passed inspection

[john112deere]

I'm legal for another year (well, technically, I'm legal again, for another year- my old sticker expired at the end of September... )

I broke down and paid a mechanic to replace all the rest of my brake hoses and lines, since I hate doing that and don't have time now anyway. Paying them all that money may have helped ease the sticker process, I don't know.

Anyway, when they get this many miles on 'em, getting a sticker is always a sort of worrying experience, and I'm pretty darn happy not to have to go through it again until next year.

 

[O'Rattlecan]

good man. You had a lot of crap that you had to get done. glad it's out of the way.

Ryan

 

[slmann]

glad to hear you got it done. hopefully next year won't be so bad.

 

[Brian_B]

We have no inspections at all down here. That is good in one way, but really bad in most. There are some dangerous vehicles out on the roads around here.

 

[john112deere]

hopefully next year won't be so bad.

10 New England winters and 243k miles mean it's always this bad. Something is always busted, wore out, or rusty enough to cause a problem. That's just the way it goes when you're a broke kid with an old truck.

And Brian, I see your point about no inspections leading to unsafe vehicles going down the road, and certainly most unsafe vehicles would not pass the Maine inspection, at least where I go. But here's a list of some other things that you can be failed for:
-rusted through rear wheelwells on a pickup.
-surface rust on brake lines
-tires more than 2" larger than the largest offered on the vehicle when it was built (this means my buddy can't run anything bigger than 33s on his lifted '86 Chevy mud truck)
-cracked taillight
-louder than stock exhaust
-lowering a vehicle (i.e. sports car) too close to the ground (can't remember the minimum distance, but it's an issue that comes up)

A buddy in MA was told he needed to remove the trailer hitch ball from his step and tow bumper because it obscured his license plate and that wasn't legal unless he was actually towing something.

Those of us who drive older vehicles, and keep them in safe operating condition, tend to grow tired of jumping through the state's hoops to keep them on the road legally.

 

[mrfixit]

We have no inspections at all down here. That is good in one way, but really bad in most. There are some dangerous vehicles out on the roads around here.

Yeah... Gov Blunt is trying to rally support to build a fence along the border to stop all the illegals from coming across the border from arkansas...

 

[Brian_B]

When they had inspections down here...they were a joke. If they actually instpected anything...it was the lights and horn. If they didn't check anything...they would just ask if the lights and horn work.

Usually the customer filled out the paperwork and the "inspector" signed it. The customer typically removed his/her old inspection sticker and installed the new one.

A lot of places were caught and fined the last year or so before they did away with the inspections.


They were supposed to check the brakes, wipers, tires, headlights (even headlight aiming), breake lights, turn signals, back up lights, seat belts, horn, exhaust, E-brake, glass, etc. They were also supposed to drive the vehicle. That never, ever happened.

 

[john112deere]

The place I go does the sort of inspection I want- they check everything that matters for safety, and anything visible that they might get caught on (i.e. cracked taillight). I know there are shops that will give you a sticker without picking it up and checking the front end, but since I trust this mechanic, I'm glad they do the checks they do.

My buddies father is a licensed state inspector, so I know a bit more about the process than I might otherwise. The state is pretty serious about enforcing the inspection laws, and the inspector can be in BIG trouble if he passes something that he shouldn't have and gets caught one way or another. If they were a little more lenient on things like body rust in places where it doesn't matter (Ford truck rear fenders, for example) and the stupid tire/lift laws (and I do not like lifted trucks or big tires very much at all), I'd think Maine really had the inspection process about right.

 

[blacksnapon]

I'm a licensed inspector here in missouri. Mostly I just make sure our used cars pass for the lot. I'm quite anal when it comes to regulations on these vehicles. When a customer tells us "Your car wont pass inspection, because I'm a military mechanic, and I know better", he's got an uphill battle for sure!

 

[radialarm]

In TX we have emissions and nonemissions counties.
I moved to a nonemissions county.
Now my inspection fee is $14.50 compared to $58.00 in an emissions county

 

[john112deere]

Dammit...yet again, my sticker is expired. I believe that in the five years I've owned this truck, every single sticker I've had on it has expired before I got around to replacing it.

(Need to fix the wire to the brake light on the topper before it'll pass, and didn't have time the last couple weeks. Had a close call Saturday night, though...a brake light out is plenty reason to get pulled over when you're a kid in a college town after dark on a Saturday, and a cruiser followed me out of my friend's apartment complex. Brake light out is no big deal, but expired sticker can be expensive. Glad he didn't bother me...need to get on that, though. Get my snow tires mounted up, too.)

 

[Lost]

In PA there emissiom areas . But I dont need it yet .
We do have state inspection done by independent garages.
Basically its mechanics and body condition . A good thing They do look for other stuff but depends on Inspectors.

Some of the worst rides I have got has been from non inspection states . Even in the sun non rust belt I got ride that I would not drive 10 ft mechanically.

 

[Brian_B]

As stated above...no inspections. I paid $19 for my tags on the 56. That is for life (as long as I live in AR anyway). I never have to buy tags or the stickers again.

 

[surewhynot]

Cold weather, inspections, eye carrumba!

 

[Lost]

Cold weather, inspections, eye carrumba!

Not bad ($20-25)like most here we look over r rides often.
Its the run the car till caliber ram is only thing agianst rotor . (I seen it .) people that I like to see off roads.

 

[john112deere]

^^It's only $12.50 here.

Which, actually, I think is way too low. My mechanic charges $45/hr (really...), so $12.50 buys a little more than 15 minutes (not even counting that he has to pay for his inspectors license and probably also the stickers). That's not a whole lot of time to put the truck up on a lift, check over the suspension and look at the brakes and make sure everything else works, too*, and then do the paperwork on it. It's not hard to find places that don't bother looking over the suspension or brakes at all. But NOBODY will pass a vehicle that's visibly illegal...like a dime-sized rust hole in the bed side. If they'd do the parts that matter (brakes and suspension), and skip the stuff that's not really that big a deal (body rot), I'd think it was great. But it's possible (in this state) to get a sticker on an unsafe car, and fail an inspection with a safe one. That's what gets me.

 

[polarbear]

All they care about here is emissions testing in one of the five counties that do it.

 

[A_G]

they havent had emissions or inspections since i was 13.

although ti has to be visual when the pull you over, and no large cracks in the windshied, operating ondition when taking a DL test

 

[Brian_B]

^^It's only $12.50 here.

Which, actually, I think is way too low. My mechanic charges $45/hr (really...), so $12.50 buys a little more than 15 minutes (not even counting that he has to pay for his inspectors license and probably also the stickers). That's not a whole lot of time to put the truck up on a lift, check over the suspension and look at the brakes and make sure everything else works, too*, and then do the paperwork on it. It's not hard to find places that don't bother looking over the suspension or brakes at all. But NOBODY will pass a vehicle that's visibly illegal...like a dime-sized rust hole in the bed side. If they'd do the parts that matter (brakes and suspension), and skip the stuff that's not really that big a deal (body rot), I'd think it was great. But it's possible (in this state) to get a sticker on an unsafe car, and fail an inspection with a safe one. That's what gets me.

That is where the duct tape, bondo, and rattle cans come from I guess. I see that around here on "for sale" cars that came from up north.

 

[Lost]

Yep as long as no shape edges all is well Duct tape.