NORTH CAROLINA, USA — With the pandemic upending all of our lives, a lot of you have asked us what would happen if your vehicle registration expired during the pandemic.
We told you recently to try not to miss your inspection because you could get a ticket. Like many things, the situation may be about to change. North Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore posted a statement on his website.
"We continue to work with the governor’s team to identify and resolve issues facing North Carolinians in this crisis,” Speaker Moore and Senator Berger said in a joint statement Thursday. “DMV regulations are a particularly pressing matter that we have worked daily for several weeks on a bipartisan basis to resolve.
“We support passage of legislation when the General Assembly reconvenes to retroactively extend vehicle inspection deadlines. Until such legislation passes, we support bureaucratic flexibility on compliance with the existing deadlines. Based on our communications with the Executive Branch, we understand that the Department of Public Safety and State Highway Patrol are doing just that by not prioritizing enforcement.”
“This shared commitment by the legislative and executive branches provides North Carolinians’ certainty that the state government will provide this flexibility they need now and act to retroactively alleviate DMV deadlines despite the current law temporarily in place.”
So, here’s what’s happening
The current law says you have to get your DMV auto inspection done on time. The DMV asked state legislators to change the law and that may actually happen later this month.
So what do you do now?
If you can’t get your inspections done or you’re just afraid to be out, don’t worry. Officers are not strictly enforcing these laws. We also don’t know how long they may waive inspections. The bill hasn’t been filed yet.