ST. LOUIS — Lawmakers in Missouri are focused on addressing expired temporary tags. It's a problem that has rapidly increased in our area.
One of the many proposed bills would prevent shops from repairing cars that aren't properly registered.
If passed, House Bill 1507 would make it against the law for mechanics to work on cars with expired temp tags.
Missouri Representative Gretchen Bangert, D-Florissant, is the sponsor.
"I had a discussion with my mechanic and other mechanics in my area regarding having to work on vehicles with expired tags and they were kind of frustrated," she said.
Rep. Bangert said the mechanics she spoke to feel uncomfortable working on these cars and that's why she introduced the legislation.
"Their feelings are they're paying their taxes and that money's funneling down into the communities where they work and helping out where they live, and they don't feel like they should have to be part of almost a crime," she said.
Lisa Renaud, the president of St. Louis Auto and Truck Repair, said her shop sees expired temp tags quite often and she even saw one a couple weeks ago from 2019.
"We do see a lot of temp tags in the city, and I think the police are probably tired of pulling people over if they can't afford the plates and they can't afford the tickets, and it's just a vicious cycle," she said.
Renaud doesn't believe her shop should get in the middle of that vicious cycle, though.
"I don't feel like it should be our responsibility to make sure somebody has plates or temp tags," she said.
While Renaud said they would never feel comfortable turning someone away, her shop has other ways of handling the issue.
"If it's a new customer, we have them prepay the first hour of diagnostic, if they need a diagnostic, and just because sometimes they don't come for weeks to pick up their vehicle," she said.
Even though mechanics deal with this often, Renaud believes there's another solution.
"I just think we need to come up with a better way to be able to have people pay for their plates. I think it's really expensive. They have a big cost when they buy a vehicle, and then you have another big cost when you go to plate it, so we need to figure something else out. I'm not sure what, I don't have the perfect idea, but I think if we come up with something different, there wouldn't be all these temp tags running around," she said.
House Bill 1507 was just filed and hasn't been referred to a committee yet.