Starting this fall, Hawaii drivers will likely have to pay a few dollars more to get their vehicles inspected for registration.

But with a new electronic filing system, they won’t have to worry about those inspection records getting to the Department of Motor Vehicles weeks after the fact, state officials and local inspectors say.

A proposal by the state’s Department of Transportation calls for drivers to be charged up to $19.19 for automobile and truck inspections, and $13.24 for motorcycle and trailer inspections. That’s about $4.50 more than what inspectors can currently charge. It would be the first time Hawaii has raised what inspectors can charge since the 1980s, DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter said Tuesday.

Each county must first host a public meeting on the proposed rule changes, followed by a public comment period, Sluyter added. State officials hope to have the changes in place by Nov. 1.

Along with the cost increases to drivers, vehicle inspectors would be provided computerlike tablets for recording inspection results, which can be relayed electronically to a server that state officials can access.

Vehicle inspection sites would be required to have high-speed Internet under the proposed rule changes.

"That’s going to be a problem for some people who don’t have it, yeah," said Frank Young, owner of K & Y Auto Services in Kakaako, which offers vehicle inspections. High-speed Internet can cost some $170 a month for local businesses, but more auto repair shops rely on the service as the cars they service are built with more complex systems, Young said. The shops often require online support when they have trouble with tools used to diagnose car trouble, he explained.

Under the proposed charge increases, the state would collect $1.70 for administration from each vehicle inspection. Parsons Environment and Infrastructure Group Inc., the contractor handling the electronic filing system, would collect $1.69.

The company is a subsidiary of California-based Parsons Transportation Group Inc., a manager handling the $1.7 billion Hono- lulu Airport overhaul.

Young said his business doesn’t make much money on the vehicle inspections and that the amount it collects for them "has always been an issue." Nonetheless, the inspections, which are required for drivers to get their Hawaii registration tags, can be a good way to draw new regular customers, Young added.

He plans to continue offering the service. "I’m sure some safety repair stations might fall out of the system" if the rule changes are approved, Young said. "Everyone’s going to make a business decision of whether it’s worth it or not."