These inspections drive me crazy.

First case, my 68 Bronco.
Worked on it for two days to make everything pretty and right. Inspector tells me the brake lines are bad and wants to fix them himself. I say no way and go home to fix them. I pull the lines off and replace them with new. I inspect the old brake lines and find nothing wrong with them. They were dirty.

Different inspector.
I have an old K car that I'm selling to a friend to use as a beater. I replaced the windshield, rear brakes, head gasket, and a few other small things. Take it in to get inspected and it fails on a fuel leak and exhaust leak. I just fixed the exhaust and can not locate the fuel leak even though the inspector showed me where it was.

What really gets me is I see many other cars on the street in worse shape than anything I would drive or sell. These guys must make a fortune on repairs that are required because they failed the car. How did those other pieces of junk on the street pass inspection?

 

its who you know pal, its who you know, i take it by your post your state has garages do inspections like pa does, and you are going to guys looking to make a quick buck off a sucker or they are thorough and abide by the rules, whereas some shop you are familiar with or are easy (lick em and stick em) pass these "pieces of junk" . Take all your vehicles to the same garage and NEVER pay them to do anything they say you need, do it yourself or take it elsewhere...they'll get used to you and stop trying to scam ya, or the other shop will catch them failing a passing vehicle and you can turn them in to better business beareu(how do you spell that word lol)

 

Definitely goes by the shop, there is a shop here locally that will pass anything if they know you and like you. There is one shop that wouldn't pass a vehicle without finding something wrong for him to try to get you to fix. The one time I had something wrong, the shop I was at showed it to me, and then passed it since I said I would fix it. It also wasn't all that severe. It sucks when we have to pay them for the inspection, then they try to get more money out of us anyway... There should be enough inspection stations around there that you can find one that isn't trying to scam you.
When I was working in Iowa, there was one car that I should have called the DOT on, it was so unsafe. Old 70's Nova, the subframe was loose, no bushings left, and the subframe moved so much that when you stepped on the brakes, you could watch the fenders curl under. They actually had to sign a waiver so that the shop would work on it, it was that bad.

 

Yeah, inspections are pretty annoying. We never had inspections in CA, so when we moved here it was sort of a shock. I had previously always thought that TX was pretty easygoing. My insurance agent hooked us up with a shop that is pretty lax, and if they give you trouble, you just flash the insurance agent's business cards and they back off. It pays to have a wheeler-dealer insurance agent.

I'm hoping we can get our '67 Mustang registered here; it's pretty well restored (won 5 car shows out of 6 it's been in), but is missing some niggling, stupid little items that are required here. It's about as far from unsafe as a '67 Mustang gets.

I really wish they didn't have inspections.

 

> How did those other pieces of junk on the street pass inspection

Two $20 bills on the dash board over the VIN plate.

 

Here in Virginia, we are required to get a safety inspection yearly. If you have a complaint, you notify the State Police who police it. They will investigate and if the complaint is valid, the inspector and inspection station can lose their license to inspect. The inspector can also lose their driver's license. The loss is usually due to not rejecting a vehicle for a safety problem but it works both ways. If a vehicle is 25 years old or older, you can obtain an antique tag (permanent-$15.00) and no annual inspection is required-only insurance. The antique tag is for occasional pleasure use, testing and shows. You just can't drive it to work every day or use it for work related activities.

 

jcp I think your Mustang is old enough they don't do emissions inspection here for it. You should be alright as long as everything else is good.

 

new jersey is a big pia for inspection since they went to the ca law and same company running it."inspections" don't go any were near them with a car or truck with a mil on or any faults in the system. you can't just clear them and go in. they check for the im or readiness codes being set. it's become one big mess even for a oldie but goodie

 

thats why you need to drive a diesel registered at 10,000 + lbs. its self inspecting.

 

i already have blue at 10k just need comercail plates. right now i have passenger at commercail fees

 

I have no problem with a yearly inspection where the brakes, steering & suspension components, exhaust, lights, etc are inspected for operation. Above that, pound salt. Here in Maryland, the car is inspected at time of sale. If you drive it 10 years, it never gets another inspection. Now, if you're a clueless driver, after 1,2, or 3 years you are driving an accident waiting to happen. Not exactly confidence inspiring. And the emissions inspection is a farce..... DOT is incompetent,shall I go on?..... Naah, too depressing.

 

nj is just a big pia, the fail rate is round 75% of car and trucks right now. and you have to go every 2 years unless the ride is brand new then it 4 years before the first one.
we do have some private garages doing it and it's much better off to pay the 75 clams and get a sticker .

 

the only problem with that is the over 10,000 self inspecting loophole is only for diesels. your V10 is not included.

unless of course, you pull the V10 tags off the fenders, hang a speaker under the hood, and play a tape of a diesel whenever you get stopped or sticker checked.

 

Here in Missouri, though, I have 12,000# tags and still have to be inspected.

 

In Oregon, the whole thing could be held together with twine, bailing wire and duct tape as long as it passes the smog test- and that's only in certain Metro areas.