Vehicle safety inspections being eliminated Jan. 1 due to law

Starting Jan. 1, 2025, Texas vehicle safety inspections will be a thing of the past.

After the start of the new year, Kerr County vehicle owners will no longer need to obtain a vehicle safety inspection before getting their registration renewed, said Kerr County Tax Assessor-Collector Bob Reeves, whose offices handles vehicle registrations and other Texas Department of Motor Vehicle transactions.

“House Bill 3297 that was passed during the 88th Legislative Session in 2023 eliminates the vehicle safety inspection program for non-commercial vehicles,” Reeves said.

“The change will save you the time of having to get the inspection, as well as some of the expense,” Reeves said.

Currently, motorists pay $7 at the inspection station and a $7.50 state fee at the tax office. With the new law, there will be a $7.50 “Inspection Program Replacement Fee” in lieu of the $7.50 state fee at the time the vehicle registration is renewed. The motorist will no longer pay the $7 fee to get their vehicle evaluated at an inspection station, he explained.

Owners registering a new vehicle will pay a $16.75 fee, which will cover the vehicle’s registration for the first two years, Reeves added.

During deliberations over the bill, it was pointed out that the majority of states in America do not require vehicle safety inspections of any kind and that if HB3297 passed, about half of all Texas drivers would still be required to get regular emissions inspections.

The new law dictates that vehicle owners living in the most populated counties of Texas are still responsible for getting emissions inspections. Kerr County is not among the 17 areas where this will be required, but the list includes the following counties: Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Ellis, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis and Williamson.

For more information on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles registration, visit: https://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/register-your-vehicle. The DMV registers and titles motor vehicles, licenses motor vehicle dealers, credentials motor carriers, issues oversize/overweight permits, investigates complaints against dealers and motor carriers and awards grants to law enforcement agencies to reduce vehicle burglaries and thefts.

The Kerr County Tax Office handles local DMV transactions, as well as many other services. It is located in Suite 124 on the main floor of the Kerr County Courthouse, 700 Main Street in Kerrville. It may be reached by phoning 830-792-2242 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.

Vehicle registration services are also available at the West Kerr County Courthouse Annex, 510 College Street in Ingram. It may be reached by phoning 830-896-9032 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. The office is closed for lunch from noon-1:30 p.m.