I hate the inspection process!!!

My wife's car is due at the end of the year, which is when her registration and insurance expire as well. Of course, with the holidays, my brain goes on vacation, and I forget everything until the last minute. So I have to do all of the registration online and print out temporary cards. But they are no good to the inspection garage because they lack some freaking number. SO I have to reschedule, arrange transportation again, interrupt my schedule again, beg for rides again...UGH! The car is a 2012...how bad could it be?!?!? Can I just send my damn tax to Harrisburgh or slip a few bills under the door of my local politician and be done with it?

I read this and thought, "you must live in PA..." ...then I clicked on your avatar to check...

I feel your pain... none of my cars has a current inspection sticker right now... hell... the BMW doesn't have any at all... Oddly, the diesels (since they only get the safety sticker) seem to be completely ignored. And of course, since the the TDi is a VW, it usually needs glow plugs or a CTS to clear a CEL. The GT6 I may not bother with either since I drove my Spit 6 around for 2 years w/o a sticker and cops didn't seem to care (they'd wave to me right over the empty windshield). Being newer, the BMW I try to limit how much I actually drive in PA (I work in NJ).

In PA, at least, there is a chance you can find a modification-friendly inspection station that is willing to, errr, relax a bit on some things. In Delaware, the inspections are made at the DMV which gives you no chance for a slip-by.

Wait, you live in PA and don't have a mechanic friend who you can simply slip a twenty to? What? I thought that was how PA's inspection system was supposed to operate.

You need to move to Michigan. If it has wheels , brakes and lights you're good to go.

Sky_Render wrote: Wait, you live in PA and don't have a mechanic friend who you can simply slip a twenty to? What? I thought that was how PA's inspection system was *supposed* to operate.

It really depends. Safety stuff - yes. If you're "in" with your shop, they'll often let stuff slide if you promise to take care of it. For the emissions, however, there is more of a paper-trail involved so they have less leeway. It gets even messier if you have a pre-OBD 2 car, which has to be tested on a dyno which most shops don't have. That was my problem with the BMW - it failed the dyno test badly - like not even close to passing.

The "slip a $20" thing is very common in the rural areas of the state where they don't have emissions testing. This is the other annoying thing about PA - the requirements vary quite a bit depending on where you live.

DeadSkunk wrote: You need to move to Michigan. If it has wheels , brakes and lights you're good to go.

And two of those are optional....

and I thought NC was bad ... it's really nothing more than a money grab .. post '96 it has to plug up to the OBDII computer and pass with no CEL's, then the lights(brake lights), turn signals, horn have to work ... they mash the brake pedal ... that's it

pre '96, just the lights (brake lights), turn signals, horn ... + the brake pedal has to feel right .... in neither case do they actually check that there is any pad left or if the shocks actually work, or if the steering is wonky or anything else that might actually be a safety check ....

$30 for the "new" cars and $12-13 ... something like that for the old cars

Ranger50 wrote:

DeadSkunk wrote: You need to move to Michigan. If it has wheels , brakes and lights you're good to go.

And two of those are optional....

I keep telling people, Michigan is THE place to live. I think we need to give a tax break to everyone already living here then double the tax for everyone who wants to move here when they realize how awesome it is :)

Joking aside, having grown up in the UK with the MOT test, I wish there was a safety inspection here. I owuld say 1-2% of the cars on the road would (and should) go to the crusher imidiatly with a decent safety test. I wouldn't even have an issue with an emissions test. Plug in for OBD2, static tailpipe for pre OBD 2 and basicaly not smoking at idel for over 25 yeras. I don't want to be chocking on someone elses POS that is smoking so badely it hurts my eyes in traffic.

some places are more strict Adrian. PA is supposed to be one of those when it comes to safety. They are supposed to take the wheels off and check the brakes and all that.

Emissions depends on county.

NJ, which used to do more.. recently went with just an emissions test. I guess they are using the darwin approach for safety

mad_machine wrote: some places are more strict Adrian. PA is supposed to be one of those when it comes to safety. They are supposed to take the wheels off and check the brakes and all that. Emissions depends on county. NJ, which used to do more.. recently went with just an emissions test. I guess they are using the darwin approach for safety

I realize that, even Mi had emissions when I first moved here. My first car was an Rx7 that had just been tested when I bought it. Then I sold it and got a new 94 Mustang which didn't need testing until it was 24 months old, by the time it got to that age they had dropped testing so I never needed to get it done.

FWIW, Indiana is better than Michigan......we always have been, always will be. Stupid talking hat......

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

mad_machine wrote: some places are more strict Adrian. PA is supposed to be one of those when it comes to safety. They are supposed to take the wheels off and check the brakes and all that. Emissions depends on county. NJ, which used to do more.. recently went with just an emissions test. I guess they are using the darwin approach for safety

I realize that, even Mi had emissions when I first moved here. My first car was an Rx7 that had just been tested when I bought it. Then I sold it and got a new 94 Mustang which didn't need testing until it was 24 months old, by the time it got to that age they had dropped testing so I never needed to get it done.

