Ripple effect of Texas vehicle registration changes

No inspections of vehicles in Iowa. Not for safety. Not for smog. And no windshield stickers.
 
txflyer said:
They told me no recently. They don't do that anymore.

I did it on our car the last time it was offered.

The girl at the county assesor's office said "really?" and looked at me like I was some kind of billionaire or the only person on earth who'd ever done it...
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I never did an extended registration since there was no discount and its nontransferable. Just didn't make sense to me.
 
mkosmo said:
I never did an extended registration since there was no discount and its nontransferable. Just didn't make sense to me.
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It made sense when you knew you were not getting rid of the car, fee's normally just go UP, and you didn't have to bother with it for a good while.

Fee's did go up and I saved a few bucks. Not much but I didn't have to write a check or lick a stamp or click a website for three years. :yesnod:
 
txflyer said:
It made sense when you knew you were not getting rid of the car, fee's normally just go UP, and you didn't have to bother with it for a good while.

Fee's did go up and I saved a few bucks. Not much but I didn't have to write a check or lick a stamp or click a website for three years. :yesnod:
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While I'm sure I'll hold on to my truck for a decade, it was the thought that some other clown could do something that'd total the truck, or some other accident. Sure, peanuts... but the state can spend a buck to mail me my renewal notice and sticker annually :)
 
mkosmo said:
While I'm sure I'll hold on to my truck for a decade, it was the thought that some other clown could do something that'd total the truck, or some other accident. Sure, peanuts... but the state can spend a buck to mail me my renewal notice and sticker annually :)
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I hear ya.

Anything to ease the pain of even remembering it for me because we farm and last count we had 14 vehicles running around.... :dunno:
 
Sac Arrow said:
Just what we need. Another law.
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I'm picking on you because you too are in the People's Republik. There is a state nearby in which my vehicle is registered and will remain as such. To rereg to CA would cost $495 and that does not include the required smog or weighing. Therefore I decide to just pay the $32 by mail for a 2 yr reg. Done and done. CA already gets enough of my money, I'm taking a stand on principal.

This is the response to more laws. It's not like history hasn't taught this before.
 
For years, El Paso has encouraged its citizens to rat out any neighbors they see with out of state plates, via anonymous hotline.

http://www.epcounty.com/taxoffice/vrap/

Stop Vehicle Registration Abuse

Call the VRAP hotline
546-2181

Remember... All reports will be kept Anonymous

Click here to report violators

Problem

The fact that El Paso County is a border to Mexico, and neighbor to the State of New Mexico, it has created registration abuse problems. There are many citizens of El Paso, who take advantage of this situation, by not properly registering their vehicles in Texas.

The vehicle registration violators are not only avoiding to pay sales and registration fees, (which help the maintenance and construction of roads and highways) but are also worsening the auto theft recovering system. Vehicles without proper registration, are more difficult to be track down. This increases the possibility of having more stolen vehicles from other states, and makes El Paso County an easy target to buy and sell stolen vehicles.
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txflyer said:
I hear ya.

Anything to ease the pain of even remembering it for me because we farm and last count we had 14 vehicles running around.... :dunno:
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Holy crap. Are all of them used on the roads? Or even legally need to be registered?
 
ElPaso Pilot said:
For years, El Paso has encouraged its citizens to rat out any neighbors they see with out of state plates, via anonymous hotline.

http://www.epcounty.com/taxoffice/vrap/
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Govt is like a Hoover. Not like Herbert C. or even Edgar J. but the invention held by Boss Hoover. It's low even for the govt to try to get folks to rat out folks. According to them, there never is enough money for this or that.
 
30+ years ago I got ticketed in Missouri for out of state plates and DL. I had only been there for 2-3 months. I wasn't stopped for any other reason. I suspect the officer had been checking out plates in the parking lot where I worked (KSUS).
 
Everskyward said:
30+ years ago I got ticketed in Missouri for out of state plates and DL. I had only been there for 2-3 months. I wasn't stopped for any other reason. I suspect the officer had been checking out plates in the parking lot where I worked (KSUS).
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I got the same thing recently here.. Fortunately I worked for the city and the cop let me off.
 
Alexb2000 said:
So those of us resident in the great state of Texas we now have a program where in order to register your vehicle it must first be inspected, the data sent to the state, matched with your registration renewal and insurance verification, and then you are sent a sticker.

I keep all my vehicles and trailers registered in Texas because it is just easier even though I leave many of them in NM. So now I am forced to either caravan each vehicle back to Texas each year or change the registration to New Mexico. In my case I have 6 trailers and 2 vehicles that never leave NM, so that would be a lot of caravanning. I estimate that the registration fees paid to Texas for vehicles that never see Texas roads are about $1000 a year in my case.

