North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Air Quality

Vehicle Emissions Inspection Requirement (status as at 2026-09-30)

Guilford County charges no fee for this programme: vehicle emissions inspection is a State programme run by NC DEQ with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles, and no Guilford County office levies a charge for it. The status below is dated deliberately, because the requirement is live but mid-repeal and should not be read as settled either way. As at 2026-09-30, G.S. 143-215.107A(c) prints two alternative versions. The version marked '(Effective until contingency met – see note)' states that 'Motor vehicle emissions inspections shall be performed in the following counties: Alamance, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Franklin, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Johnston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Randolph, Rowan, Union, and Wake.' The version marked '(Effective once contingency met – see note)' states that inspections 'shall be performed in Mecklenburg County' alone. NC DEQ's Inspection & Maintenance page states that 'Recent changes to state law may soon terminate the vehicle Inspection & Maintenance (I&M) Program in the 19 counties that are currently subject to the program', that section 12.7 of S.L. 2023-134 will remove 18 counties and section 12.13(b) of S.L. 2026-41 will also remove Mecklenburg, and — decisively for a business planning ahead — that 'The changes are not effective until approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and finalized by DEQ and the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV).' The same page records that on May 8, 2026 EPA proposed to approve North Carolina's revised State Implementation Plan and accepted public comments for 30 days, that EPA is reviewing those comments, and that if EPA finalizes approval the DMV will implement the programme change within 15 days of EPA publishing its final action. So an auto-repair business in Guilford County still operates under the emissions requirement today, and should expect a short implementation window if EPA acts. NC DEQ also notes that 'All counties will still require the annual safety inspection', so the safety inspection duty is unaffected by the emissions change. Station licensing is an N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles function; contact NCDMV's inspection programme for the station license requirements and current amounts.