Gone are the days of Texas motorists needing to place two stickers on their windshield each year. State officials switched to a single sticker for the annual safety and emissions inspection and the state vehicle registration in 2015.
And the Lone Star State will begin a new phase of the state’s one-sticker registration and inspection program March 1.
Vehicle owners will only be allowed to renew their annual registration if they have had a vehicle inspection performed within 90 days.
The transition to a single sticker was intended to simplify the process for vehicle owners and government officials, but old habits are tough to break.
“We’re anticipating a lot of people won’t know or understand it, and they’re going to come in with an inspection longer than 90 days old,” Ron Wright, Tarrant County tax assessor-collector, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Once motorists get their vehicle inspected, instead of placing an inspection sticker on the windshield, the inspector enters the information into a statewide computer database. The vehicle owner will then go to a local tax office to pay the annual registration renewal. A tax office employee looks up the vehicle’s records in the database to verify an inspection has been complete. A new registration sticker to use for another year will then be issued.
To make the process easier, vehicle owners can renew registrations by mail or online.
“Most inspection records are available in real time, so you can renew your registration online after passing inspection,” said Adam Shaivitz, motor vehicles department spokesman.
TexasSure car insurance database can check for proof of financial responsibility for those who register online.
Those who renew their registration by mail will still need to provide paper proof of insurance.
For more information, visit http://twostepsonesticker.com/motorists.