HoustonMidtown Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 http://blog.chron.com/thehighwayman/2014/06/dmv-prepares-for-sticker-shock-of-losing-inspection-tag/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 yeahhhh thats not confusing as hell -.- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Distilled, it means that beginning next March, the car has to pass inspection in order to renew the license plate; one sticker will serve to confirm both registration and inspection. You have up to 90 days before the registration renewal to pass inspection. In the transition year, if your inspection sticker expires after your registration you don't have to re-up the inspection until within 90 days of when you renew registration in the following year. It is a little tricky to describe clearly. Not stated in the article is that whether or not your vehicle passes inspection has been passed on to the state for at least a couple years now. As a result, I expect that having the receipt in hand may be handy but not necessary when renewing the plates (as was the case with proof of insurance the last time I went through). Personally, I don't know why they didn't go to linking the two ages ago. I'd rather have as little as possible on the windshield within my field of vision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolaboy Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 I time mine such that they are due in the same month. I wonder when I have to re up my inspection. I'm sure the fine print will be available in the next few months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 I wish they would get rid of the front license plate next.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 anyone who is willing to take a chance to wait until the month after their registration is due to get their car inspected can save a little money out of the way they are doing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 ^^ eh, not so much saving money as kicking the can down the road, and opening yourself up for a ticket in the process. Granted, not a moving violation - still, I prefer to keep my interactions with the po - po out of the "do you know why I stopped you" territory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skwatra Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 i kicked the can down the road and saved myself $40. partially due to my dad's frugal nature (why pay before you have to?) and partially my laziness. I bought my car in January 2002, took advantage of the grace period and pushed my inspection out to June by 2008, and sold the car by chance in May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNAguy Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 ^^ eh, not so much saving money as kicking the can down the road, and opening yourself up for a ticket in the process. Granted, not a moving violation - still, I prefer to keep my interactions with the po - po out of the "do you know why I stopped you" territory. I guess that really depends how risk averse you are. Myself? Well, both my registration and inspection are due this month. I usually always do this with my vehicle b/c its easier to remember. I guess now the state is forcing my habit on all of us. However, b/c of the inspection-after-registration-grace year-loophole I'm going to get my inspection done August 1st. There you go. I'll have 15 minutes of driving total driving (to the shop) that I'll be out of compliance. I'll take that risk to save $40. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Personally, I don't know why they didn't go to linking the two ages ago. I'd rather have as little as possible on the windshield within my field of vision. Yeah, I've never liked having those two stickers there. Never understood, either, why they don't just give you a sticker for your plate instead of making you put one on the windshield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Yeah, I've never liked having those two stickers there. Never understood, either, why they don't just give you a sticker for your plate instead of making you put one on the windshield. I put the two stickers side by side (which IS allowed) to avoid blocking too much view. We used to have plate stickers, but there was a problem with them getting stolen off of the plates. Same thing happened with the windshield stickers at first, but now the license number is printed on them so they seem to stay put. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Yeah, I've never liked having those two stickers there. Never understood, either, why they don't just give you a sticker for your plate instead of making you put one on the windshield. The windshield sticker is less likely to be stolen, and has more information on it. I am just glad we don't have to carry a separate registration form like most other states have. I would love to see the inspection requirement go away, sinc eit doesn't do much to prevent safety issues. I think something like 30 states, including California, do not require an annual inspection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 At this point the annual inspection is more about checking the emissions controls than giving the car a safety shakedown. Back in the day, you just accepted that you were going to end up paying for a (most likely unnecessary) headlight adjustment as part of the deal - now it seems that they just look to make sure they turn on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I've usually pushed the inspection stickers quite a ways... one time (about 3 years ago) I got an extra 4 months out of it!!! Which was reckless, and I don't recommend doing that, but I've long felt inspection stickers to be worthless. Just up the cost of registration stickers around $15 bucks statewide and that'll be plenty of extra revenue for the DMV or TDPS. While driving today, see just how hard it is to read those stickers! That's why they started color coding them... green, purple or blue is easier to spot than 06 as opposed to 08 or 09! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purpledevil Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 My truck's inspection certificate expired in March 2012. The license plate is renewed on time, every year. A lot of you may dislike what I'm about to tell you, but if I were to be ticketed for it bring expired, it would cost me $90 total to rectify it. I've already saved that, and an additional $30 by letting it go for the last 3 years in inspection certificates alone(3 years@$40). Then you have to add the cost of repairing the sensors that have went out, causing it to fail in the first place. As long as you drive as you are supposed to, and not draw attention to yourself, there's no reason for the police to start eyeballing your windshield in the first place. Of course, registration is a must, just like insurance. That information can be obtained by running the license plate. Let that one lapse, and you're just asking for trouble. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 In some parts of town (like downtown), Houston's Finest will hang out at intersections just to eyeball inspection stickers (and anything else ticketable that may tickle their fancy - omitted front plate, anyone?) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I was under the impression the front plate was optional now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purpledevil Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) No sir! You've got to have both, and unobstructed too.Mollusk: You are sure right, and they are notorious for sitting in the various u-turn lanes under the North Freeway as well. Edited July 17, 2014 by Purpledevil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I was under the impression the front plate was optional now? It is not optional, but lots of folks refuse to put one on their car, erroneously thinking it hurts the looks or are too cheap to buy a bracket. There was a period where the legislature actually deleted the penalty for not having two plates (it was against the law, but the penalty was zero), but that was fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 They sit under the U-Turn lane at Greenbrier @ 59 at least once a month doing sticker checks. Easy money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Yeah, I've been dinged a couple of times for an expired inspection so i know they pay attention on the west side of town. Wasn't driving over the limit or doing anything suspicious, but some of those guys have pretty sharp eyes. As i recall, both times I paid around $20 and an hour or so of time sitting in traffic court. Both times, though, I had let it lapse for a few months at least. I don't think they stop you if it just expired in the previous month or I would have been ticketed many more times than I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 At this point the annual inspection is more about checking the emissions controls than giving the car a safety shakedown. Back in the day, you just accepted that you were going to end up paying for a (most likely unnecessary) headlight adjustment as part of the deal - now it seems that they just look to make sure they turn on. The thing that gets me the most is the windshield wipers. I think some inspection stations look a little too closely at those so they can ding you for 15 or 20 bucks on a $4 replacement. It got to the point that now I replace mine once a year right before the inspection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNAguy Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Since we are integrating stickers, can I just integrate my TxTag, registration, AND inspection into one sticker? Why can't I pay my registration automatically like my tolls from a TxTag account?Hmmmm. I just see that eventually all this inspection, registration, and 'toll' business will all get integrated. The 'tolls' will actually then go to a 'per mile' usage fee for all miles driven per year and your registration cost will reflect this. The gas tax just cant keep up.This will take some time, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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