Have you ever noticed......

[MississippiSlim]

If the person inspecting your vehicle is an enthusiast of that type vehicle, it never gets inspected too tough? I remember when I had my Vette, the place that I took it too the guy was a Vette fana. had two and never much looked at anything in fact we talked Vettes while he was putting the sticker on.....And I heard of others who talked about how tough he was.

Well, I got my Bronco inspected awhile back and at first I was worried cause it aint new, ya know and when I went to get it inspected he checked the tint(that was on it when I got it) and said it was too dark. Well, I ripped the tint off and went back thinking okay hes gonna say I need a new windshield, or this or that plus its pretty loud.....Anyway, seems he likes Broncos and well lets just say I am legal. He is not in my hometown but I think I will visit him from now on! Mostly if it s not somebody just trying to do something illegal they are cool around here though. They understand people dont have money to buy new cars every couple years....There are advantages to living in a poor state!

 

[miesk5]

If the person inspecting your vehicle is an enthusiast of that type vehicle, it never gets inspected too tough? I remember when I had my Vette, the place that I took it too the guy was a Vette fana. had two and never much looked at anything in fact we talked Vettes while he was putting the sticker on.....And I heard of others who talked about how tough he was.
Well, I got my Bronco inspected awhile back and at first I was worried cause it aint new, ya know and when I went to get it inspected he checked the tint(that was on it when I got it) and said it was too dark. Well, I ripped the tint off and went back thinking okay hes gonna say I need a new windshield, or this or that plus its pretty loud.....Anyway, seems he likes Broncos and well lets just say I am legal. He is not in my hometown but I think I will visit him from now on! Mostly if it s not somebody just trying to do something illegal they are cool around here though. They understand people dont have money to buy new cars every couple years....There are advantages to living in a poor state!

good for you! I mean about the inspector who didn't get tough on the Bronco about nothing that matters.

Here in NJ the state switched from State employees to contractors who run the State Inspection stations; for awhile, the contractors seemed to be working by pay-for-rejections; some opened hood; said they were looking for illegal mods; which isn't part of the State Insp. Process. Once they were ready to fail the 96 bec. "it has non-stock tires (size) on it" until a contractor lady came over and passed it; she said, "some here are goofs with no *** brains".

 

[Yardape]

Wow that must ****, theres another sweet part of living in Canada. Once in a while we need inspections too, but we just have to take it to any Journeyman Mechanic, and they can sign it off. My insurance broker told me I needed an inspection a few years back, I told her it will not pass quite yet, I have full intentions on fixing everything thats wrong but I need my truck for work and have to get it insured. She asked "well dont you know any mechanics?" I was like ummm no why, she said "find a mechanic a sweet talk him into signing it off for me, If he trusts you, he should have no problem" Just have to buy a bottle of rye usually. So thats what I did.

 

[Big Country]

there are alot of mom and pop mechanic shops here, not very good at wrenching but when inspection time comes they are raking the money in.

 

[wtfdissux]

Wow I must be a reall ***hole because I fail and pass with no respect to the make or model in fact on a ford truck i am on occasion worse to deal with as I know where to look when some others dont ( have failed many for radius bushings)

most recently was a guy bringing in his freshly lifted f-250 was a great install with a skyjacker 6 inch all steel braid brake hoses and even extended park brake cables(like to know where he got them) but with all he did he never had it alligned the master cyl. was weak and had severe pedel fade (even after pumping the **** out of it to stop) was nice and told him what he needed where to get it and guess what when he came back the next day after not seeing my truck he got the same after 3 times scraped his sticker on Jan.2 and now its all fixed but we still have not recieved the new stickers yet

also in have looked at the NJ inspection and it is almost the same as NY and they are required to check for altered or bypassed emisions under the hood as part of inspection

 

[Yardape]

To me its all a big conspiracy to get the classics off the road. I agree some people let their cars get a bit out of control, but unless its a real problem just leave the older vehicles alone. Wtfdissux a ton of people rely on their vehicles to make a living and feed the kids, unless its a severe safety issue you should be ashamed of yourself for failing someone just because you can. I have been in the boat where I could not fix my car but still had to get to work to feed my family, I failed because my e-brake didnt work. What the **** do you need an e-brake for on an automatic? The reason they dont work is because they are never used. There are limitations to everything, not everyone can afford a new car. Its just a job to you, its someones livelyhood your dealing with, use a bit of compassion. I could go on forever, but I will sign off, either your a car nut or your not.

