Similar VA inspection experience... The old PT Cruiser: one day the fog lights would not turn all the way off, more like 95% off. It's an older car and a PITA, so I just pull the fuse and call it good... Nope: fails inspection, if it has fog lights, they must work. So, well over $500 for a new clock spring and light switch. Looking back, I should have tried some kind of plastic covers over the fog lights so it looked like it was a model that did not have them
Posts: 547 | Location: Fort Couch (VA) | Registered: December 16, 2012
Was referring to the state in which I reside. They used to charge five bucks and checked to see if your horn was working. Glad I don't live in a nanny state.
Posts: 17627 | Location: Stuck at home | Registered: January 02, 2015
I'm of two minds about safety inspections. (TN doesn't have them.) They would take cars like this off the road …
… but if performed by private shops (as opposed to a state-run facility), it invites abuse. In your particular case, any play in tie rod ends is grounds for replacement, and I have seen a number of them go a too long and break. Yours must have been bad, because you say the truck drives better. I don't know where the $745 came from, however. Surely other repairs were done besides those.
Posts: 28921 | Location: Johnson City, TN | Registered: April 28, 2012
Overall, I think annual inspections are a Good Thing, considering some of the death-traps I've seen on the road in other states.
However, your point of private business taking advantage of them is well taken. I took my truck in for the mandatory annual and the inspector failed it for a cracked tail light lens. Couple of hundred bucks later it had a sticker.
Same station, same inspector failed it a couple of years ago for tire wear. When I took it back a different inspector (first guy's father and a Navy shipmate of mine) looked at the take-offs and said "They're worn, but not enough to fail inspection on."
I haven't been back, much as I'd like to patronize a shipmate.
Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
Posts: 15599 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010
TX just passed dropping the safety inspection [still have to do emissions in some counties (Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio& all bordering counties to them, IIRC)]. They tied the inspection to your registration a few years ago, so you have to pass inspection before you can renew registration. So many sketchy scams will sell you a paper tag for $50, so we still have a ton of fraudulent cars on the road.
Sorry, but I’m ok with safety inspections. Probably a good 20% of vehicles on the road should not be on the road. Rusted out frames or subframes, loose steering or suspension equipment, metal to metal brakes, it’s appalling how many vehicles are driving with those issues. Go ahead and eliminate the emissions inspections, or at least the plug a sensor in your tailpipe inspections, I’m ok with that. But I want to ensure that the vehicles on the road are safe, and safety inspections are the most effective way to accomplish that and get some of the unsafe heaps of crap off the road.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Posts: 5647 | Location: Upstate NY | Registered: February 28, 2002
But they don't care about your safety, they care about the money.
A favorite inspection story was my friend old '76 Chevy van. State rules were you couldn't have body holes over "X" size. So every year he had to duct tape over the holes and spray them with primer. And it would pass. What was this accomplishing?
It shouldn't be difficult to see if the inspections help with overall safety. Is the insurance significantly cheaper in states with inspections? Are there fewer safety related crashes?
There's a wonderfully comedic channel on YouTube called Just Rolled In with so many failures when it comes to vehicles.
When I lived in Chicagoland, they actually had emissions inspections where your car would be driven on rollers by some monkey who otherwise could never be employed with attachments to your exhaust system. They would drive at various speeds to check emissions. Fail and you couldn't renew your registration. Then they got rid of that and opted for an OBDII hookup to check for codes. Not sure what they do now as I left that awful state many years ago.
Originally posted by cas: But they don't care about your safety, they care about the money.
I would agree that in some cases the state is probably just taking in money needlessly. However in the OP’s case I don’t think that’s what’s going on. His truck was failed for loose tie rod ends, a critical steering component. He even admits that the truck drives better since the replacement. I kinda think that the system worked the way I would hope it would in this case. Sorry to the OP for the unexpected expense but the reality is that there was a worn, critical steering component that was replaced.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Posts: 5647 | Location: Upstate NY | Registered: February 28, 2002
Houston is flat and I drive a truck with an automatic transmission so the only time my parking brake gets used is during the annual inspection. I've failed the parking brake test (in the parking lot, they apply the parking brake and attempt to drive over to the inspection bay) on 2 different vehicles.
Annoying, but if I had brake failure then I could theoretically use the parking brake to bring my vehicle to a stop.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
Posts: 23827 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005
I’ve only had to do this twice and both times it was a scam. I agree that in theory this is a good idea. In practice it sucks. Being a certified inspector and being able to charge for the “repairs” is the definition of letting the fox guard the henhouse. So put me in the NO category.
Posts: 7540 | Location: Florida | Registered: June 18, 2005
Looking back, I should have tried some kind of plastic covers over the fog lights so it looked like it was a model that did not have them
