From another of my hang-outs, a guy in Thailand responded to question about the vehicular safety inspection program there. Here is his response: "We have a similar "inspection" here. Lights, bodywork, tyres, brakes, steering, emissions, etc. All vehicles over 7 years old and motor bikes upon 5 years old. It's fascinating what gets through." Frank
When I lived in Texas, I knew a guy who owned a repair shop and inspection station. He would drop off a sticker for me when he noticed mine was about to expire, and I don't know of any reason why mine wouldn't have passed an actual inspection. Here in Maine, I don't know of anyone who would pass off an inspection sticker without an inspection but everyone knows where to bring their car for the least likelihood of a problem, and where not to bring it.
The old lick and stick inspection stations are few and far between ever since NY started emissions testing. The station hooks up your OBD and put in a tail pipe sniffer. The diagnostics are run in Albany,,so the local guy cannot spoof your readings. I undestand thre is a device that can mask your readings on the black market, the only case I have heard about the owner was leasing the device with a kickback for each use.
@Ken Anderson Our first inspection in MO after moving from Phoenix, the guy without any warning, began ripping the tint off the windows of my wife's Cobra. I was outraged! He simply said illegal in MO. It had taken me an entire day to apply it, wennt so far as to remove the doors' interior panels. Next time, went to the recommended local guy. The inspection form had boxes to be checked for brakes inspected, horn, tires, turns signals, etc. The guy filled out the form in his office, marked all the inspected points "OK", took my money, then went outside and put the sticker inside the windshield, never having even looked at the car! Some years later, he was caught at it, and fined. Frank
I am pleased. I found someone. My last mechanic, who we used for several years, was a nice guy but he was a former state cop so, while I never got the idea that he was trying to solicit repairs that didn't need to be done, his inspections were by the book. He died a month or so ago, however, so I tried another shop, closer to my home, and he didn't even leave the shop except to apply the sticker. That is the kind of inspection I like. I was pulled over yesterday, twice actually, because my inspection sticker had expired. I just got a warning for the inspection sticker and a ticket for not having an insurance card. Since I do have valid insurance, that one will be dropped simply by mailing a copy of the insurance card in. On the way home, the same cop pulled me over again and didn't realize that he had already given me a ticket until he got up to the car. Since I don't seem to be able to drive through East Millinocket without getting pulled over, it was time to renew my inspection. One of the other shops nearby always finds a problem during an inspection, and I get the feeling that he's simply fishing for me to let him fix the problem. The last time I went to him was when I went across the street to another repair shop (the former state cop), and he told me there was nothing wrong with my brakes, after having actually done an inspection. Don't misunderstand. If I have a problem with my car, I'll get it fixed, and I don't need annual state inspections for that. Too often, these inspections are used to lure people into unnecessary repairs. Until I find a mechanic who I trust, I had a practice of taking it to another shop for any repairs that they said were necessary.
In Georgia there was a statewide annual safety inspection requirement when I first moved here in 1975. It was a mess. There weren't enough places to do inspections. Many cases of fraud, inspectors holding drivers hostage for stickers, getting kickbacks from repair shops. People that could barely scrape up enough money to buy an older car were out of luck trying to pass legitimately. I think it lasted about 3 more years before they made it optional for each county, and ours opted out. There are only 13 counties out of 159 in Georgia that require annual inspections now, all around the Atlanta metro area.
Alaska has no state-wide inspections (or taxes for that matter except for auto registrations). When I lived in the Bush, most people didn't bother with registrations or driver's licenses either. Fairbanks and Anchorage used to have IM tests for pollution, but those were mostly scams to shift money toward the places who did them. For awhile, this part of the state had permanent registrations for vehicles 8 years old and older. I don't know if that is still in place, but I think trailers are still permanently registered. Old people in this state also get one free vehicle registration for folks over 65, and the first $80,000 valuation on your property exempt from property taxes...as well as free hunting, fishing and trapping licenses.
Texas has had vehicle inspections for as long as I can remember, though several years ago they added emissions testing which raised the price considerably. Also, to get your vehicle inspected you must produce proof of insurance on the vehicle. Just a racket supported by the insurance companies.
Most states only give the emissions test if in a large city but they don't make you get a brake sticker. Some states are just greedy and want that money. I bought a new 71 Mustang from the old Mort Hall Ford in Houston and my first brake sticker renewal came round so I left for lunch downtown and stopped at an inspection station, the guy inspecting scraped off my sticker then told me I needed a headlight inspection. A new car !!! I told him real politely it needed no headlight adjustment and I can't remember what was said but I used a pay phone and called the state police office and told them what was going on, same officer that was in charge of their shop license was also same for where I worked at Al Parker Buick downtown. They are not allowed to remove the old sticker if a new one is not already paid for. I never had to pay for any headlight adjustment. Every new car from any manufacturer is required to be inspected when it comes off the transport, they paid one hour to do those inspections 50 years ago. A lot of stealing was going on back in the old days. You had speed traps that you would be fined by a Justice of the Peace and the check was made out in his name. They were splitting the money between Justice's and Police or state police. The feds stepped in around 1969 or 70 and sent a lot of those people to prison for a time. We had one highway patrolman in Alvarado in 67 and just about every ticket was 16.50 and no matter how late at night you would follow the DPS guy to the Justice's house and he would take the check or cash which ever you had. I feel pretty sure the state never saw any of those tickets.
Virginia used to have inspections twice annually...every 6 months you had to go through the ordeal. At some point they changed to annual inspections. These are done through repair shops that also do inspections (DC has government facilities do the dirty deed, with all the attendant dysfunction one might expect.) Then later on the congested VA counties required an emissions test every 2 years...without it, you could not renew your license plates. The thing about the emissions is that if you failed, a fresh oil change was likely to get you a passing grade (something to do with reducing the level of hydrocarbons passed through to the exhaust.) Having lived in the DC area where DC/MD/VA are just one big region, I encountered enough frightening vehicles from Maryland (no inspection required) to be a proponent of it. Ex-Governor Northam made noises that he wanted to put an end to inspections in Virginia because he says that there is no evidence that it reduces the rate of accidents.