Source: Drone point of view of downtown Houston, Texas. (Ryan J. Lane via Getty Images)
Texas vehicle safety inspections will be a thing of the past in most counties come 2025, as trips to the shop will no longer be mandatory, according to CW39 Houston.
The new law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025, leaving the safety management of personal vehicles in the hands of the drivers. However, yearly emissions testing will still be required in heavier-populated Texas counties. The state legislature voted in 2023 to do away with the requirement to save Texans time.
“Vehicle inspections are costly, time-consuming, and provide little benefit,” State Senator Mayes Middleton said in support of the bill during a committee hearing last legislative session. “It saves hardworking Texans tens of millions of hours of their time not taken away any more.”
Source: U.S. Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-TX) (C) of the Texas Freedom Caucus addresses the media in the Texas Capitol on July 13, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
Despite no longer needing to have vehicles inspected for most Texans, a $7.50 yearly fee will take the inspection’s place. For new vehicles not yet registered, a $16.75 fee will be required to cover two years of registration.
Highly-populated counties will continue to have emissions testing to cut down on the vehicles that are excessively polluting the environment. The following counties will require mandatory yearly emissions tests in 2025:
- Brazoria
- Collin
- Dallas
- Denton
- Ellis
- El Paso
- Fort Bend
- Galveston
- Harris
- Johnson
- Kaufman
- Montgomery
- Parker
- Rockwall
- Tarrant
- Travis
- Williamson
Bexar County will require emissions tests starting in 2026.
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Mandatory Texas Vehicle Safety Inspections to End in 2025 was originally published on 93qcountry.com
