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Texas announced in July that inspection stickers will only be a requirement for six more months. Beginning in 2025, Texans will no longer need to have their cars inspected regularly. Thirteen other states don’t require any kind of inspections. Two more are considering doing away with those pesky window stickers.

Here are the states (according to GoodCar.com) with no safety, emissions, or VIN inspections required for cars:

  • Alaska
  • Arkansas
  • Iowa
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Montana
  • North Dakota
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Florida
  • Washington
  • Wyoming

Even though Texas is doing away with its window sticker inspections, it will not be joining this list. If you bring an out-of-state vehicle to Texas, you’ll still need to have it inspected before registering it. In addition, many more populated counties in Texas will continue requiring emissions testing.

Car with an inspection sticker on its windshield
Inspection sticker in Japan | Yusuke Ide via iStockPhoto

Here are the Texas counties requiring emissions inspections in 2025 and beyond:

  • Brazoria
  • Fort Bend
  • Galveston
  • Harris
  • Montgomery
  • Collin
  • Dallas
  • Denton
  • Ellis
  • Johnson
  • Kaufman
  • Parker
  • Rockwall
  • Tarrant
  • Travis
  • Williamson
  • El Paso

In addition, Bexar County is set to begin mandatory emissions inspections in 2026.

So why is Texas doing away with window sticker vehicle inspections? State Sen. Mayes Middleton said, “Vehicle inspections are costly, time-consuming, and provide little benefit.” He said of this law, “It saves hardworking Texans tens of millions of hours of their time not taken away any more.”

My colleague Barnell Anderson reported that inspection stickers might be on the way out in two other states: Louisiana and Pennsylvania. That said, the Louisiana bill to do away with vehicle inspections was introduced a while ago and seems stalled in government bureaucracy.

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