Virginia Law

A. If the vehicle meets all inspection requirements, the certified safety inspector performing the inspection shall immediately enter the receipt information via the Motor Vehicle Inspection Program (MVIP) system.

The inspection sticker is not valid unless the rear portion is completed with the vehicle make, year built, license plate number (dealer name if a dealer tag is displayed), body type, and the complete vehicle identification number (VIN). The inspection sticker shall be completed using black indelible ink.

B. Approval stickers and decals shall be issued according to the following schedule:

All issued annual inspection stickers shall expire at the end of the last day of the month displayed on the sticker. For example, a January inspection sticker expires at 12:00:00 a.m. on February 1.

All February annual inspection stickers (i.e., stickers numbered "2") due to expire at midnight, February 28 automatically will be valid through midnight February 29 each leap year.

C. The numeral insert indicating the month of expiration shall be affixed to the box identified as month on the car or truck approval sticker. The numeral insert indicating the month and year of expiration shall be affixed to the box identified as month and year on the trailer or motorcycle sticker.

Extreme care should be used by inspectors when applying inserts. The sticker shall be placed at the bottom left corner of the windshield when viewed from the inside of the vehicle. The left edge of the sticker is to be placed as close as practical, but no closer than one inch to the left edge of the windshield when viewed from the inside of the vehicle. The top edge of the sticker is to be approximately four inches from the bottom of the windshield when viewed from the inside of the vehicle.

NOTE: Minor adjustments to the placement of the safety inspection sticker may be made to avoid the decal being obscured by the windshield's monogram.

NOTE: On passenger vehicles not equipped with a windshield, the sticker shall be placed on or under the dash and protected in some manner from the weather.

EXCEPTIONS: On vehicles equipped with heating and grid elements on the inside of the windshield, the sticker shall be placed one inch above the top of the grid element and the left edge of the sticker shall be approximately one inch to the right of the left edge of the windshield when viewed from the inside of the vehicle.

Any sticker or decal required by the laws of any other state or the District of Columbia and displayed upon the windshield of a vehicle submitted for inspection in the Commonwealth is permitted by the superintendent, provided the vehicle is currently registered in that jurisdiction, and the sticker is displayed in a manner designated by the issuing authority and has not expired. In these cases, if the sticker or decal is located where the inspection sticker is to be placed, it will not be removed unless the owner or operator authorizes its removal. The inspection sticker will be placed 1/4 inch to the right of the sticker or decal when viewed from the inside of the vehicle without removing or overlapping the sticker or decal.

D. The Code of Virginia requires that the inspection sticker be displayed on the windshield or at other designated places at all times. The inspection sticker cannot be transferred from one vehicle to another.

EXCEPTION: If the windshield in a vehicle is replaced, a valid sticker may be removed from the old windshield and placed on the new windshield.

E. The sticker issued to a motorcycle shall be affixed to the left side of the cycle where it will be most visible after mounting. The sticker may be placed on a plate on the left side where it will be most visible and securely fastened to the motorcycle for the purpose of displaying the sticker. The sticker may be placed horizontally or vertically.

F. Trailer stickers will be issued to all trailers and semitrailers required to be inspected. (No boat, utility, or travel trailer that is not equipped with brakes shall be required to be inspected.)

G. All inspected trailers must display a trailer sticker on that particular vehicle. These stickers are to be placed on the left side of the trailer near the front corner. The sticker must be affixed to the trailer body or frame. In those instances where a metal back container with a removable transparent cover has been permanently affixed to the trailer body, the sticker may be glued to it. The container must be permanently mounted in such a manner that the sticker must be destroyed to remove it.

H. In all other cases involving unusually designed trailers such as pole trailers, the safety inspector is to exercise his own good judgment in placing the sticker at a point where it will be as prominent as possible and visible for examination from the left side.

I. Motorcycles have a separate sticker that is orange and issued with the prefix M. Trailers have a separate sticker that is blue and issued with the prefix T. The trailer and motorcycle receipts are completed in the same manner as other inspection receipts.

J. Appointed stations will keep sufficient inspection supplies on hand to meet their needs. Requests for additional supplies shall be ordered via the MVIP system. Requests for supplies that are to be picked up at the Safety Division Headquarters must be made at least 24 hours prior to pick up.

Packing slips mailed with inspection supplies will be kept on file at the station for at least 24 months.

