As a St Louis Toyota dealer, we field quite a few questions about what can and cannot be done to vehicles. While your best bet is always to contact the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles or the St Louis Police Department directly, there are still a few things that we can help to guide you on. One of those topics is the idea of street legal. Just what does this term mean, and how does it relate to you?

Your Toyota dealer has learned that street legal is a term that refers to a vehicle’s parts, condition, and legality. If it is street legal, it is considered to be legally able to be driven on the St Louis roads. There are a variety of ways that this term can come up. There are some aftermarket parts, for example, that are not considered street legal. Laser jammers, for example, are meant to thwart laser speed detection and to avoid tickets. Using these is not, by this definition, street legal. Take it from your Toyota dealer—you don’t want to be on the wrong side of the law on this one!

Being street legal also means complying with a variety of laws and regulations regarding registering your car, truck, or van. If you do not have proper insurance, the car is not street legal. The same goes if you do not have it properly titled or registered, or if the plates are out of date. Anything that makes your vehicle unsafe or illegal to be on the road makes is not street legal.

So, take it from your Toyota dealer—this is one definition you need to know. We hope that you are always keeping your car in a safe and legal condition, and that you always keep your registration and insurance up to date with the proof in your car. This isn’t just a definition, after all—it’s the law.