Register your vehicle
There are several steps to register your vehicle with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
1. Have your vehicle inspected at a certified inspection station.
- Texas requires state-registered vehicles to pass an annual inspection to ensure compliance with safety standards. Learn about the Vehicle Inspection Program on the Texas Department of Public Safety website.
- Find an inspection station.
2. Show insurance coverage for the required minimums per person, per accident, and for property damage.
3. Get your vehicle registration and sticker at your local county Tax Assessor Collector office.
Renew your vehicle registration
There are several ways to renew your vehicle registration. Remember, you must have a passing vehicle inspection before you can renew.
- Online. You can renew your vehicle registration online 90 days before the expiration date or up to six months after the expiration date, if you have not received a citation for expired registration. If you renew online, you’ll receive $1.00 discount. There are two online renewal options:
- Renew with Texas by Texas (TxT). TxT is an official, account-based digital government assistant that provides an even easier, faster, and more secure way for Texans to take care of government services – like vehicle registration renewal. To learn more about TxT and create an account, visit the Texas by Texas page on Texas.gov.
- Complete the Vehicle Registration Renewal application. If you don’t want to create a TxT account, you can still use this online option to renew.
- Mail. Send the renewal notice, a copy of your Vehicle Inspection Report (VIR), proof of current liability insurance, and all fees to your county Tax Assessor- Collector office.
- In-person. Take your registration renewal notice and proof of current liability insurance to your county’s Tax Assessor-Collector office or an approved substation.
Vehicle registration fees
Vehicle registration fees vary based on the type and weight of the vehicle you’re registering.
New to Texas?
If you’re a new Texas resident, you have 30 days to register your vehicle.
County Tax Assessor-Collectors
County Tax Assessor-Collector offices handle most vehicle title and registration services on behalf of TxDMV. These services include:
- Registration renewals (license plates and registration stickers).
- Vehicle title transfers.
- Change of address on motor vehicle records.
- Non-fee license plates such as Purple Heart and Disabled Veterans license plates.
- Disabled parking placards.
- Copies of registration receipts.
- Temporary registration.
We hear from many Texans who receive erroneous bills from the NTTA with threats of punitive fines and fees if they refuse to pay within 10 days, which is not enough time to resolve errant bills. Their billing department is notorious for busy signals and not answering the phone, so people have trouble even reaching a live person
to resolve their bills. Now the NTTA wants to prevent Texans from registering their vehicles for failure to pay tolls. Who cares if the Harris County Toll Road Authority already has this power, no entity should have the power to keep you from getting to work for an unpaid debt -- which may not even be legitimate in the first place. Tollway agency wants to block auto registrations for scofflaws Motorists
who refuse to pay tolls would be unable to renew yearly vehicle registrations in North Texas' four largest counties, under a state law change the North Texas Tollway Authority is seeking in the current legislative session.
By Gordon Dickson
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Monday, Jan. 14, 2013
"What we're talking about is tightening the system so people know there are consequences," said agency Chairman Kenneth Barr, a former Fort Worth mayor.
Barr stressed that the tougher punishments would be sought only for car owners who had racked up 100 or more unpaid tolls and failed to respond to at least 16 written notices. Although roughly 92 percent of drivers on the region's tollways pay their bills on time, scofflaws are costing the authority big bucks, he said.
The Plano-based agency lost $12.5 million last year in unpaid tolls -- many from motorists who are still using the roads.
"What we're talking about here are people who are gaming the system," he said.
Tollway officials are seeking a lawmaker who might be willing to sponsor
such a bill. March 8 is the deadline for filing bills, other than local measures and those considered emergencies.
The bill would affect vehicle owners in Tarrant, Denton, Dallas and Collin counties, which make up the authority's territory. Johnson County will be added after the planned 2014 opening of the Chisholm Trail Parkway, a 28-mile toll road from downtown Fort Worth to Cleburne.
It's the agency's latest attempt to close an enforcement weakness that became glaringly apparent after Dallas-Fort Worth's toll roads were converted to an all-electronic system in 2010. Officials quickly found out that without manned toll booths as a deterrent, there really isn't much they can do to stop people from skipping out on their tolls.
The authority did have some success the past six months publicizing the names of car owners with 100 or more unpaid tolls on its website, www.ntta.org. Since that list went live in July, about $1.86 million has been recovered, communications director Kimberly Jackson said.
But to capture the rest of the missing money, the agency needs enforcement with more teeth, Executive Director Gerry Carrigan said. The idea, he said, is to protect the overwhelming majority of motorists who drive the roads legally -- many of whom pay automatically through a TollTag on their windshield.
"We don't want to be punitive," he said. "We want to keep our good customers good, and provide some punishment for the small percentage who don't pay."
In addition to blocking car registrations, the tollway authority is seeking state permission to create administrative hearings. Officials stressed that hearings would not be in court but would resemble a courtroom proceeding in that those with unpaid tolls would be given a chance to explain their tardiness and make payment or settlement arrangements. The administrative hearing would occur before the authority tried to block a car registration.
Seeking a ban
The agency is also seeking power to "ban" habitual toll violators from the 850-plus miles of tollways in the Metroplex.
Car owners who were banned from the roads but continued to use them would be considered trespassers and would be subject to arrest.
At least one other toll agency in Texas, the Harris County Toll Road Authority in the Houston area, can block car registrations.
Commissioners courts in Tarrant, Denton, Dallas and Collins counties have adopted resolutions endorsing the authority's proposed legislation, Carrigan said.