K. All unused center inserts used to indicate the month that a sticker expires, in possession of the inspection station at the end of each month, shall be retained by the inspection station, properly safeguarded, and used in the inspection of vehicles for that particular month in the following year or be disposed of as directed by the Department of State Police.

All inspection supplies that are voided, damaged, disfigured or become unserviceable in any manner, will be returned to the Safety Division. New replacement supplies will be issued to the station. Expired stickers will be picked up by the station's supervising trooper.

L. All voided approval or rejection stickers will be picked up by the station's supervising trooper.

M. The MVIP system approval or rejection printed receipt shall be given to the owner or operator of the vehicle. In the event of an MVIP or internet connection failure, manual receipts from the approval and rejection books shall be utilized.

N. All white copies within the approval (car and truck, trailer and motorcycle) and rejection books shall be retained in the books and shall be kept on file at the station for at least six months. Stations shall notate necessary information on the white copy to provide a means of tracking for audit purposes. They may be inspected by any law-enforcement officer during normal business hours.

O. Safety Division troopers may replace inspection stickers that have separated from the windshield of motor vehicles and become lost or damaged without conducting an inspection of the safety components of the vehicle. Such replacement of inspection stickers shall be made only in accordance with the following provisions:

1. A vehicle owner or operator complaining of the loss or damage to the inspection sticker on the windshield of their vehicle due to separation of the sticker from the windshield shall be directed to the nearest Safety Division Area Office or Safety Division trooper.

2. Safety Division troopers, upon receipt of a complaint from a vehicle owner or operator that their inspection sticker has been stolen, lost or become damaged due to separation from the windshield, will make arrangements to meet the person to effect the replacement of the sticker. A vehicle owner or operator alleging theft of the inspection sticker will furnish proof to the Safety Division trooper that such theft has been reported to the proper law-enforcement authority.

3. The vehicle owner or operator must produce the original safety inspection approval sticker receipt indicating a valid approval inspection sticker was issued to the vehicle within the past 11 months. (The vehicle must be reinspected if the expiration of the original inspection sticker is in the month the request is being made.)

4. The Safety Division trooper will verify by the inspection receipt that the vehicle was issued an approval inspection sticker within the past 11 months and will then issue a replacement inspection sticker to the vehicle. If any obvious equipment defects are detected during the replacement process, the vehicle will not be issued a replacement approval sticker.

5. The Safety Division trooper will complete the inspection sticker receipt for the approval sticker from information contained on the original receipt. The date the replacement sticker is issued will be used in the date space. In the space for Inspection Related Charges, the trooper will insert the word "REPLACEMENT" and the sticker number from the original inspection receipt.

6. The Safety Division trooper will sign the receipt vertically in the O.K. column in the "Equipment Inspected" blocks. These blocks will not otherwise be completed.

7. The Safety Division trooper shall place month and year inserts on the inspection sticker to reflect the expiration as shown on the original approval inspection sticker and place the inspection sticker on the windshield in accordance with the requirements of subsection C of this section.

8. The Safety Division trooper will enter the replacement information into the MVIP system.

P. New vehicle safety inspections.

1. Section 46.2-1158.01 of the Code of Virginia allows an employee who customarily performs the inspection requirement of a manufacturer or distributor of new motor vehicles to place an inspection sticker furnished by the Department of State Police on the vehicle once it has met the requirements of that manufacturer or distributor. This employee does not have to be a certified safety inspector.

2. With the addition of other personnel using Department of State Police inspection supplies, a system shall be developed at each inspection station to afford accountability of all supplies. The system shall include proper safeguards to prevent the loss of supplies through carelessness, neglect, theft, or unauthorized use.

3. Inspection stations shall not mix annual state inspections with predelivery inspections (PDI) in the same book of inspection stickers.

4. All employees shall be reminded that anyone who performs inspections, whether it be for the annual inspection or the PDI inspection, is subject to criminal prosecution if inspection supplies are used illegally or used in some other unauthorized way.

5. Station management and licensed safety inspectors are subject to administrative sanctions for any misuse of inspection supplies.

6. The inspection receipts shall be completed as usual with the following exceptions: On the "inspector" line, the initials "PDI" (for predelivery inspection) and the printed employee's name performing the inspection shall be entered. On the "inspector's license number" line, the letters "N/A" shall be entered. In the equipment inspected section, the words "New Vehicle" shall be entered in the "adjust" column. The PDI employee performing the inspection shall sign his name in the "O.K." column.