06/11/2026
We’ve been getting calls all day about state inspections, and honestly, we don’t have many more answers than our customers do.
From what we’ve been told, inspection stickers are being phased out, and State Police are no longer issuing tickets for expired stickers. Outside of that, there hasn’t really been any clear direction given to the inspection stations that are actually trying to deal with this every day.
What’s frustrating is the complete lack of communication. Local businesses have been left in the dark about this change. Customers are calling every day asking what they’re supposed to do, and we don’t have answers to give them. Are we still performing inspections? Are we still required to buy stickers? Why are people still getting tickets for expired inspections? There has been almost no clear direction from the state, and everyone is just left guessing.
Inspection stations have spent years taking care of their customers. Inspection stickers may not have been a huge source of income for local shops, but every bit mattered—especially for stations that have spent years under strict state audits, record keeping, and oversight from Louisiana State Police. Now it just feels like everyone is sitting around waiting on answers that aren’t coming.
These are small local businesses, not big corporations. Even small changes hit hard when there’s no clear plan behind them.
We also understand why people are frustrated on the customer side. Everything is more expensive right now—insurance, taxes, everyday living costs. People are just trying to get by, and if there’s a way to ease that, nobody is against it. But it needs to be done in a way that actually makes sense and is clearly explained.
And to be honest, this isn’t really as simple as the state “doing us a favor” by eliminating inspection stickers. It’s being replaced with a QR code system that’s supposed to cost around $6 a year—but it doesn’t take much to see how that number can quietly increase over time. The concern is that this is more of a shift in how the fee is collected, not true relief for citizens.
At some point, we also need to talk seriously about affordability in Louisiana as a whole. Instead of pointing frustration at small businesses over a system we didn’t create, there needs to be more accountability on rising insurance costs and broader taxes. While millions are being made somewhere in that system, inspection stations are being criticized over just a few dollars per sticker.
It’s also worth pointing out: inspection fees were never going to roads. They went to Louisiana State Police. So if the goal was truly to cut costs, that conversation should be about why those fees were there to begin with—not pointing fingers at local shops that were just following state law.
Right now, the bigger issue is the lack of communication and leadership in how this whole thing has been handled. That’s what’s causing most of the frustration across the board.
A lot of the blame being thrown at inspection stations just isn’t fair. They didn’t create the system—they worked in it and took care of their customers within it.
At the end of the day, this should come down to two things: people trying to stay legal and safe, and small businesses trying to keep serving their communities without being left in the dark.
If there are questions, they really need to go to the people who made and supported these changes. The public deserves clear answers and a straight explanation of what’s actually going on.
