day title deadline. The RUT-50 instructions use two tables. Below $15,000, Table A charges by vehicle age: $465 for a car one year old or less, then $365, $290, $240, $190, $165, $155, $140, $125, $115, and $100 once the car is eleven or more years old. At $15,000 and up, Table B charges by price: $850 for $15,000 to $19,999.99, $1,100 up to $24,999.99, $1,350 up to $29,999.99, $1,600 up to $49,999.99, and $2,600 up to $99,999.99. There are higher brackets above that.

Some quick math using the form's own age method (title year minus model year). A 2016 sedan bought for $9,000 and titled in 2026 is ten years old, so it owes $115. A 2023 crossover bought for $18,000 is over $15,000, so Table B applies and it owes $850. Trade-ins are not allowed on RUT-50. If there is no stated price, as with a gift or an even swap, fair market value is used. Buying from a spouse (including civil union), parent, brother, sister or child gets a $15 flat tax. Stepparents, in-laws and grandparents do not qualify. Some local governments add their own private party tax, and the Department of Revenue points you to its RUT-6 guide for those.

One trap I want to flag. If you file through MyTax Illinois, you have to print the completed RUT-50 and give it to the Secretary of State, because the title application cannot be processed without that printout. The Department of Revenue's vehicle tax page also suggests attaching the bill of sale to head off later notices. Writing a lowball price on the form so the buyer saves a few hundred dollars is the kind of thing that triggers those notices.

VSD 190, fees and the seven-day ERT window

The title application is the VSD 190, Application for Vehicle Transaction(s). The Secretary of State's Electronic Registration and Title system lets you fill it out and print it online. You then have seven days to take it, with your documents and payment, to a Secretary of State facility, or you can mail it with a check or money order. Paper filers pay the tax with a separate check or money order made out to the Illinois Department of Revenue. Per the Secretary of State's plate-transfer page, Title and Transfer costs $190 ($165 title plus $25 to move plates you already own), and online ERT cannot do a transfer-only transaction.

Moving into Illinois with a car you already own? RUT-50 still applies, but people who used the vehicle outside Illinois for at least three months can claim an exemption, as long as they surrender the out-of-state title. We cover the history-report side of a cross-border purchase in out-of-state title transfers and CARFAX.

Rust, rebuilt brands and the report you should pull

Illinois winters and road salt are hard on cars, so the title being clean is only half the inspection. Look underneath, and read our Illinois rust-belt CARFAX tips. If the car was ever junked or totaled, Illinois rebuilt rules apply. See Illinois salvage and rebuilt title rules before you sign. A free NMVTIS search catches many state brands. Sellers who text a "fresh CARFAX" PDF are not proof of anything, because those files are easy to fake.

CarVins resells CARFAX and AutoCheck under license and has no affiliation with CARFAX, AutoCheck or Experian. Right now a CARFAX through us runs about $5.50 as a guest or about $4.50 for members, the AutoCheck bundle about $6.75, compared with roughly $39.99 to $44.99 direct. Confirm at checkout before you count on any of those numbers. CARFAX's report overview shows what each section covers.

Sources

• Illinois Department of Revenue: RUT-50 instructions
• Illinois Department of Revenue: Tax requirements for vehicles
• Illinois Secretary of State: Buying or Selling a Vehicle in Illinois brochure; Transferring Plates; Electronic Registration and Title (ilsos.gov, cited unlinked; refused our checker)
• NMVTIS (U.S. Department of Justice)
• CARFAX vehicle history reports