European expat new to Houston/USA: How do people get away with blatant car damage?

Recently arrived as a European who’d only experienced the USA during a 3-day city trip in NYC, so I was extremely curious about day to day life in Texas. First things first, I’m loving it here: the diversity, the welcoming demeanor and especially -unexpectedly- the availability of parks and ‘green’ areas.

Hope I’m not coming across as some pretentious asshole, but my biggest cultural shock takes place on the road. Some are funny; the billboards with shady lawyers, the abundance of huge trucks, but there’s one thing I can’t wrap my head around: How do all these people get away with driving in busted cars? I’ve seen missing taillights, broken windshields, at times totalled cars that impressed me by even moving. Where I’m from, you’d be arrested and heftily fined within 10 mins, are Texan cops just more chill about that?