I just had my truck inspected, it passed, now I'm good until January 2010. I sat in line at the inspection station
for an hour waiting for the truck to be inspected, while I was waiting I was thinking. How does vehicle inspection
work in other States, or other Countries for that matter? How long does each inspection last?

In New Jersey there is two ways to get your vehicle inspected. You can take it to a State run Inspection Station,
which I do, it's free but you have to wait in a long line or you can have a licensed automechanic inspect the vehicle,
but that is for a fee. I get my motorcycle inspected by the Harley dealership and it cost $35, garages set their own
price for the inspection. The benefit of a garage is, if it fails they can repair it on the spot.

Inspections in New Jersey are good for two years, If the vehicle fails you have a month to get the vehicle repaired
and the reinspected. Registration and inspection aren't always in the same month so you can have your vehicle
inspected up to two months prior to the time it's due, but the grace period is only a week after the month due
for the procrastinators.

In the UK vehicles need testing annually once they are three years old.  The test is known as the MOT from the fact that it is done on behalf of the Ministry of Transport.

It checks that the registration number matches the vehicle id number and registers the mileage.  Then the vehicle structure, steering, suspension, wheels and tyres (tread depth), lights, seatbelts, windscreen and wipers/washers, brakes and exhaust are checked to see that they are all functioning correctly.  An emissions test is done on the exhaust.

The garage must be MOT approved and the fees are fixed by the government.  A car cost just over £50, a motorbike about £27.

If your car fails you have a few days grace within which to arrange repairs.  Many garages will test again for free if you authorise them to do the repairs.

In the UK vehicles need testing annually once they are three years old.  The test is known as the MOT from the fact that it is done on behalf of the Ministry of Transport.

It checks that the registration number matches the vehicle id number and registers the mileage.  Then the vehicle structure, steering, suspension, wheels and tyres (tread depth), lights, seatbelts, windscreen and wipers/washers, brakes and exhaust are checked to see that they are all functioning correctly.  An emissions test is done on the exhaust.

The garage must be MOT approved and the fees are fixed by the government.  A car cost just over £50, a motorbike about £27.

If your car fails you have a few days grace within which to arrange repairs.  Many garages will test again for free if you authorise them to do the repairs.


It is just about the same N.J.. the steps of inspection in N.J.:

1...License, registration and proof of insurance. At this step they check; VIN, lights, turn signals, steering column, wipers, mirrors
    windshield and windows, emissions and they look under the hood for any added gadgets that aren't legal.

2...The vehicle goes on rollers and the engine is revved while in gear, another emission check and the suspension is also checked
    at this point.

3...This step is for the brake system, emergency or parking brake is checked first.

4...Gas cap and gas fill are checked to make sure no tampering is done.

These steps take about a half hour to complete and the basic rule to follow before going to inspection is, If it
is on the car it has to work.

They have a similar inspection system in Missouri. (Nebraska did away with annual inspections about 20 years ago so I was a little caught off guard when I first moved down here, my last car had a crack going across the windshield and I had to get it replaced before they'd pass me.) Basically you take your car to a service station or garage that's licensed by the state, then you pay $12 and it usually takes about 15-20 minutes. You have to do that each year before you can renew your registration.

Ours is annual. If your inspection sticker has a "6" on it, your inspection is due by the last day in June. Likewise, if your sticker has an "11", the end of Nov. is your due date. Garages that do inspections chose to do them. I believe they have to be certified by the state and will get so many inspection stickers a month. If they run out, you have to get it inspected the next month or go to another garage. (I have had this with the garage I used to take my car to).  Carlos takes his car to the dealer where he bought the car. The inspection is part of the "Preferred Customer" so he doesn't have to pay for it (and they will wash the car at the same time-no charge).


Cat

Massachusetts has a strange system, but it tends to work and it's not too time consuming.

Basic safety inspection once a year. Stuff like check that the windsheild isn't cracked, tires are safe, lights and horn work, and the ball joints are all right.  It took me maybe ten minutes to do my car the other day.

Once a vehicle is 7 years old, every other year it gets an emissions test, on a dynometer. Usually takes an extra 20 minutes or so, which can really stink if there's a couple people ahead of you getting the extended test as well.

It's $29 no matter which test you get.  Performed at garages that apply for the plan and install the extra equipment.

We don't have inspections in Ohio, probably a bad thing. We used to have emissions testing in my county, but they stopped it a few years ago. Now only a few counties still have it.

Here, if your car is new you only have to have emission testing every other year.  I think at 5 years old you have to start having it every year.  Inspection is every year.

Maybe I should consider moving, I always knew it was a pain in the a$$ to deal with NJDMV but after reading
through these post I didn't realize how anal they really were.  ;D

Seriously, it's not that bad. It was a lot worse when I first got my license in '79. Then all inspections were done
in State run facilities. Since they privatized the operation in the 80's the lines aren't nearly as bad, still it can be
up to a 3 hour wait at a State run inspection center. It depends on when you go, early morning and early in the
month is the best time. If you wait until the end of the month, you'll be in a very long line.

They have a similar inspection system in Missouri. (Nebraska did away with annual inspections about 20 years ago so I was a little caught off guard when I first moved down here, my last car had a crack going across the windshield and I had to get it replaced before they'd pass me.) Basically you take your car to a service station or garage that's licensed by the state, then you pay $12 and it usually takes about 15-20 minutes. You have to do that each year before you can renew your registration.


They made you replace your windshield? How big was the crack? I have a little mark where a stone hit mine and they didn't even mention it.

