State Inspections

[Gonzo]

Latest news is that New Jersey is dropping state inspection as of July. Here in Oklahoma they dropped them years ago. I was a inspection station and I would have to admit it was good money.

 

Now that we don't have inspections I see more and more cars that should be pulled off the road because of poor maintenance practices.

 

What your thoughts on state inspections. Gonzo

[xrac]

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[Gonzo]

There use to be state inspections when I lived in KY but they were discontinued. I remember them as a headache for me as a driver. However, Gonzo I am with you. I think they should bring inspections back. From time to time I see vehicles drive into our shop that are incredibly dangerous. We once had a pizza delivery driver drive in with a vehicle that needed a total brake overall. When he didn't have the money to fix the vehicle we insisted that it be towed not driven from our shop because it was so dangerous. I once had a Cadillac come in with a running problem. They only had about $100 to spend and wanted to know what they could do. While talking to them I glanced at the front brakes through the wheel opening. I saw the rotor ground away with the rotor venting exposed. They had grinding brakes so long the outer part of the rotor was ground away on all four wheels and the vents were visible. I immediately told them not to worry about the running problem and fix their brakes which would probably require a minimum of $600. They didn't have the money to fix it so I told them to take it home and immediately park it and don't drive it. However, the bad news is that with those brakes they drove away.

 

Then there are headlines like this:

Most hydroplaning is due to inadequate tread depth on the tires. I suspect that a state inspection could possible prevent some of these situations. Here is another one that took the lives of three teenagers.

 

 

 

When I read some of the things that have happened in our area the last few years I have wandered how many lives better tires and a suspension check could have saved. I would support both as a shop owner and as a citizen a return of inspections! If you cannot afford to have a safe car you should not be driving.

 

Can anyone tell me why inspections were discontinued in many states?

 

I hate to hear stories like that... those are the things an inspection could help look into before they are an accident.

Why did Oklahoma drop it's state inspections...

 

The actual inspection cost 5 dollars... the state would collect one dollar from each inspection. By the time they added up the cost of having the stickers printed, people to manage everything and the never ending paper work to log all these inspections it was determined that the actual income was a negative. Sooo... thru more bureaucratic manipulation the one dollar was instead ... added to your yearly tag costs. Which now is a true dollar without any outside expenses.

 

Now that's not how they put it to the "people" the offical answer was that the inspections were not keeping up with the maintenance of the vehicles and many of the inspection stations were no abiding by the set rules.

 

Sooo... now we don't have a thing... and less traffic for wear and tear items on a car. The state basically told everyone to follow their owners manual for maintenance schedules.... (yea, like that's going to happen)

 

The worst that can happen now is that you get a ticket for a broken tail light or something and you try to get it fixed as cheaply as possible.

 

Government BS... what else is new.

[CARMandP]

Here in TN, they have an emissions testing regulation every year depending upon which county you live in. Growing up in upstate NY we had a safety inspection. Around here, all they care about is the money and if it "runs" correctly. I think its pretty stupid. So what if the car runs good if nothing else is safe to drive.

[Joe Marconi]

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[DewayneP]

I am in the same boat as Joe. I am in Upstate NY and my shop now, just this year, does inspections. I was complaning in another thread that I thought the DMV should allow us to charge a little more for the inspection. Right now the inspection fee is $21 for a 1996 or newer vehicle. With the costs of the equipment and the time it takes to perform a proper inspection you end up losing money. I still can't believe that there are states without inspections. Especially in the northern states that use road salt in the winter. These cars get eaten away by the salt and before you know it you have a rotten fuel line or worse yet, brake line.