They are talking agin about doing away with the inspection . I sure wish they would . Its a pain i dont like it because there are not a lot of shops doing it so its not easy getting it done . I have old stuff but i like to keep them in good shape.
We just did away with it in NH. A lot of mom and pop shops are worried about the lack of ability to screw folks over with work not needed. Other side of that is, how are normal people that rely on others, going to know if they need brakes or anything else, that they wouldn’t have known about, if they didn’t get an annual inspection. I think it’s a mistake. I lived in TN for a while and saw the junk driving around never mind half the people belonging to the BWC, broken windshield club.
Don't have it here, never had it here, but there isn't the rust issue here either.
I wish they would do away with inspections here, along with the road salt.
I have had tags in Kansas my whole life including my time in the Marines, wasn't till I was in my mid twenties that I realized the state over had to get a annual inspection. I guess their thinking is this is supposed to keep the roads safer but I know some people that have a "guy" they just just pop down and buy the sticker they didn't even take the vehicle in.
I wouldn't want to have some of Y'alls vehicles coming at me on the highway......
We have annual vehicle inspections in VA and I have mixed feelings about it. One thing is for sure though, there are a lot less broken down junk vehicles on the side of the road here than in TN. Whenever I go to TN I'm amazed at the absolute garbage that some people are driving. Last time I was in TN there was a van pulled over on the side of I-81, it had started a large grass fire in the median from sparks coming off some part it was dragging. I'd be interested to know the statistics on the number of equipment failure related accidents in states with vs without inspections.
Here they get pulled over. City/County/State will pull over a car pickup with defective equipment. Oregon will call for tow and directly to impound.
A tandem axle in BC (tractor/dump truck etc) requires an inspection every 6 months. We keep our --single axle-- International at 17,250kg. This is just below the threshold for semi-annual; and allows us a yearly inspection. We have a really good truck shop here in our small town (~5000 pop.) ~$320/year. Young fellow & his wife run the shop in a really professional manner, we are fortunate indeed. See very little junk on the highways, the CVSE will catch these at scales or random pop-up inspection locations.
If there were a lot more places to get a inspection I wouldnt mind it so much. The small town i work at has one place and he doesn't have a big enough shop to get a truck in. It doesn't pay that good that doesn't help .
^^^That can be a problem for sure^^^ It can also be a problem here with some of the 'big' shops trying to take advantage of the situation by coming up with 'extra' repairs billed out to the customer. Our trucks are older and in really nice condition (clean in/out, no rust, fibreglass cracks, ripped mud flaps etc...) this also helps when rolling through the scales. We are a Ma & Pa style (artisan--not for hire) setup so I think it would be really onerous/costly for us to have the trucks inspected twice a year. We put on less than 5000km/y hauling our own small equipment so (for example) year over year there has been no measurable wear on brake shoes/cam rotation...
It's a loss for the shops to do the inspection, if they don't find anything to fix. State only allows them to charge $12, and it takes 15 minutes for one of their guys to do it. If the shop rate is $-120-150/hr, they're loosing money on every one that doesn't "need work". The shop we use , knows that we are going to fix whatever they find wrong. So that tends to cut down on the "needs ball joints and upper control arms", or "brake line is weather checked". I don't mind someone else looking over things, and I don't mind fixing things that are a problem. Its a shame that a big O chain tire shop- gave a $3,500 repair estimate to my son's girlfriend at the time. They estimated basically a whole front end rebuild and brakes. I had my shop look it over , and got a clean good to go inspection, after the big o guys failed it. I told my shop to look it over good so we could fix whatever is wrong, but I was pretty sure it wasn't that bad of a car. They just saw a 20 year old female and a slow day at the shop, so suddenly that car had a lot of problems.
I'm still looking for a Pa state inspection garage owner with a seeing eye dog......
$12 wow! Interesting regional differences...here the ~$320 inspection means a real going over, I don't really mind in a way as there are things I may have missed/don't have the knowledge to recognize. Pretty much every road in this province is winding and either up or down so they are pretty strict... I keep my pickup (Ram 3500 DRW) at 8200kg GVW as that is below the threshold for annual inspections and I don't do any heavy hauling with it. But this is over the threshold (5500kg) for reporting to scales/brake checks (fair enough on that one..). So must report to Vernon (our local service type town) scales through winter months when just using as a 'grocery' getter. Apparently they will grant exemptions if asked; need to check into that....
$12 is just for personal vehicle, not commercial
I charged $225 for class eight, $125 for trailers.
Similar to what @crane operator posted,, A buddy of mine sent his wife to get a 4 wheel alignment on her 03 year old Nissan Altima because the front tires were wearing a little. The shop saw his blonde young wife and told her it needed a complete front end rebuild costing about 1500.00. The shop manager saw she had a carseat in the back and asked if she was going to have a baby in the car, yes, then said can anyone pick up the baby?? I would not let my child ride in that car, Completely freaks out the lady. She calls husband who calls me for advice. Car had about 40k miles. I told him to tell her keep it below 80 and he bring the car to me the next day. I replaced 02 outer tie rod ends for 40.00 and they got the wheels aligned. Some/Most companies prey on the uneducated and probably sleep like a log at night. About 02 years later the company sold out to another owner. Some places I would not let work on my bicycle and I do not own one!!!
