Missouri drivers are being told they can skip the safety inspection and roll straight to the license office. That advice is wrong—at least for now. Despite viral posts insisting inspections are already dead, the Show Me State’s vehicle rules haven’t changed. Not even close.
What has changed is the conversation. A newly introduced bill in the Missouri House would eliminate most vehicle safety inspections statewide, a move supporters say modernizes an outdated system that’s more hassle than help. The problem? The internet appears to have jumped ahead to the victory lap.
On January 6, the Missouri Department of Revenue issued a rare and pointed correction, warning drivers that claims about inspections being scrapped are false. According to the DOR, the misinformation spreading online was “most likely generated from artificial intelligence (AI) sources.” Translation: your Facebook feed is not the law.
The bill in question—House Bill 1695—was introduced by State Rep. Mazzie Christensen (R–Bethany). If it passes, Missouri would stop requiring safety inspections for nearly all passenger vehicles. Commercial vehicles and salvage-titled cars would still need to comply, but the average daily driver would be off the hook. For now, the bill has been read twice and hasn’t even landed in committee.
Today’s rules remain firmly in place. Missouri requires a safety inspection every two years for vehicles more than 10 years old with over 150,000 miles, as well as during a change of ownership and for certain specialty vehicles. The inspection costs $12, with $1.50 going straight to the state for the windshield sticker.
That sticker—and the economics behind it—are a major target of the bill. Inspection stations say the math simply doesn’t work. Christensen told local station FirstAlert4 that shops might pocket about $10 per inspection while eating $60 to $75 in labor costs. The result? Some rural counties don’t have inspection stations at all, turning a routine requirement into a logistical nightmare.
Supporters also argue the change could help address Missouri’s very visible problem with expired tags and plateless cars, particularly in St. Louis. The logic is simple: remove the inspection requirement, lower the barrier to registration, and maybe more cars end up legally tagged.
Not everyone’s buying it. Critics point to safety data, including a 2022 Carnegie Mellon study that found states with safety inspections see about 5.5 percent fewer roadway deaths than states without them. Whether that reduction justifies the cost and inconvenience is the debate now unfolding in Jefferson City.
Even if HB 1695 sails through the legislature, nothing changes overnight. The bill wouldn’t take effect until January 1, 2027. Until then, Missouri drivers still need to book that inspection appointment—no matter what the algorithm says.
A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Thursday. Until lawmakers decide otherwise, the rule stands: inspect the car, pay the fee, and ignore the viral shortcuts.
Source: Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR); Photo: iStock