DMV Begins Required Inspections For Truck Owners Seeking Temporary Plates

WATERBURY — The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Monday, May 8,  began a new program designed to stop the prolonged use of temporary commercial plates on large trucks that do not have safety inspections.

The new program requires commercial vehicle owners seeking a temporary plate to have a complete safety inspection within ten days or be prohibited from registering the vehicle until the inspection is done. In addition, vehicles will not be allowed to carry any loads.

The May 1 start of this new program, designed to enhance truck safety requirements, follows Governor M. Jodi Rell’s acceptance of DMV’s recommendation last month that tighter controls were needed on the issuance of temporary plates. The agency has been studying the use of temporary plates for several months.

“It is yet another step in our continuing efforts to make sure that safety requirements are met by commercial vehicles carrying loads and operating on the highways in Connecticut,” said DMV Commissioner Ralph J. Carpenter.

In the past, DMV issued temporary plates for extended periods of time and did not require any kind of safety inspection on the vehicle. The only inspections done on the vehicles occurred either during a random roadside stop by DMV or the State Police or after an accident involving the vehicle.

“This old process clearly did not put safety first. The governor’s and my priority is to make safety our focus, when issuing registrations. It’s one of the critical points at which we can enforce corrective actions,” the commissioner said.

DMV’s new rules now only allow the use of the plates to move the vehicle to or from the place of sale or transfer, to a plant, construction site or other job location, to obtain repairs or to a site offering a safety inspection.

No such temporary marker plate shall allow the motor vehicle to be operated with a load. The ten-day temporary plate and the paper registration will be labeled “Inspection Only.”

Once the truck has passed inspection, it would either be eligible for a permanent registration or a 60-day temporary registration. The choice would depend on how long the truck would be in use and the fee that an owner wanted to pay.

A temporary registration, which is shorter in duration than the permanent registration, costs less. It is $46 for each ten-day period.