HOUSTON — Ahead of the changes coming to vehicle registration laws in Texas, some people are running into an error while trying to renew it online.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles said you can renew your registration online 90 days prior to your tag's expiration date or up to 12 months after expiration if you haven't been cited for it being out of date but a new law is causing some confusion.
The error happens when people go to register online. They're getting a message that says: "The vehicle was not found. Corrected Vehicle Information may be required."
The DMV said you don't have to register early and those who have tags that expire in January, February or March will have to wait until the beginning of the year to renew online since that's when the new law takes effect.
Houston Bill 3297 was passed in 2023. It goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. It abolishes the vehicle safety inspection program for non-commercial vehicles.
There's a bit of a caveat, though. In Texas, there are 17 counties that will still require emissions inspections if the vehicle is registered there, including Harris County.
Here's the full list of counties that will still require you to get an emissions test before renewing your registration:
- Harris County
- Montgomery County
- Fort Bend County
- Galveston County
- Brazoria County
- Dallas County
- Rockwall County
- Denton County
- Tarrant County
- Johnson County
- El Paso County
- Travis County
- Kaufman County
- Ellis County
- Williamson County
- Collin County
- Parker County