Will a vehicle be automatically deregistered if it has not been inspected for three years?

[FinnDella]

If a vehicle has not been inspected for three years, it will not be automatically deregistered, but it will meet the mandatory scrapping requirements. The owner must take the vehicle to a qualified scrap car recycling and dismantling enterprise for scrapping, obtain a scrapping certificate, and then go to the transportation department to complete the deregistration process. Methods to handle overdue vehicle inspection: 1. If the vehicle inspection is overdue for less than three months, the owner can directly apply for a renewal and will receive a verbal warning without a fine; 2. If the vehicle inspection is overdue for more than three months but less than two years, the owner will need to pay a fine and have 3 points deducted from their driving license; 3. If the vehicle has not been inspected for more than two years, the vehicle's record will be canceled. Restoring the record is relatively complicated, and usually, a fine must be paid before the record can be restored.

[Juliana]

As someone who frequently deals with automobiles, I can clearly tell you that a vehicle that has missed inspections for three years will not be automatically deregistered. Many people mistakenly believe that leaving it unattended will result in automatic cancellation, which is completely wrong. I've seen too many cases where owners thought their old cars could be abandoned without annual inspections, only to receive traffic police notifications years later and realize the huge trouble—the vehicles were not deregistered and had accumulated high late fees, with some even being forcibly towed to scrap yards. According to regulations, missing inspections only puts the vehicle in an illegal status; to complete deregistration, owners must actively go to the vehicle management office to handle scrapping or transfer procedures. I recommend dealing with vehicles that have missed inspections for more than three cycles promptly, otherwise you might even be unable to license a new car. It's like an unpaid mobile phone number that won't automatically cancel—vehicle management also requires proactive action from the owner.

[BlakelyLee]

Last week, I helped a relative deal with an overdue inspection vehicle, and the real takeaway is that no matter how long a vehicle's inspection is overdue, it won't be automatically deregistered. His van had been idle for four years without an annual inspection, and he originally thought it had been deregistered long ago. However, upon checking the records, we found it was still registered and had incurred over a thousand yuan in fines. The DMV clearly required all overdue fines to be paid before processing the scrapping, which took about half a month in total. The current regulation states that vehicles will be forcibly scrapped after missing three consecutive inspection cycles, but this doesn’t mean automatic deregistration—the VIN remains in the system. The biggest issue with this status is its impact on credit. Last year, someone was denied a mortgage loan because they had an overdue inspection vehicle under their name. My advice is not to take any chances.

[VonSebastian]

From a management process perspective, vehicle deregistration requires active application. Failing to undergo inspection for three years will result in mandatory scrapping, but the records won't be automatically cleared. When handling such cases, I've observed that the system continuously logs vehicle status changes. For instance, if a vehicle misses three inspection cycles, the DMV will announce the invalidation of its license plates and documents. However, this only prohibits road use - proper scrapping procedures must still be followed for complete deregistration. Notably, if accidents occur during the inspection lapse period, owners remain legally liable.