I havent heard of many shops around trying to scam people when they get a inspection but there is a shortage of shops so the ones around here have more work than they can handle. My brother talked to a shop owner yesterday and he said they are going to do away with inspections. I have been trying to do away with some of my fleet so i wouldnt have so many inspections , licenses and other costs but having extra trucks but it may save time and other problems that make the extra costs worth while . Some things are hard to figure out and have to be lived through .
I've found the big chain "tire and battery" type shops to be super scammy. I took our Honda CRV in to a NTB a few years ago just to get some tires and they came up with $3500 worth of repairs the car needed based on their 'courtesy inspection.' Brakes, ball-joints, CV shafts, etc. I flew off the handle and demanded them to show me with the car still on the lift. They quickly realized I actually knew a lot about cars and I did all my own mechanic work and they got the car off the lift before I could look at it. Conveniently the printout with all the work needed was lost as well....
These types of regulations {inspections} have a tendency to create/foster abuse in repair business for the fact it leaves the door wide open especially when shops pay a percentage of sales to employees.
Poor tax Leads to no insurance and stolen tags
You guys should give your wives, daughters, a snap on key ring
I believe he was talking about vehicle inspections as opposed to CDL inspections. CDL inspections will still be required those are federal mandated each year. Light duty inspections are stupid. Its just screwing everyone that doesnt have money. No inspections in iowa but family in WV couldn't drive the vehicle I gave them because the car got broke into and no window even passenger meant it wouldnt pass inspection.
I was walking across the lot at work and a guy in a Dodge Dakota he stopped me and ask a question. It was one of the rustiest vehicles i had saw in a long time . The bed was half or more gone. When he pulled away i thought he's from Iowa and it had Iowa plates.
He had tail lights from 2 different vehicles rigged or wired to the holes in the bed. I would about bet safety wise it shouldnt have been on the road.
^^^^^And that is why I think passenger vehicle inspections are a good thing. My family’s vehicles are usually taken care of, because of me. Their knowledge about what is needed, sucks. Most of them wouldn't know that if they have a leaking front axle seal, that maybe it should be fixed or maybe the fluid checked once in a while. They wouldn’t know, that if maybe their car is pushing 80k miles, that it might be time for brakes. It is only with inspections, that most of that stuff is found. For the people running older vehicles, it’s always a pain when their birthday runs around because they may have to put a little money in their vehicle. I have been in a state, where they weld a bed frame together and throw a pipe under it, with some lawnmower wheels on it, load something on it. Then proceed to chain it to the bumper and drive it down the highway. I remember, when I first moved down there, as soon as you crossed the state line, you would start seeing junkers, on the side of the highway, broke down.
Well--instead of setting up a radar trap, if johnny law sees vehicles with major issues that's part of their job pull them over, cite them and or have them removed from highway. That alone takes care of many and causes people to pause about driving crap, here if driving a derelict running a big chance.
When you get hit by a car with stolen plates, no insurance, and the driver bails out you might think inspections are not that great
The odds, WSP has a tendency to cruise behind and randomly call in plates.
I know a lot of people that never look at their vehicle until inspection time. A lot of insurance companies want a copy of the inspection when you want to insure a new to you 15 + year old vehicle .
When minimarts/self serve stations came on the scene that was pretty much the end of hoods being opened when gassing up. Very few even notice a low tire, which is a good reason for TPM's. *
They are doing away with inspections on vehicles 10 years old and newer???? This will not change anything . I know older things need inspections worse but i wish they would do away with them all together . Other states dont have inspections i would like to see if they are not as safe as the ones that do.
I must admit, I am afraid of any shop working on my vehicles.... Due to work schedule - I allowed a shop to repair my rack and pinion steering. Then they totally screwed up the car. I had to take it to the original dealer to fix. They redid everything in total that the local shop repaired - and charged 1/2 the price and did it in less time than the local shop took. Big O is known around here for scamming people. Took my daughters car in for tires. Came out with a estimate of $1500 worth of not needed work. I inspected the car at home and found it to be within factory new spec.s . It went an additional 150,000 miles and did not need the repairs. Iowa did away with the inspections about 40 years ago. We did not see any increase in vehicles by the roadside. They were a joke done by people who didn't know what they were doing or scamming the public. I said good riddance back then and still feel the same way.
In IOWA All law enforcement are allowed to make safety inspections anytime they see or think that something was unsafe. I have been pulled over twice, for these. Once they found 1 out of my 4 taillight bulbs burnt out. The other time i was sited (fix it ticket) for a cracked tail light lense on our dump truck. No missing plastic.... just a hairline crack. And people do have a responsibility to take care of their vehicle. But the inspection shops were the worse place to have an inspection done for maintenance.