Title and Registration at Carvana: How It Works, What Has Changed, and What Customers Should Know

Buying a car is exciting. Title and registration paperwork isn’t. We want every part of the customer experience to be seamless and convenient, and that’s why Carvana has worked to make license plates and paperwork as simple as every other part of the Carvana car-buying process.

Customers researching Carvana may come across older reviews or news stories about title and registration delays and wonder whether those experiences reflect Carvana today.

They don’t.

Today, more than 99% of Carvana customers have their registration completed before their initial temporary operating plate expires.

That performance is the result of years of investment in technology, operations, and dedicated teams focused on one of the most complex parts of buying a vehicle.

Here’s how the process works, why it can be complicated, and what we’ve done to make it better.

When you buy a vehicle from Carvana, we guide and support the title and registration process from purchase through permanent registration. 

Exactly who completes each step and what the process involves depends on your state’s laws and motor vehicle agency requirements. The process generally works in one of three ways:

• • Carvana completes both the title transfer and vehicle registration. In over 80% of cases, Carvana handles the entire process on your behalf.
  • Carvana completes the title transfer while the customer completes registration. A few states require customers to complete the final registration step themselves.
  • The customer completes both title and registration. Specific scenarios and state processes require customers to handle more of the process directly.

No matter which process applies, we tell customers what is required, provide the necessary documentation, communicate with regular updates, and help guide them through each step.

Vehicle title and registration are a 50-state patchwork built on a heavily paper-based infrastructure. This complexity and reliance on legacy processes are a big part of why delayed paperwork is so common in our industry.

Each state, and sometimes even each county within a state, has its own requirements for transferring ownership, registering vehicles, collecting taxes and fees, issuing license plates, processing paperwork, and verifying customer documentation. Some states have modern electronic systems, while others still rely heavily on paper forms and manual processing.

That means simultaneously managing dozens of different regulatory processes that continue to evolve over time.

Over the past 13 years, Carvana has invested heavily in technology, operations, and dedicated teams focused on title and registration.

Today, our title and registration operation:

• • manages registration requirements across 48 states and D.C.
  • tracks regulatory changes as state requirements evolve
  • routes every transaction through the appropriate workflow for the customer’s vehicle and jurisdiction
  • automates and digitizes documentation wherever feasible
  • gives customers visibility into their registration status through their Carvana account

That infrastructure is what allows us to handle one of the most fragmented regulatory environments in the automotive industry — consistently, at scale, and on behalf of hundreds of thousands of customers a year.

While every state is different, the overall process is similar.

When you purchase your vehicle, your state’s taxes, title fees, and registration fees, as applicable, are included as part of your transaction.

Before delivery, we’ll ask you to provide the documents required by your state, such as proof of identity or proof of insurance. Most customers can upload these documents directly through their Carvana account.

Your vehicle will typically arrive with a temporary operating plate that allows you to legally drive while the permanent title and registration process is completed.

Typically, after your 7-Day Money Back Guarantee ends and we know you want to keep the car, the permanent title and registration process begins. Depending on your state’s requirements, Carvana may complete the entire process, complete part of it, or provide the documentation you’ll need to complete the remaining steps yourself.

Where permitted, documents are submitted electronically. In other states, they’re submitted by mail or through other state-required processes.

Throughout the process, customers can monitor their registration status through their My Cars dashboard.

Once permanent registration is complete, your license plates and registration documents are delivered according to your state’s process.

We’re proud of the systems we’ve built, but we also believe the title and registration process itself can be better for everyone.

Carvana is a founding member of the Electronic Secure Title and Registration Transformation Coalition (eSTART), a group of more than 150 industry organizations, technology providers, state agencies, and policymakers working to modernize vehicle title and registration nationwide.

Together, the coalition is focused on expanding electronic signatures, increasing digital submission and processing, and enabling secure electronic vehicle record transfers. 

This work is already producing results. Through collaborative engagement with state legislators and DMV stakeholders, the coalition has helped advance legislation in several states, driving us toward a more modernized future.

Modernizing these systems benefits everyone — not just Carvana customers. It can help reduce processing times, improve accuracy, decrease fraud, and make vehicle ownership simpler across the industry.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational purposes only and reflects information available as of the date of publication. It may not reflect the most current legal, regulatory, pricing, or market developments. Carvana makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of this information and undertakes no obligation to update it. This article does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or other professional advice, and you should not rely on it as such; consult qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Carvana disclaims all liability for any loss or damages arising out of or related to your access to, use of, or reliance on this article. Third-party links are provided for convenience only; Carvana does not control and is not responsible for third-party content. In the event of any conflict between this article and Carvana’s terms, policies, or transaction documents, those terms and documents control.