Missouri legislation would require anyone performing repairs or maintenance on a vehicle to verify that the vehicle has current registration prior to engaging in the work. 

The bill, HB1507, would require repairers to refuse to work on the vehicle if registration is not current. 

A business could be fined up to $300 for failure to comply with the law if the bill is passed. 

The bill was pre-filed in the house by Rep. Gretchen Bangert (D-District 70) Dec. 1. It was referred to the Special Committee on Government Accountability Feb. 22. It remains in committee with no hearings scheduled on the House calendar. 

“I had a discussion with my mechanic and other mechanics in my area regarding having to work on vehicles with expired tags and they were kind of frustrated,” Bangert told KSDK in an interview. 

Bangert said shops she spoke to didn’t want to be associated with a crime. 

Yet, a shop KSDK spoke with said they didn’t want to be responsible for making sure customers have current registrations. 

Lisa Renaud, president of St. Louis Auto and Truck Repair, told the TV reporter she sees expired tags often but wouldn’t feel comfortable turning customers away for this issue. 

“I just think we need to come up with a better way to be able to have people pay for their plates,” Renaud said. “I think it’s really expensive. They have a big cost when they buy a vehicle, and then you have another big cost when you go to plate it, so we need to figure something else out. I’m not sure what, I don’t have the perfect idea, but I think if we come up with something different, there wouldn’t be all these temp tags running around.” 

The unnamed owner of Columbia Auto Repair in South City told KY3 about 10% of his customers have expired tags. He told the TV station he worried it would impact drivers already struggling to pay their bills. 

John Weaver, a mechanic at All-Star Automotive, told KOMU he had some concerns about the bill. 

“I have some concern about what kind of shape these vehicles will be in on the road because obviously they’re still being driven,” Weaver said in KOMU’s article. “What kind of mechanical state will they be in at that point?” 

Weaver said he does see a decent number of vehicles with expired tags. 

“My family drives on these roads, our customers’ family drives on the roads, we still want the vehicles to be safe when they’re out there,” Weaver said.

KOMU reported Missouri Department of Revenue data shows delinquent fee accounts total $78.61 million in the state.

IMAGES

Photo courtesy of Art Wager/iStock