Montana: Is there an annual vehicle safety inspection?
Montana does not require regular or at-sale safety inspections of private cars; officers may inspect a car they suspect is unsafe.
Montana's equipment law has no periodic inspection for private passenger cars. Instead, state officers with reasonable cause can stop a car and inspect it, and owners must fix defects within 5 days. School buses get separate twice-yearly inspections. This answer is inferred from the absence of a periodic inspection requirement in the code.
What the law says
The department or its agents may at any time upon reasonable cause to believe that a vehicle is unsafe or not equipped as required by law or that its equipment is not in proper adjustment or repair require the driver of the vehicle to stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection and test as may be appropriate.
Sources
- MCA 61-9-501 Official · mca.legmt.gov
- MCA Title 61, Ch. 9, Part 5 index Official · mca.legmt.gov
Confirm with the state
- Agency
- Montana Department of Justice, Motor Vehicle Division
- Website
- dojmt.gov
How bordering states compare
- Idaho No safety inspectionNo. Idaho does not require safety inspections of private passenger cars, but cars titled in another state need a VIN inspection.
- North Dakota No safety inspectionNorth Dakota has no regular or point-of-sale safety inspection for passenger cars.
- South Dakota No safety inspectionSouth Dakota does not require safety inspections of private passenger cars; its general inspection law was repealed in 1979.
- Wyoming No safety inspectionWyoming does not require safety inspections of passenger cars; cars from other states get only a VIN check when titled.