A state audit has found that South Dakota’s new 605Drive vehicle registration system overcharged some vehicle owners after incorrectly calculating taxes and fees associated with trade-in values.
According to the South Dakota Department of Legislative Audit, some trade-in values were entered incorrectly or were not properly converted into the new system, leading to inaccurate taxable values and excessive motor vehicle excise tax charges. Auditors said the system’s controls and review processes failed to catch certain errors.
The audit reviewed 112 of more than 750,000 vehicle transactions processed during fiscal year 2025 and found three transactions with trade-in value errors that resulted in a combined $1,400 in overpayments.
The Department of Revenue, which operates the 605Drive system, acknowledged the issue. Officials said some dealer pre-application trade-in values did not transfer correctly when the system launched in February 2025, requiring manual entry. In some cases, those errors were not identified during processing, leading to incorrect tax calculations and issued titles.
Legislative Audit recommended that the Department of Revenue strengthen its internal controls, regularly monitor the system, identify additional overpayments and issue refunds to affected taxpayers. The finding was one of 18 issues identified in the state’s 2025 single audit report.
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