TLC Woodside Inspection Facility: Hours, What to Bring

In short: TLC's vehicle inspection facility is at 24-55 BQE West, Woodside, NY 11377, in Queens. Call (718) 267-4559 for inspection information or (718) 391-5501 for the licensee hotline, or email inspections@tlc.nyc.gov. Bring your vehicle registration and a valid TLC or state driver license, or your car will not be inspected. For an FHV appointment, arriving more than one hour late counts as a missed appointment and as one of your four attempts.

This page is about the visit itself. For the inspection rules (how often, what fails, late penalties), see TLC vehicle inspection.

Address and contacts

Sources: TLC's Locations page and Vehicle Inspections page. The facility sits along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). TLC's page links to Google directions but gives no transit directions for Woodside, so plan your route in a map app, and remember you must drive the car there. Woodside is not the licensing office. Licensing appointments, cashier services and settlements are at TLC's Long Island City office (31-00 47th Avenue). Hearings are held by OATH.

Who goes to Woodside, and when

TLC no longer requires appointments for FHV transfer applications: those are filed online in TLC UP. The inspection is what brings you to Woodside.

New vs renewal inspections. A new license has a 60-day window; a renewal has 120 days. Both allow four inspections in the window. If a renewing car fails four times, you may present a different vehicle, which faces the same limits (59A-04(f)(5)). Fewer than 500 miles on the odometer means a visual inspection only; 500 or more means a full NYS DMV inspection plus TLC's checks, and a $75 inspection fee is part of the application (59A-04(e)(6)–(7)).

What to bring

Taxi hack-up visits need more: the taxi with all equipment and decals, registration, current FH-1, rate card and medallion, bill of sale, photo ID or TLC license, power of attorney if you are not the owner, the meter mile-run printout from a licensed meter shop, the CMVT payment receipt from NYC Finance, the transfer receipt from Long Island City, and any approval letter (Medallion Owners page). For CMVT, see Commercial Motor Vehicle Tax.

If you're late or miss the appointment

Yellow and green cabs that miss a scheduled inspection can return the next day without an appointment, but TLC says a cab inspected after its scheduled date gets a summons. For FHVs, see what if I miss my inspection appointment?.

If you fail

• Failed the DMV part (the NYS safety and emissions items): the report lists the defects. Fix them and come back during the reinspection hours on the report. No appointment is needed.
• Failed the TLC part (TLC rules items): you get a Notice of Violation with a compliance date. Fix the items and return before that date to avoid a TLC summons.
• You cannot carry passengers until the vehicle passes, TLC says.

Reinspection fees, paid online in LARS after the reinspection (since November 12, 2019):

No fee is owed if the car passes on the first try, and rule 59A-04(e)(8) says there is no reinspection fee when the failure was only on a TLC-rules item. See how much is a TLC reinspection fee?.

After you pass: decals and activation

Woodside is where TLC puts the license decals on your car. Rule 59A-29(a) requires three TLC decals: one on the lower front right of the windshield and one on the lower rear corner of each rear quarter window (or on the rear window above the rear door if there are no quarter windows). Luxury limousines need only the windshield decal. The decals must be applied by TLC staff, and new ones are put on when the license is renewed, the car is replaced, or the car changes base or plates.

After a new-license or vehicle-transfer inspection, TLC says the license is activated within 48 hours of passing. Don't take passengers until TLC UP shows the license active.

Decal-only visits

Since the base name is no longer printed on TLC decals, a base transfer doesn't need an inspection. If you still want new decals, or yours are damaged, email FHVTransfers@tlc.nyc.gov for a referral document. With the referral you can go to Woodside Monday to Friday between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. (transfer page). If decals are lost or stolen, you must notify TLC immediately (59A-10(c), $50 fine if you don't), and a replacement costs $25 (59A-07(e)).

When TLC orders the car in

You don't always choose when you come. TLC officers or police can stop an FHV for an on-street inspection and order it to report to the inspection facility (59A-26(b)). If any NYS DMV station finds the car unsafe or unfit, you must return the decals to TLC within 72 hours (59A-27(a)(3)), and the car can't work until it is fixed and passes again.

Between Woodside visits: the 4-month cycle

An FHV must be inspected three times a year, at least once every four months (59A-26(a)). The licensing inspection at Woodside counts as one of them for most cars (59A-04(e)(6)(ii)(B)). The others can be done at any DMV-registered inspection station. Missing the cycle carries a $100 fine and suspension until the car passes, and 60 days without meeting inspection rules leads to revocation for non-use (59A-08(c)(3)). See FHV non-use revocation and the owner's daily duties.

Vehicles seating 10 or more, or modified after manufacture, follow NYS DOT inspection rules instead. See modified and large FHVs. For how often inspection summonses are written, see TLC inspection statistics. For other TLC offices in the borough, see our Queens page.