DRIVERS in a major US state will be forced to pay an extra fee if they want to buy a new car.
This is because the law around “temporary tags” has changed.
The new law was passed in Missouri last week.
Under the new rule, drivers will have to pay their sales tax at their dealership.
Currently, road users have a 30-day window to get their finances in order before making their first payment.
When the new law comes into force, dealerships will be banned from providing a 90-day temporary tag.
Instead, organizations will only be able to provide a 30-day tag for any car that’s still under a loan.
Point of sale
It means anyone who buys a car from a dealership will be required to pay state taxes at the point of sale.
This is being introduced to allow revenue officials to collect taxes sooner rather than later.
It does not, however, affect private sales of vehicle.
But there is some good news for anyone looking to buy a new car anytime soon – the law doesn’t come into effect until next year, as reported by STLPR.
State officials have admitted it may not even be in place until 2027.
Officials feel that some drivers swindle organizations out of fees when they do not renew their temporary car tags.
“Temp tags should only be good for 30 days,” Trish Vincent, who leads the Missouri Department of Revenue, said previously.
Missouri dealership owners have welcomed the change in the law.
Dealerships often give cars temporary tags often called “drive-out tags” to allow customers to leave the lot with their newly purchased vehicles before buying their license plates.
It’s important for motorists to remember that it is illegal to drive with a fake vehicle tag on your car º even if it’s easy to create or buy counterfeit tags online.
Class E felony
In the state of Tennessee, for example, having drive-out tags is a class E felony.
Someone convicted of having a fake tag on their car could face up to six years in prison.
Drivers with out-of-state plates in Tennessee have previously been warned to properly register their vehicle within 60 days of moving or lose it.
Registering a vehicle in a new state is expensive, and for too long, drivers have avoided transferring their tags to avoid the costs.
Meanwhile in Texas …
A law in Texas means dealerships will stop issuing paper license plates, writes our Acting Assistant Editor, Chris Bradford.
The new rule came into force on July 1 2025 and only four types of plates will be issued to drivers who have just bought a car.
One such plate is a temporary dealer plate, which is reserved for test drives.
Dealerships will issue a green metallic plate for any cars that are sold to drivers who do not live in Texas.
The plate for out-of-state buyers is valid for 60 days.
But, drivers who bought cars before July 1 will not be penalized retrospectively.
They have a 60-day window to change their plates.
Officials have warned that drivers who refuse to swap out their paper plate after the grace period could be fined.
