Buying Vehicles from a Dealer or Private Individual

Statutes containing the following requirements supersede “As Is” declarations on sales contracts or bills of sale to individuals .

Vehicles bought from a Dealer

Automobile dealers must sell vehicles that pass the emissions test (643.315.4, Missouri Revised Statutes). Dealers have two ways of meeting this:

Dealers can sell a vehicle using an emissions inspection compliance certificate, whether it has a ‘Pass’ or a 'Fail' and got a ‘Waiver’ 120 days prior to the date of sale.

    • The dealer will give the buyer the emissions test certificate to register the vehicle within 120 days of certificate date.

    • If the buyer does not register the vehicle within the certificate date the buyer must get a new emissions test.

    • Buyers- If the vehicle failed the test and got a waiver, the vehicle may fail future emissions tests.

Dealers may also sell a vehicle without a valid emissions test certificate.

    • Dealers must tell the buyer in writing on both the “Bill of Sale” and the purchase contract that the buyer has within 10 days and no more than 1,000 additional miles after the sale date to return the vehicle to the dealer if the vehicle fails the emissions inspection.

    • The dealer must repair the vehicle to get the ‘Pass’, at no charge to the buyer. No waiver is available to a dealer with this type of sale.

    • Dealers must repair within five days, or  come to some other mutually agreeable decision with the buyer regarding the vehicle purchase.

    •  If the vehicle’s emissions are first tested after 10 days or 1,000 miles, the buyer must get the emissions compliance certificate needed to register the vehicle.

 If buyers are not happy with a dealer’s reply, they can contact the Missouri Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline at 800-392-8222 or at https://www.ago.mo.gov/app/consumercomplaint.

Note: Vehicles sold with Junk, Salvage, or Rebuild titles or vehicles bought at a public auction are exempt from these dealer requirements. If you buy a used vehicle through any of these means, you are responsible for the cost to repair the vehicle to pass the emission inspection or receive a waiver.

 

Vehicles bought from a Private Individual

Private sellers of vehicles are required to provide the purchaser with a current emissions test approval or waiver for the vehicle prior to sale. The vehicle purchaser has 60 days from the date of the emissions test to use the certificate for registration (643.315.1. Missouri Revised Statutes).