This. I had a car in for a free oil change (I'd won a gift cert at a church penny sale) and had an inspection appt lined up at my usual place for the next week. Chain place put the pressure on when they saw my almost- expired sticker. Mind you, they already had my car in the shop and the oil almost done at this point. I relented and then they failed it. There were borderline issues (your headlights are a little foggy) that they would've let go, except they DIDN'T LIKE MY LICENSE PLATE. Their words! They didn't like my state issued plate that I'd had for TEN YEARS. Fuck those guys! I refused to pay (they already knew the plate, headlights, etc when they convinced me to do the inspection) and I took it to my usual place who cleared the notes on the VIN and passed it, no issues. I won't give my exact plate but let's just say it's an acronym that says "hi officer!" I've had the plate now for almost 20 years and that's literally the only time I've had any problems from it.