Missouri still requires a safety inspection, but it exempts most newer cars: a vehicle built within the last ten years and showing under 150,000 miles is out of the requirement altogether. When one is required, the state caps what a station may charge for it at $12.00 for a car or truck, which makes it one of the few automotive prices in the country you can look up rather than negotiate.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateMissouri average | $120 per hour |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
Where a source publishes figures state by state, this page shows the figure for this state rather than a national average. Where no state-level source exists, it shows the national range and the local factors that move a job within it. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
Missouri law requires a safety inspection at an authorized station unless the vehicle is exempt, and the exemption is broad: a vehicle manufactured within the last ten years with under 150,000 miles on it does not need one. Both conditions have to hold. A car that crosses 150,000 miles inside that ten-year window comes back into the requirement at the next registration or renewal, which catches people who assumed the model year alone settled it. Vehicles that are not exempt run on an alternating cycle, with even-year models inspected against odd-year registrations and odd-year models against even ones.
Missouri caps what an inspection station may charge: no more than $12.00 for a passenger vehicle or truck, and no more than $10.00 for a motorcycle, motor tricycle or autocycle. The Missouri State Highway Patrol runs the program and sets those ceilings, so a station quoting more for the inspection itself is quoting outside the rule. What is not capped is anything the inspection turns up, which is where the real money is and where the shop’s own labor rate takes over.
A Certificate of Inspection and Approval is good for 60 days from the date of inspection, stretching to 90 days on a vehicle bought from a Missouri dealer under certain conditions. Inspect too early against a renewal date and the certificate can expire before you use it.
Shop labor in Missouri sits below the national figure, nearer the bottom of the national spread than the top. That is the hourly rate and not the invoice: the bill is the rate multiplied by the hours the job is booked at, so a lower rate against more booked hours can still cost more than a higher rate against fewer. The table above carries the current figure and what moves it. Note that the inspection fee is a separate, state-capped item and is not billed at the shop rate.
For vehicle work, know before you book whether your car is actually due an inspection: ten years and 150,000 miles are the two tests, and a shop has no reason to talk you out of one you do not need. Ask what happens if it fails, and get the failure items written down as a quote rather than started as work, because that is where the capped fee ends and open-ended labor begins.
For trade work in the home, do not assume one license covers the whole of Missouri. Licensing for the building trades is issued locally here, and the requirements differ between the city, the county and the surrounding municipalities. Ask which authority licenses the contractor for the work in question and check that the address on the job falls inside it. A contractor who cannot name the licensing body for your address is telling you something.
Not if it was manufactured within the last ten years and has under 150,000 miles. Both have to be true. Cross 150,000 miles inside that window and the vehicle comes back into the requirement at the next registration or renewal.
No more than $12.00 for a passenger vehicle or truck, and no more than $10.00 for a motorcycle, motor tricycle or autocycle. The Missouri State Highway Patrol sets those ceilings.
Sixty days from the date of inspection, or 90 days on a vehicle bought from a Missouri dealer under certain conditions.
On an alternating cycle: even-year models against registrations expiring in odd calendar years, odd-year models against registrations expiring in even years.
Start with the local authority rather than a statewide search. Licensing for the building trades is issued at city and county level in Missouri, so ask which authority licenses the contractor for your address, and confirm the number with that authority directly.