HOUSTON — Ahead of the changes coming to vehicle registration laws in Texas, some people are having problems while trying to renew it online.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles said you can renew your registration online 90 days prior to your tag's expiration date or up to 12 months after expiration if you haven't been cited for it being out of date but a new law is causing some confusion.
The problems are happening when people go to register online. They're getting a message that says: "Your vehicle inspection cannot be verified at this time." This is due to the vehicle inspection requirement that's still in place throughout the end of the year.
Texans who are eligible to renew their registration now are not required to wait until January, as a previous version of this article said. They can renew now if they obtain a passing vehicle inspection beforehand, which is a requirement of current state law. If they choose to wait until January to renew registration, they can do so without passing a safety inspection first based on the new law, which takes effect Jan. 1.
Houston Bill 3297 was passed in 2023. It goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. It abolishes the vehicle safety inspection program for non-commercial vehicles.
There's a bit of a caveat, though. In Texas, there are 17 counties that will still require emissions inspections if the vehicle is registered there, including Harris County.
Here's the full list of counties that will still require you to get an emissions test before renewing your registration:
- Harris County
- Montgomery County
- Fort Bend County
- Galveston County
- Brazoria County
- Dallas County
- Rockwall County
- Denton County
- Tarrant County
- Johnson County
- El Paso County
- Travis County
- Kaufman County
- Ellis County
- Williamson County
- Collin County
- Parker County