Inspection Confusion

Submitted by chanzillaa t3_ylcl4j in massachusetts

My partner and I moved from NH to MA at the beginning of October. We couldn't get an appointment with the RMV to update our licenses and registration til the end of the month (Oct 31), and we had 7 days from then to get our cars inspected with our new plates.

Yesterday I brought in my car to get inspected, and today I brought my partner's. My car last passed inspection on 11/2021 so was due anyway, while my partner's car was last inspected this year, on 4/2022. Today and yesterday, both cars passed, but were given stickers for 1/2023, instead of 11/2023. I asked the guy at the garage desk the second day I showed up, before I gave him the keys to our 2nd car, because I was so confused about my sticker - but he was also confused. At the time he was like, "Are you sure it wasn't an 11 sticker?"

When our 2nd car ALSO came back with a 1/2023 sticker, he was flabbergasted. He suggested "calling them" (I think the RMV?) and thought maybe it was a "bug in the new system" for newly moved residents, or something like that, since the state is changing how things work now with inspections, as of this month (just our luck).

Has anyone else run into this issue or heard about this? Is this garage just ripping us off lol? It would be nice not to have to go back in to get our cars inspected after just 2 months. If it makes any difference, our cars were both registered in MA before we moved to NH, and now we're back after 3 or so years.

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chanzillaa OP t1_iuxv7da wrote

I actually got a hold of someone from MA vehicle check (https://www.mavehiclecheck.com/contact) over the phone and he explained that because our car was previously registered in MA, in their records it's been since 2018 since our cars were last inspected. This means that my car was long overdue for an inspection. I was supposed to notify the RMV when we moved to NH, so they could wipe our car records clean. This would mean that when I returned to MA, they wouldn't find the really old inspection date. Instead we get to pay $35 per car to get them newly inspected in January 🙃

Gonna leave this post here in case anyone runs into a similar issue and is confused.

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PakkyT t1_iv0rujq wrote

Yeah a lot of people register their car in a new state and fail to cancel their registration in the previous state. While it will of course get cancelled in due course due to no active MA insurance on it, doing it that way can cause problems if you come back.

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DunkinRadio t1_iuxvq2z wrote

Did you previously live in MA and have the cars registered here?

Edit: I should read. Yes. That's the reason. MA thinks your car was out of state the whole time and your sticker is expired.

From the web site:

>If you have been out of state for one or more years and have an expired sticker, your vehicle will be treated as a late inspection and receive the January sticker of the current year. If you have submitted the proper Out of State Inspection Form as outlined on the form, you will receive credit for that and receive a sticker with the month in which it is being inspected.

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chanzillaa OP t1_iuxwyj6 wrote

Thanks! Could you share the link to where it has that info? I'm curious to see if we can at least get credit for my partner's sticker since he did do his this year

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mikemerriman t1_iuze0hw wrote

It’s a new rule that you get the sticker for the month it was due or Jan if way past due. No more scamming a free month

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