Yeah, vehicle inspection for me is the same as Al (funny seeing as he only lives down the highway from me  ;D).

In Illinois only vehicles in the Chicago and St. Louis metro areas are required to be inspected and it's only an emissions test. It's free and motorcycles and older vehicles are exempt.

Once your vehicle is at least 2 years old, then an annual smog check is required. It costs $15-$25 depending on where you go to get it done.

Tip the nation and everything loose will land in California.

We have biennial (and soon to be annual) smog tests.  But we also have no safety/mechanical integrity requirements.

I'm OK with the smog inspections; compared to the 70s, you no longer need a machete to cut through the smog of Los Angeles.  But the lack of safety inspections is inexcusable.  Although most accidents are caused by human error and not mechanical failure, how many billions of dollars of lost economic productivity have we lost to easily-fixed mechanical problems? 

If California's bureaucrats must have a green argument instead of an economic argument, how about this: when some moron's driveshaft falls out, when some guy with bald tires aquaplanes across three lanes and takes out a big rig during the first rain of the season, (or even when somebody can't signal his lane change because a $0.95 lamp burned out), and 50,000 people have to idle their engines for an hour in the ensuing a ten-mile long traffic jam, there's also an environmental impact.

BTW, for the guy with the cracked windshield -- talk to your insurance drone.  If it's just a small chip, it may not need repair, and if it's a small enough crack, most insurance companies will happily cover the $20-50 cost of fixing it in place with some UV-curing polymer.  If you don't fix it, the crack will grow or spread over the next few years, requiring (for your insurance company, the more expensive option of the) replacement of the windshield.  The reason badly-cracked windshields are failures on safety inspections is because the windshield is an integral structural component in most automotive designs.  On impact, it's designed to absorb and transfer the energy of impact to other structural members of the car such as the body pillars.  If the windshield can't do so because of an existing crack, that energy gets transferred to the passenger compartment, which is more likely to be deformed on impact, along with the squishy meaty bits it contains.  Take two cars, one with a windshield, and one without a windshield. Drive them both head-on into a brick wall (or give them a strong front quarter impact).  The car with the windshield will have a crumpled front end, a broken windshield, and some deformation at the bottom of the A pillars.  The car without the windshield will have intact A pillars, and a chunk of its hood folded upwards and crammed back into the passenger compartment.

In Ohio only in certain counties you have to have inspections every 2 years, the Cleveland area is one of those areas. You can only have it tested at the special state e-check stations. It is an emissions test only, there is no car sticker or anything you present the certificate when you go renew your plates. It was free the last 2 years, I don't know if it's still free or not, before that it was like 20 bucks.

You need to have your car inspected yearly in the state of Va..  Even a brand new car needs to be inspected.  If your car doesn't pass, you get a rejection sticker and you have a limited amount of time to have your car repaired, 15 days I think. 

It sucks here....we have inspection AND emissions every year...it usually runs about $60 for both...and they are pretty strict too.

Here in Ontario Canada, it's (i believe) every 2 years and it costs a bit over $40 bucks.  You take your car into a place like Speedy or Canadian Tire, and they give it a once over.  Then they give you a piece of paper that you take to the Ministry of Transpirtation: Drivers and Vehicles location closest to you. 

If your car were to fail the inspection, they tell you what needs fixing and how much it will cost, and if you don't get the things fixed by the end date of inspection, they give you a piece of paper that says your car is not allowed on the road

Ours is annual. If your inspection sticker has a "6" on it, your inspection is due by the last day in June. Likewise, if your sticker has an "11", the end of Nov. is your due date. Garages that do inspections chose to do them. I believe they have to be certified by the state and will get so many inspection stickers a month. If they run out, you have to get it inspected the next month or go to another garage. (I have had this with the garage I used to take my car to).  Carlos takes his car to the dealer where he bought the car. The inspection is part of the "Preferred Customer" so he doesn't have to pay for it (and they will wash the car at the same time-no charge).


Cat


I wish we had stickers or something when we were in the UK.  You only have the date on the test certificate which is carefully filed away.  You need the certificate when you tax your car (annually or six monthly).  At one time I had to pay for a service, MOT and tax all at the same time so I decided to pay for only six months tax and then tax it annually the next time to spread the cost.  Except I then forgot to MOT my car and didn't remember until I was gettting the paperwork together to tax my car!  Quick ring around the garages to see who could do it that day  ::)

My state is yearly except for new cars which have a two year expiration date then after that it goes to one year and no emmissions as of yet.

The worst place I have ever seen was in Japan.  Japanese must after just a few years go through an inspection that will make them change the bolt colors and other tiny things on their carrs and could cost nearly as much as buying a new car.  Bad for Japanese good for the US military.  Our cars were inspected at the BX garage on base and cost $2.00 unless something was wrong.  The reason that the Japanese inspections were so tough was so their car industry would be recession proof.  The Japanese will simply junk a perfectly well running automobile and buy a new one than rather go through the rigid and costly inspection process.  I used to trade a bottle of whiskey or a few cartons of cigarettes for a car that was just going to be junked.  I'd then either use it myself or sell it to new people arriving in country.  What cost me about $10.00 to buy to trade was worth much more to the Japanese and I could sell that car for $100.00 to $150.00.  Everybody wins.  The reason that the GIs were exempt from the rigid Japanese inspection system was a benifit of the "Status of Forces Agreement" that the US has with Japan.  Not sure what it is like there now but back then it was a goldmine!