State Dealer Doc-Fee Cap & Taxability Index (2026)
Published 2026-07-18 · Dataset licensed CC BY 4.0 — cite with a link.
Only 11 of 50 states cap what a dealer may charge for documentation; the rest set no legal ceiling. Where caps exist they run from $85 (California) to $500 (Maryland), a median of $200. Separately, 32 states include the doc fee in the taxable price while 11 exclude it when separately stated. Built from each state's own tax and DMV authorities.
Key findings
- 39 of 50 states set NO statutory cap on the dealer doc fee — the dealer can charge what the market allows.
- Among the 11 states that cap it, the ceiling ranges from $85 (California) to $500 (Maryland); median $200.
- 32 states tax the doc fee as part of the selling price; 11 exclude it when it is separately stated (verified per state).
- 7 states are marked "not verified" for taxability — no-sales-tax states plus those whose authority we could not confirm from a primary source. We do not guess.
Doc-fee cap by state
Each tile is a state, colored by its statutory doc-fee ceiling. A dot marks states that also tax the fee.
- No statutory cap
- Capped ≤ $100
- Capped $100–200
- Capped $200–400
- Capped > $400
- Doc fee taxed
Full dataset
The same rows as the CSV download.
| State | Statutory doc-fee cap | Doc fee taxed? | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No statutory cap | Yes | revenue.alabama.gov |
| Alaska | No statutory cap | Not verified | dmv.alaska.gov |
| Arizona | No statutory cap | Not verified | azdot.gov |
| Arkansas | No statutory cap | Not verified | dfa.arkansas.gov |
| California | $85 | Yes | dmv.ca.gov |
| Colorado | No statutory cap | Yes | dmv.colorado.gov |
| Connecticut | No statutory cap | Yes | portal.ct.gov |
| Delaware | No statutory cap | Not verified | dmv.de.gov |
| Florida | No statutory cap | Yes | flhsmv.gov |
| Georgia | No statutory cap | Yes | dor.georgia.gov |
| Hawaii | No statutory cap | Yes | honolulu.gov |
| Idaho | No statutory cap | Yes | itd.idaho.gov |
| Illinois | $347.26 | Yes | ilsos.gov |
| Indiana | No statutory cap | Yes | in.gov |
| Iowa | $180 | No | iowadot.gov |
| Kansas | No statutory cap | Yes | ksrevenue.gov |
| Kentucky | No statutory cap | Yes | drive.ky.gov |
| Louisiana | $200 | Yes | expresslane.la.gov |
| Maine | No statutory cap | Yes | maine.gov |
| Maryland | $500 | Yes | mva.maryland.gov |
| Massachusetts | No statutory cap | Yes | mass.gov |
| Michigan | $260 | Yes | michigan.gov |
| Minnesota | $125 | No | dps.mn.gov |
| Mississippi | No statutory cap | Yes | dor.ms.gov |
| Missouri | No statutory cap | Yes | dor.mo.gov |
| Montana | No statutory cap | Not verified | mvdmt.gov |
| Nebraska | No statutory cap | Yes | dmv.nebraska.gov |
| Nevada | No statutory cap | Yes | dmv.nv.gov |
| New Hampshire | No statutory cap | Not verified | dmv.nh.gov |
| New Jersey | No statutory cap | Yes | nj.gov |
| New Mexico | No statutory cap | Not verified | mvd.newmexico.gov |
| New York | $175 | No | dmv.ny.gov |
| North Carolina | No statutory cap | Yes | ncdot.gov |
| North Dakota | No statutory cap | No | dot.nd.gov |
| Ohio | $250 | No | bmv.ohio.gov |
| Oklahoma | No statutory cap | No | oklahoma.gov |
| Oregon | $200 | No | oregon.gov |
| Pennsylvania | No statutory cap | No | pa.gov |
| Rhode Island | No statutory cap | Yes | dmv.ri.gov |
| South Carolina | No statutory cap | Yes | scdmvonline.com |
| South Dakota | No statutory cap | No | dor.sd.gov |
| Tennessee | No statutory cap | Yes | tn.gov |
| Texas | No statutory cap | No | txdmv.gov |
| Utah | No statutory cap | Yes | dmv.utah.gov |
| Vermont | No statutory cap | Yes | dmv.vermont.gov |
| Virginia | No statutory cap | Yes | dmv.virginia.gov |
| Washington | $200 | No | dol.wa.gov |
| West Virginia | No statutory cap | Yes | transportation.wv.gov |
| Wisconsin | No statutory cap | Yes | wisconsindot.gov |
| Wyoming | No statutory cap | Yes | dot.state.wy.us |
Methodology & sources
For every US state we read the state's own statute, administrative rule, or Department of Revenue / DMV guidance for two facts: (1) the statutory dollar cap, if any, on the dealer documentation fee, and (2) whether a separately-stated doc fee is included in the taxable base of the state's vehicle tax. Each state row links to the primary source used. This index reports the LEGAL CEILING and taxability — not observed average fees, which we do not collect. States with no cap are reported as such; states we could not verify for taxability are marked 'Not verified', never estimated. Regenerated deterministically from the MotorCrunch state dataset; a change to any state's law updates this index on the next build.
- States capping the doc fee — 11 states (as of 2026-07-18)
- Lowest statutory cap — 85 USD (as of 2026-07-18)
- Highest statutory cap — 500 USD (as of 2026-07-18)
- States taxing the doc fee — 32 states (as of 2026-07-18)