Looking at almost every airport parking lot in the resort areas of CO and NM many if not most of the license plates are Texas. I see a lot of the same in Mexico. There are also plenty of business' that take their vehicles to long term jobs out of state and will be forced to return on expired tags.

I wonder how much money this will cost Texas through unintended consequences.
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I used to register my vehicles in CA, between their jacked up rates and wanting me to prove I had insurance (non of their business), I now have everything registered in WA, no inspections, overblown fees, invasions of privacy, just pay 60 something bucks every few years and that's that.
 
James331 said:
I used to register my vehicles in CA, between their jacked up rates and wanting me to prove I had insurance (non of their business), I now have everything registered in WA, no inspections, overblown fees, invasions of privacy, just pay 60 something bucks every few years and that's that.
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Yeah, the Californians who ran away from there and came to Texas are now pulling the same c*ap here. If you have a vehicle registered in your name and you are let's say restoring it in your garage, you might get Nazi-style threatening letters that you must purchase insurance. Idiots. So far no lawsuits. But I am waiting for one. *rolleyes*
 
The new Texas registration law for trailers, at least, is going to be a problem.

I'm sure some pointy headed bureaucrat in Austin figured out that the State of Texas could get $7.50 of new income per trailer registration by requiring a certificate of inspection being obtained before the next year's plates could be purchased. This wasn't being done before for all trailers each year.

I always purchased new tags each year for the eight trailers I own even if I did not plan on using each trailer that much. Such as boat trailer, cargo trailer, welding trailer, etc. Some of these stay on different property and don't move much because of what they're loaded with or for other reasons. My situation can't be that unusual.

Bottom line is I'm not going to make a trip out to a ranch or wherever to pick up a trailer and take to a nearby town to get it inspected as a condition to purchase plates for it. This is a big investment in time multiplied by several trailers. Thus, the State of Texas is out of the annual tag fee of $50-$60 to try to obtain a new $7 inspection fee.

To add insult to the injury, I found a total of two inspection stations in my city of 100,000 willing to perform an inspection on any kind of trailer. Not worth the money to them, which I can understand given the fee is set at $7.

Last week I took my pipe trailer in for inspection, which took three hours. I can't devote that kind of time. Rant off!
 
oilburner said:
The new Texas registration law for trailers, at least, is going to be a problem.

I'm sure some pointy headed bureaucrat in Austin figured out that the State of Texas could get $7.50 of new income per trailer registration by requiring a certificate of inspection being obtained before the next year's plates could be purchased. This wasn't being done before for all trailers each year.

I always purchased new tags each year for the eight trailers I own even if I did not plan on using each trailer that much. Such as boat trailer, cargo trailer, welding trailer, etc. Some of these stay on different property and don't move much because of what they're loaded with or for other reasons. My situation can't be that unusual.

Bottom line is I'm not going to make a trip out to a ranch or wherever to pick up a trailer and take to a nearby town to get it inspected as a condition to purchase plates for it. This is a big investment in time multiplied by several trailers. Thus, the State of Texas is out of the annual tag fee of $50-$60 to try to obtain a new $7 inspection fee.

To add insult to the injury, I found a total of two inspection stations in my city of 100,000 willing to perform an inspection on any kind of trailer. Not worth the money to them, which I can understand given the fee is set at $7.

Last week I took my pipe trailer in for inspection, which took three hours. I can't devote that kind of time. Rant off!
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Crap, what changed there? I'm about to go get a 68A done for a vintage travel trailer that I need to get registered, but will have to go through the bonded title crap... what inspections are now required? I was hoping to hold off on fixing the brakes since I think I'll need to just swap the axles.
 
Not really sure what changed for trailers. I know we used to have them inspected only when they were being registered for the first time in this state. No annual inspection sticker required after doing that. But now, inspected annually for a certificate which you will present to obtain the sticker for your trailer tags.
I guess the're looking at brakes, lights, tire tread, etc?
I'm saying this could backfire on the State. Registrations will drop because of the annual inspection hassel. I've seen ranchers & farmers move plates around between trailers before. Suspect that will increase. I wonder what the fine is for expired trailer tags?
 
On the upside, the farce of Safety sticker and the tax of registration will now be coterminous.

Coming from CA I never understood why the two stickies could be months apart, and I got stung with a ticket once because of it.
 
mkosmo said:
Crap, what changed there? I'm about to go get a 68A done for a vintage travel trailer that I need to get registered, but will have to go through the bonded title crap... what inspections are now required? I was hoping to hold off on fixing the brakes since I think I'll need to just swap the axles.
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I bought a really nifty motorcycle trailer from a guy in Florida. When I tried to get tags for it in Williamson country I was told the police had to inspect it. I also had to have it weighed.

