Car Inspection Sticker Expiration Changed? Month ahead of what it was before?

Submitted by puzzlesarecool t3_zyo258 in Pennsylvania

So, I just had my car inspection done, and it was due 1-23, so I was ahead of time. After I got it inspected, they told me they were out of 1 stickers, so I “gained a month”, and my new stickers expire 2-24. This seems very weird. Are they allowed to do that? I don’t want that to bite me later on.

I can’t find any answers online about this anywhere. The only info I can find was in Pub 45, which has the regulations for inspection stations. Pub 45 says, “An annually inspected vehicle will receive an inspection for 1 year from the expiration of the safety inspection sticker which is about to expire, except motorcycles, which receive an expiration in accordance with charts provided by the Department. A sticker may not be issued for more than 15 months from the month of inspection.”

So, it mentions one year from the old sticker, but also no more than 15 months, which seems contradictory. 2-24 is within 15 months, so I guess that’s okay? Any ideas if this situation is kosher, and if I need to do anything about that? Car things are very complicated in this state, and I don’t want to get in trouble if the mechanic did something wrong.

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tigerlily_223 t1_j26xg61 wrote

My mechanic always gives me an extra month, you should be fine.

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ConstantParade t1_j27pxv1 wrote

Pretty cool that you care so much to follow the rules, you're probably a real stand up citizen all around and Pennsylvania could always do with more people like you. You will be totally fine but if in the farthest stretch of the imagination something would come up about it it's whoever signed the sticker or their employer that would be at fault, not you. Source - FIL owns a garage/inspection station.

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SunnySideUp-yj t1_j277oj3 wrote

This actually happens more than you think. Sometimes you run low last year and don't remember till the next year and have to wait for an order. But just to be clear you have a 3 month window where you can give any of those 3 months. It's kind of frowned upon to jump months for no reason. However it's not illegal and is perfectly normal in that situation.

3 months window includes the current month. We can do any inspection inside thay window. So say it's January I can do January February and March in that time frame. I can't do an April tho. That illegal to jump that far out. Hope this helps. Also your stickers aren't tied to anything. So say you forgot next year and don't notice till March. We'll then you get a 3 it's no big deal.

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IndependentCode8743 t1_j27452a wrote

I believe you can get your vehicle inspected 3 months before expiration. I used to get my car with Feb expiration stickers inspected this week since I was always off work, and my work schedule in Feb was usually very hectic.

I also bought my wife a car where the inspection and tag renewal were off by 3 months and my mechanic moved my inspection sticker out a month for 3 years until they were aligned.

I don’t see how a police officer could do anything to you should you get pulled over since they would have no way of knowing your vehicle inspection stickers were now on a different expiration month.

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meandmybluesocks t1_j26z43l wrote

My husband is an auto tech who does inspections. He said technically no, they should not use a 2 sticker, but you as the customer will not get into any kind of trouble for that, but the place you got it inspected could if they got caught.

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Real_Comfortable3467 t1_j289qys wrote

The mechanic where we take our work trucks has been saying they have been dealing with sticker shortages since Covid. It's possible they didn't have and won't be getting any of the month they would have typically slapped on there if Harrisburg was 100%.

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worstatit t1_j28ialn wrote

One of several reasons they're permitted to give up to 15 months. It may be problematic for the station if they do it regularly, but you will be fine as a customer.

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