Hollardawg

I suspect this is an excellent example of why the law has been changed ...an 18 yr resident whose vehicles have never been inspected in Texas!

 

I also registered my vehicles by mail w/o inspections a year or two before we returned to Texas after my retirement from military. The vin verification I believe was part of the registration by mail process. As I recall, we had to show registration & inspection proof to get our TX dl in Livingston.

If and when, a rational argument can be made, that justifies spending over $1200 in fuel costs, so that I can pay the state of Texas a $34 tax for a totally unnecessary inspection sticker, while I don't use the highways in Texas, I will listen. Otherwise, none of this makes any sense.

The order that Barb describes is the ONLY order that is supposed to work anywhere in Texas when moving into the state, because:

 

1)You must sign an affidavit stating that all of your registered vehicles are registered in Texas in order to obtain a Texas drivers license.

 

2) You cannot register those vehicles in Texas without first having them inspected in Texas. In conjunction with that first inspection, the inspection station will issue a VIN certification slip that is required to complete the registration process.

 

As Jack and Barb both stated, once you're registered, you won't be asked again about it. Given that Texas law requires their residents to have all vehicles registered there, whether they subsequently verify it or not, I suspect that it would be best to obtain a drivers license from the state in which you elect to register your vehicle(s), should you no longer wish to register in Texas.

#2 is not true. My RV was first registered in Texas in 1996, while I still lived in another state. I completed my registration completely by mail. I obtained my Texas drivers license in 2006. As of this date I have never had a vehicle inspected in Texas. However, I do not travel in Texas, and have not traveled in Texas more than about 15 days in the 18 years as a Texas resident..

Except for the Texas based companies with trucks and trailers that operate solely out of an out of state terminal, and/or the independent o/o who is just like a fulltimer, registered here but never comes back. Texas has only recently (2yrs ago?) begun to allow multi year registrations (as was mentioned above by whj) to attract the Texas companies that have all of their trailers registered in Oklahoma, Louisiana and other states that already had multi year and none expiring trailer registration. With this new inspection program, the step forward they made two years ago will instantly be undone. Commercial vehicles are required to be inspected and there are many ways to obtain an inspection without having to return to Texas. Token trailer license plates no longer have expiration date stickers on them either, so the registration can be renewed easily even if the trailer is not in the state. This new law will change that and require Texas registered trailers (including RV's) to come back to Texas for an inspection. That won't happen. The carriers will simply change their state of registration, costing Texas a lot more revenue that any amount of RV'ers.

 

"If this becomes law as currently written we will change our domicile to SD or Florida. "

"if this goes through then we will go with Florida as there are no annual inspections"

"But if it stands, I will have to leave TX."

Hmm, I guess you define threat differently that I do.

Those sound like promices to me.

There is a much larger and more powerful group than RV's, Polk County or the Escapee's that will be working to get this changed. The trucking industry means a whole lot more lost revenue to this state than every RV registered in the state. Like Jack said, don't panic. The sky is not falling yet. The inspection law in Texas recognizes the state inspections from 12 other states, and has for years. You never know, there may be a way to get inspected in another state and show verification to Texas. Predicting what may or may not happen, threatening to change your domicile, or anything else will do nothing to resolve the situation...and it is a situation that may never occur.

Gee, and all along I thought that this was a discussion.

Don't know about you, but I can't say that I have heard any "threats' here. Just a bunch of RV'ers stating their opinions on the subject. That's what people do when they discuss things. They look at the issue from several different perspectives.

Relax, take a breath.

The point is, that it is in their interests to at least try to preserve those revenues, by whatever means available to them.

Besides, the state of Texas may very well lose millions of license, and registration revenues. Do the math. If the average RV annual registration is $250/year, with 10,000 RV registrations, that is $25 million over 10 years.

I would bet, that the state of South Dakota would welcome those dollars.

There is one very important issue that is being overlooked in this discussion. That is the incentive of Polk County, and Livingston in particular, to not let this new law deter Escapees from easily registering their vehicles and RV's in Texas.

That incentive is purly financial. Both Polk County and Livingston, receive both federal and state financing for essential services baced on population. Should several thousand Escapees suddenly find it unacceptable to use Livingston as their legal domicile, both Polk County and Livingston will lose siginificent amounts of revenues. I am sure that the City Fathers realize the value of receiving these revenues, without having to provide very many of those essential services.

Escapees, are a very profitable commodity to Polk County and Livingston. Maximim income, with minimum costs.

Therefore, I would expect Polk County and Livingston to see that it is in their best interests, to fight for some kind of easing of the law for traveling RV'ers.