It went by counties in Michigan. Wayne, Oakland and Macomb were the only counties that had emissions testing.

wbjones wrote: and I thought NC was bad ... it's really nothing more than a money grab .. post '96 it has to plug up to the OBDII computer and pass with no CEL's, then the lights(brake lights), turn signals, horn have to work ... they mash the brake pedal ... that's it pre '96, just the lights (brake lights), turn signals, horn ... + the brake pedal has to feel right .... in neither case do they actually check that there is any pad left or if the shocks actually work, or if the steering is wonky or anything else that might actually be a safety check .... $30 for the "new" cars and $12-13 ... something like that for the old cars

I bought a Wrangler in NC from a seedy lot. The sticker was expired and they said they couldnt sell it without one. They sent the lot guy up the road, WITHOUT the wrangler, and he came back with a fresh inspection sticker and completed checklist. Wierd.

mad_machine wrote: NJ, which used to do more.. recently went with just an emissions test. I guess they are using the darwin approach for safety

As a former NJ resident, I approve this fiscally responsible approach to address encroaching idiocracy.

How much does the inspection cost? Here in NY its $21, of which a significant percentage goes to the state, like - half. No mechanic shop is willing to spend 30 minutes taking wheels off and carefully inspecting things for only ten bucks, so it leads to a system of "Well ma'am, you need new front brake pads today, I can have it done in 20 minutes for only $400".

I personally feel like its a "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" system. Good in principle, poor in implementation.

oldsaw wrote:

mad_machine wrote: NJ, which used to do more.. recently went with just an emissions test. I guess they are using the darwin approach for safety

As a former NJ resident, I approve this fiscally responsible approach to address encroaching idiocracy.

NJ has actually, surprisingly, taken some pretty logical approaches to the whole thing. 2 year emissions testing, 5 years on a new car. And at least they dont charge you for the inspection. ODB2 cars I think it takes longer to fill out the papers than do the test.

I have mixed feelings on the loss of the safety inspection, but honestly it never seemed to do much to keep unsafe cars off the road so now it's one less hassle for me and one more revenue grab for the local townships. Our tiny little township had a road block on the one major road through town right after christmas, just checking every car for obvious violations and collecting their fees. They let me off with a warning for not having my front plate :)

yamaha wrote: FWIW, Indiana is better than Michigan......we always have been, always will be. Stupid talking hat......

Wash your mouth out You even lost your F1 race, what's left other than a corridor south and for that even Ohio is better

So it failed inspection because of a...wait for it...torn windshield wiper.

Will they just put the darn sticker on it if I promise to put on a new wiper ASAP? Of course not.

There is a Pep Boys right across the street, I can walk to it. (IMDB fun fact, the same store recently featured in Jack Reacher) Can I buy a set and stick them on myself and get a sticker? Nope, not without making another appointment and re-doing the whole process.

I can however pay an arm and a leg for the dealer to do it. F-it, I just want it done.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

We gained a conti/rolex race though.....

In reply to pinchvalve:

Have they gone nuts over inspections the last few years? I only wander as my '95 came from there......a bunch wrong with it yet it was still legally registered and plated with an inspection sticker more than 5yo.

Move to a state with less racketeering?

MS is easy. Turn signals, windshield wipers, inspect glass (no major cracks), honk horn, you're done. Once a year, $7 bucks.

Cost is generally set by the individual garage. Digging through the PA codes, I couldn't find a set fee schedule... Roughly it seems to be $25 ish for safety and $30+ for the emissions. However, you'll often see adverts for "free inspections", which usually means safety-only. Plus, they'll often hit you with a sticker to cover what they are paying for the actual sticker from the state.

Along the emissions side, I found something interesting (for the Philly and Pittsburgh areas). It seems PA has some sort of rolling 25 year break point for the emissions testing requirements. 25 & newer needs some sort of 2-speed idle test. Older than 25 years - just a evap/gas cap and visual inspection.

The 161 page Chapter 177 of the PA DMV code:

http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter177/chap177toc.html

pinchvalve wrote: So it failed inspection because of a...wait for it...torn windshield wiper. Will they just put the darn sticker on it if I promise to put on a new wiper ASAP? Of course not. I can however pay an arm and a leg for the dealer to do it. F-it, I just want it done.

And... this is why it really pays to develope a relationship with a local garage to do inspections in PA. My guys don't even look at the wiper blades on my cars.

As much as I hate paying fees and taxes I support mandatory vehicle inspections. There are a lot of dump people out there who will knowlingly ignore vehicle maintence issues and drive unsafe vehicles. You can be as dumb as you want on your own property but once you drive on a public road and can put others in danger my viewpoint changes.

I would rather have an unsafe vehicle be taken off the road at a vehicle inspection station than discover someone's vehicle is unsafe to drive after it slams into my car due to neglect of the car's safety and braking systems.

I usually don't have issues with the inspection process. I just make sure my vehicle will pass and I have my info together before I take the vehicle in. It is not difficult to pass. Even all the emmissions tests are "cheatable".

Boom Done.