D.C. Window Tint: 70% Front, 50% Rear, 55/35% for Mini-Vans

The percentages in § 50-2207.02(a) are measured as light transmittance, meaning the share of light that gets through the glass and any film together. Paragraph (a)(1) applies to every motor vehicle that is not a mini-van and sets 70% for the front windshield and front side windows and 50% for the rear windshield and rear side windows. Paragraph (a)(2) carves out mini-vans at 55% front and 35% rear. The Council never defined "mini-van" in the traffic definitions at § 50-2201.02, so the looser column turns on the body style the Department of Motor Vehicles recognises for the vehicle rather than on any figure written into the Code.

The only allowance for film on the windshield itself is subsection (b), which permits transmittance below 70% only above the AS-1 line or within 5 inches from the top of the windshield. That is much narrower than the front-side allowance most states give, and it is why a District car cannot legally carry the 35% or 20% front-side film sold as a standard product elsewhere in the region.

Enforcement runs on a two-stage clock rather than a single ticket. Subsection (c) sets a flat $50 citation for operating or parking a vehicle that breaks subsection (a). Subsection (d) then requires the vehicle to be inspected at an official District Inspection Station within 5 business days of the finding, and if it is not brought into compliance by the end of that period the owner shall be fined not more than $1,000. A second or subsequent finding restarts the same 5-business-day clock under subsection (e), with an exposure of up to $5,000. Subsection (f) lets any police officer or authorized District agent order a vehicle removed from the street to an inspection station immediately where the officer decides the tint puts public health and safety at risk.

Subsection (g) reaches the installer as well as the driver: no person may install window tinting in the District on a non-exempt vehicle that would put it in breach of subsection (a) if it were driven or parked on District streets. Subsection (h) lists the vehicles the section does not touch at all: limousines, ambulances, buses and hearses meeting 18 DCMR § 413.10; church owned vehicles; all official government vehicles; vehicles whose tinted windows were installed by the manufacturer before purchase; and vehicles the DMV Director exempts because the owner has a medical condition requiring darker glass.

The inspection lane matters here more than the District's reputation for having dropped routine safety testing suggests. Subsection (o) directs the Director to reject any vehicle appearing for inspection under Chapter 11 of Title 50 whose tint breaks subsection (a) or (b). Under 18 DCMR § 601.4(a) a District-registered passenger vehicle still reports for a periodic inspection every two years, and 18 DCMR § 601.8(a) prices that inspection at $35. What the District dropped for ordinary cars is the periodic safe-operating-condition test: 18 DCMR § 601.6 now lists only buses, taxicabs and other public vehicles for hire, commercial vehicles and tow trucks for that check. The tint rejection in § 50-2207.02(o) is not tied to § 601.6, so a private car still meets a tint check on its biennial visit. 18 DCMR § 734.8 repeats the same prohibition inside the glazing rules.

Paper handling is set out in subsections (k) through (n). A notice of infraction issued under (d)(2) or (e)(2) goes by U.S. mail to the owner's last known address in DMV records, and the recipient has 30 calendar days from the mailing date to answer. Missing that deadline suspends the registration certificate, effective 15 days after the suspension notice is mailed, and the suspension is lifted only by answering or, once the offence is deemed admitted, by paying the fine plus any additional penalty under § 50-2301.05. Subsection (l) treats violations of (d)(2) and (e)(2) as moving violations, but subsection (p) is explicit that no points are assessed for any violation of the section.

02(c), and the citation is only the start. The vehicle must appear at an official District Inspection Station within 5 business days; failing to bring it into compliance in that window exposes the owner to a fine of not more than $1,000 on a first finding and not more than $5,000 on a second or subsequent finding. An officer who judges the tint a health and safety risk may have the car removed from the street to an inspection station on the spot under subsection (f).

Notices are mailed to the DMV address of record and must be answered within 30 calendar days; otherwise the registration certificate is suspended 15 days after the suspension notice is mailed and stays suspended until the owner answers or pays. The Department of Motor Vehicles adjudicates, the Metropolitan Police Department and other authorized District agents issue the citations, and no licence points attach to any of it.