Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - In case you haven't noticed yet, or still have time before you need to get your annual state inspection of your vehicle, there is a new look and new process rolling out for state inspection stickers this year.
Last month, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) announced it had begun its second phase of rollouts for new inspection stickers to licensed inspection stations statewide, meaning the majority of those stations will begin using a new system. Phase 2 of this process involves shipping the print-on-demand sticker system to thousands of New York State-licensed inspection stations.
"What happened was last year, New York State got a hold of all their inspection station facilities, and required them to purchase another machine, a computer and a printer, and from them, we'll change the way we issue the stickers," said Bob Gugino from Bison Automotive on Kenmore Avenue in Buffalo. "Everyone had to jump in by the fall of last year, and slowly the machines have been rolling out. Not everyone still has them, but as you got them, you were required to set them up in a certain amount of time. Then you had to begin using that, and then the other way you had it with the stickers went by the wayside."
This new system prints the vehicle identification number (VIN) and mileage information right on the sticker itself. The sticker color will continue to change from year-to-year to provide additional information about whether a vehicle's inspection is up to date.
"This year, we're putting red ones on, and last year we had yellow ones. The sticker is now instead of a book of stickers that we normally have, we actually print the stickers through a printer. They look a little differently, but they have a lot more information on them," Gugino said.
While they're a little different than before, Gugino says they're also a little harder to trade in-between cars, as some people like to do.
The transition to the new system is expected to continue through the end of 2023, though customers may continue to see valid inspection stickers in the previous design until late 2024.
With this new system of conducting state inspections in New York, it makes it less likely for automotive service places to run out of stickers, leaving drivers out of luck if they need a state inspection done.
"Before it was easy to be out of them. You had to remember to order them ahead of time, so you always had them. There was always a 2-3 week lag in-between ordering them and actually receiving them in the mail. Now what they did is they actually sent us enough rolls of stickers to last us the whole year by looking at our previous year sales, and of course, they added a little bit more," Gugino explained. "Now we already have all the stickers that we should need for the year, or at least a roll of blank stickers, and then we can then print them without having to ever really run out of stickers. There's no reason why we should."
In addition to having more information on the sticker like the vehicle's VIN number, plate number, mileage at the time of inspection, it also has a QR code that makes it more accessible for law enforcement, if they happen to need that information.
"They can look right at the sticker and know that it belongs to your car. Like I said, it has a plate number on it, the vehicle identification number on it so it's easy to identify that way," Gugino said. "They can scan it as well, and it'll interact with the servers in Albany and it can actually tell whether that's valid or maybe you made it up somehow. It's a lot more information, a lot more secure, and I think it makes our roads safer. Most folks get their cars legitimately inspected, but there are times when people don't. This is one way to stop that."
More from Gugino is available in the player below:
