Press Release  Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Extending Grace Period for Certain Expired Inspection Stickers through End of May

Vehicle owners with expired March 2021 and April 2021 inspections stickers have through May 31, 2021 to obtain inspections

Law enforcement aware of these instances of expired stickers due to Applus’ vendor outage 

Additional time will be granted for failed motor vehicle inspection and retests

QUINCY – Due to the nationwide system outage of motor vehicle inspection services by its vendor Applus Technologies (Applus) impacting inspection stations and motor vehicle owners, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) is extending a grace period for specific motor vehicle inspection requirements.  The requirements are outlined below and include an extension which now allows vehicle owners with expired March 2021 and April 2021 inspections stickers to have through May 31, 2021 to obtain inspections.  The RMV is working in close partnership with the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association (MCOPA), the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and other stakeholders to mitigate the impacts of the outage.

The RMV is allowing a grace period for certain expired motor vehicle inspections. The RMV has advised law enforcement that compliance with the safety/emissions inspection requirement has not been possible since March 30, in light of the outage caused by the malware attack against Applus. 

• Motor vehicles with expired inspection stickers from March 2021 (“3” sticker on windshield) and April 2021 (“4” sticker on windshield) are extended until May 31, 2021, to obtain an inspection.
• Newly purchased vehicles registered on or after Tuesday, March 23, 2021, should be granted until April 30, 2021, to obtain an inspection. Newly purchased vehicles must typically be inspected within seven (7) days of registration. 
• Customers who recently had an inspection rejection and are in the 60-day free retest window will be afforded one extra day for each day Applus’s system remains unavailable but should plan to facilitate their inspection as soon as possible once the system is restored and stations are online.

Status of vehicle inspections

Applus Technologies, a vendor that facilitates vehicle inspections in MA and several other states, experienced a cyber-attack in several states on March 30, preventing the RMV’s vehicle inspection stations from conducting vehicle inspections statewide. The RMV will hold the vendor accountable for this disruption and is working with Applus to restore services as soon as possible. Applus has indicated that their systems will be operating by Saturday, April 17th in Massachusetts and the Registry will continue working with the vendor to meet this goal.

It has been 15 days since the Registry learned of the Applus cyber-attack, and the outage has had a significant impact to the many business owners who employ staff to deliver vehicle inspection services to the citizens of the Commonwealth.

For additional information and details on these and other RMV service offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit www.mass.gov/rmv or https://www.mass.gov/info-details/rmv-covid-19-information.

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