Inspection warnings
untrue

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

If you have received an email warning about a change in state inspection laws, ignore it – but do check your vehicle’s inspection sticker.
An urban legend about a three-month grace period being cancelled in North Carolina has started making the rounds again, and it features several untrue statements, according to the Highway Patrol.

The urgent sounding message in the e-mail reads as follows:

The State of North Carolina is no longer giving a grace period for vehicle inspections.

Share this with your NC friends. It may save them $250! 

You no longer have a 3-month grace period after it expires to get it done. A $250.00 fine if you exceed the sticker date.

The inspection station will load in the info, if your date is up, or overdue, Raleigh will mail you a bill for $250.  

The message is accompanied by another, more formal sounding warning that made the rounds of repair shops and inspection stations in December. The e-mail warns recipients that they will receive a $250 citation by mail if their vehicle inspection sticker expires, and they attempt to get the vehicle re-inspected.

The e-mail even includes the telephone number for the central Raleigh office of the Dept. of Motor Vehicles.

The problem? The new “law” the message refers to doesn’t exist, and Sgt. D.L. Hewitt of the Highway Patrol said North Carolina has never had a three-month grace period.

“When your inspection expires, it expires,” he said. “Sometimes an inspection station might require you to get something repaired before they will complete an inspection, and you have a few days to get the work done – but that’s the closest thing to a grace period the state has.”

Hewitt said most drivers who get cited for an expired inspection sticker can have the ticket dismissed by immediately getting their vehicle inspected, and presenting the court with paperwork to show the problem is fixed.

“The best way to avoid any problem,” Hewitt said, “is keep your safety inspection up-to-date. Then it’s not an issue.”

The e-mail began being circulated last fall, according to a December statement by the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, which oversees all vehicle inspections.

Hewitt said Monday he hasn‘t seen the e-mail, but when a reporter read the message to him, the sergeant laughed.

“Basically, this e-mail says it’s okay to let your inspection be two to three months out of date,” Hewitt said. “That’s never been the case.”