They did the inspections on Wednesday mornings, if the detective wasn't too busy to bother with it.

He didn't show up the first time, I had to go back the next week. He was late for that appointment, but showed up eventually and signed my little form.

My impression was that his main concern was to ensure that the trailer wasn't stolen.

What a PIB for a 400 pound trailer!
 
Trailer safety inspections? Great.
Do I just pull my 25-ft F350 towing my 35-ft boat trailer (with the freaking 8500-lb boat on it) into the inspection place parking lot .... and see how they can conduct their business if I happen to block the whole parking lot for a pointless $7 inspection? Most inspection places do not have the facilities to accommodate trailers.

Somebody hasn't thought this through, clearly. But that's what we get from the pothead hipsters in Austin, making up laws while smoked out of their minds.
 
James331 said:
I used to register my vehicles in CA, between their jacked up rates and wanting me to prove I had insurance (non of their business), I now have everything registered in WA, no inspections, overblown fees, invasions of privacy, just pay 60 something bucks every few years and that's that.
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As long as you don't live in King County or one of the surrounding ones. Then you get to pay for a smog inspection. Fortunately, I live in Thurston County and this virus hasn't infect them yet. And the registration fee is annual.
 
comanchepilot said:
PS everyone: The safety inspections are mainly to catch illegal aliens whose POS cars are rolling safety hazards . . . . then they catch folks without driver licenses and no addresses - its designed to make it difficult for those here illegally to register and own vehicles.

Out here in LALALand you see broken down cars causing traffic jams everywhere - and guess who's driving most of those broken down cars? Now, I might be assuming a lot - but if you see lots of rodents in the same place all the time- you might have a rat problem. . . .
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Which part is the problem, and who are the rats?:dunno: What part of that do you want to address? How do you see the problem being solved?
 
Trailer safety inspections? Great.
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I don't think you have to have your trailer inspected every year, just if you are bringing it in from some foreign land (like Florida) or if you made it at home.
 
sferguson524 said:
I got the same thing recently here.. Fortunately I worked for the city and the cop let me off.
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During a traffic stop, the trooper asked me 'where do you reveive mail' and I dutifully gave him the address on my (out of state) drivers license. He then asked, 'so whose address is on the registration ?' To which I told him 'thats the address of my wife'. None of that was a lie. No ticket.
 
Ghery said:
As long as you don't live in King County or one of the surrounding ones. Then you get to pay for a smog inspection. Fortunately, I live in Thurston County and this virus hasn't infect them yet. And the registration fee is annual.
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Ah, yes, that's federally mandated...

In Virginia, inspections were mandated for trailers that had brakes, no inspection if there are no brakes.
 
Ghery said:
As long as you don't live in King County or one of the surrounding ones. Then you get to pay for a smog inspection. Fortunately, I live in Thurston County and this virus hasn't infect them yet. And the registration fee is annual.
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Look at the maps for the proposed new EPA 'non attainment areas' even rural eastern SD counties (places with 3000 people in the ebtire county) will get VEIP if this goes through.
 
sferguson524 said:
I got the same thing recently here.. Fortunately I worked for the city and the cop let me off.
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Those tickets are ones you talk yourself into.

I've had cops mention my plates (which are almost always out of state from where I live) never got a ticket.
 
weilke said:
Wow, the county has volunteers willing to go out and turn in their neighbors :( . Can only wonder what else they would do if their 'district supervisor' tells them to.
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They've also tasked the county police & sheriff with enforcement in neighborhoods.

It's a major revenue issue for them....
 
BigBadLou said:
Trailer safety inspections? Great.
Do I just pull my 25-ft F350 towing my 35-ft boat trailer (with the freaking 8500-lb boat on it) into the inspection place parking lot .... and see how they can conduct their business if I happen to block the whole parking lot for a pointless $7 inspection? Most inspection places do not have the facilities to accommodate trailers.

Somebody hasn't thought this through, clearly. But that's what we get from the pothead hipsters in Austin, making up laws while smoked out of their minds.
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JimNtexas said:
I don't think you have to have your trailer inspected every year, just if you are bringing it in from some foreign land (like Florida) or if you made it at home.
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Here is the latest. For those that don't want to read it, yes, we have to inspect trailers over 4500lb. gross every year in order to get a tag.

http://www.chron.com/sports/article/Law-requires-that-trailers-get-safety-inspections-6115851.php

My local inspection guy says he is thinking about closing shop. He says it isn't worth his time to inspect a trailer or do a safety inspection for $7.
 
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