When is my inspection due, and what happens if I'm late?
Your sticker expires the last day of the month printed on it, nobody mails a reminder, and the rule about being pulled over is not what most people think.
Three facts settle most of the confusion about this, and two of them surprise people.
1. The last day, not the first
Your inspection sticker expires on the last day of the month printed on it. If it says 09, you have until the 30th of September — weekday or weekend, holiday or not.
People routinely assume the first, panic on the 1st, and end up in a queue during the busiest week of somebody’s month. You have the whole month.
2. Nobody is going to remind you
Virginia State Police are explicit about it: no notice is mailed. There’s no renewal letter, no email, no text. The only reminder is the sticker on your own windshield.
Put it in your phone’s calendar as a recurring annual reminder for the first week of that month. That’s the whole trick, and it’s the difference between a calm Tuesday morning drop-off and a scramble on the 29th.
3. The rule about being late is not what you think
Since 2020, Virginia Code § 46.2-1157(E) has said that a law-enforcement officer may not stop a vehicle solely because its inspection sticker has expired, until the first day of the fourth month after the original expiration date.
Read that carefully, because it gets repeated wrong in both directions.
It does not mean an expired sticker is legal for three months. It’s still a violation, and if you’re stopped for something else, it’s still there. It can still matter to an insurance company after a collision, and it does nothing about the fact that the car hasn’t been checked.
What it does mean is that if you’re a few weeks past and quietly panicking, you have room to get the thing done properly at a shop you trust, rather than taking the first appointment anyone will give you.
The month-end rush is real
The last three days of any month are the worst three days in every inspection station in Henrico County. It’s the only time we ever have to turn people away, and it’s entirely made of people who had thirty days and used twenty-nine of them.
The first week of your expiration month is the calmest week we have. Same $20, same inspection, no queue.
What “same $20” means
The fee for a passenger car, truck, trailer or motor home is $20. That is the statutory maximum under Virginia Code § 46.2-1167 — every legitimate station in the Commonwealth charges it. Motorcycles and autocycles are $12. Commercial vehicles are $51.
So the price isn’t the variable. What varies is the wait, whether anybody explains a failure to you, and whether you’re handed the write-up without having to ask.
If you fail
You get a rejection sticker, valid 15 calendar days beyond the day of inspection. During that window you can’t be charged for the equipment defect that caused the rejection.
You’re free to have the repair done anywhere. If you bring it back to the same station inside those 15 days, only the failed item gets re-inspected — not the whole car again. Past 15 days, it’s a complete inspection from the top.
New to Virginia?
If you’ve just moved here and registered the vehicle, it needs a Virginia inspection — another state’s sticker doesn’t carry over. Get it done early rather than discovering the requirement at a traffic stop.
The fastest way through
A morning drop-off. Leave it with us at eight and most days it’s ready well before the afternoon. We’re at 320 W Williamsburg Rd in Sandston, an official Virginia inspection station since 1980.
Call (804) 737-2828, or read how the inspection works.