 

[Yardape]

Not saying I want junk on the road with me, just some things can be overlooked.

 

[wtfdissux]

yes some things can slide if i said that I checked the park brake on most cars (besides standards) I would be lying but look at it this way the first offense for improper inspection the fine is 5000 to the inspector not counting the facilty and your job and now your not employable in the field anymore if shop owners check backround.

for example (this happened to a shop in Rochester NY 2 years ago in a shop owned by the same company I work for) a car owner went to his buddy the manager of a repair shop and said when you looked at my car anything I should know for inspection upon hearing that all WAS well he had his car inspected the manager told his tech when he looked the car over all was good so the tech never pulled a wheel to check brakes guess what after leaving the car owners son was driving and hit a 6 year old girl getting off the bus killing her instantly when police noticed the brand new inspection sticker they impounded the car did an inspection to find that both rear wheel cyl. were blown and front pads were siezed car owner and his son the driver go to jail along with the store manager and his tech. and over 50,000 in fines were handed down the tech is doing 25 to life for criminally negligent homicide was it worth it to be a"nice guy " I dont think so

most of the people that complain are the guys that wait till they are over due and get an attitude because they did not bother to A. maintain the vehicle in a safe manner B. did not have enough sense to go in with a week or two before the sticker scraper came out so they would have time to make repairs or C. have money to add all sorts of toys and mods to thier car but are to cheap to buy wiper blades or replace a blown bulb

plain and simple I drive and have kids do I want to share the road with a car that is unsafe NO should I be resonable YES the bottom line for safety inspections is the tech's judjment yes there are some that go everboard in a **** fashon but when faced with lawsuits jail and so on ya follow the rules thats the way it is I deal with twenty or so people a weak with the same complaints and not one can dissagree with me on these points until its them that fails

 

[Roadkill]

Well said, wtfdissux, sometimes doing the right thing can **** off the people around you or even make you second guess your own values (I, too, have had to take some enforcement actions that I really didn't want to have to do). Bottom line is your doing your part to keep us all a bit safer. Stick to your guns.

 

[Yardape]

I never said anything about neglecting safety. I gave an example of an e-brake on an automatic vehicle, and you came back with a story of an inspector not checking the car for braking malfunctions. Big difference, I am a firm believer that inspections are necessary because of the irresponsible drivers out there that wont fix anything on their vehicles, but for those of us trying to preserve or older cars and maintaining them to the best we can with what we have there is no reason for the inspectors to (find) a reason to fail someone. Its absolutey ridiculous what some inspectors fail people for. Not saying you do this but there are quite a few that are just trying to get the older vehicles off the road. My father in-law got pulled over by the cops, He lives in B.C. They have recently adopted this ******** inspection policy in which the cops can inspect you on the side of the road. The cop looked over his truck, Crawled under the front and looked at the tie rod ends. He wrote up a fine stating that they needed to be replaced and he had ten days to have it fixed and inspected or the vehicle will be pulled off the road. He told the cop that the whole front end had been rebuilt about a month ago, the cop flipped on him, called DOT and had them inspect the truck right there. They combed through the whole truck and found the stupidest shit wrong. Cost him 5000.00 to get the truck back on the road. Stuff like that just drives me nuts. You have a huge responsibility in your job, dont let anyone challenge your integrety, you are the one who has to face the consequences not the whiner. There are enough cars that need work to keep you guys in business, all I was saying is just dont fabricate problems. I respect your profession, I love everything to do with cars/trucks and motorsports, we need our older iron on the road... If we let them they will force us to crush them.

 

[Big Country]

wow!! I am glad i live in texas, emission laws?/ what are those?? not here. limit on lifts for a turck? not here... state tax? not here i love being a texan

 

[Broncosaurus!]

If you blow a brake line/fitting or any other hydraulic malfunction you would probably want that E (emergency) brake to work. I test mine every now and then to keep the cable from seizing.

 

[bluesman17]

Indiana doesnt have these strange laws and Im glad. They all seem like a waste of time and resources.

 

[Big Country]

unless you don't properly maintain your brakes, what are the odds of a brake line or claiper explaoding? not very good.

 

[wtfdissux]

yard ape wanted to apologize for the blow up post had a customer almost come to blows when I failed his CHEVY truck for rear axle seals that were bad enough that you could almost use a spoon to remove the last paper thickness of friction off then he had the nerve to say I did this when he was in the bathroom

also as for your father-in-law yeah that does **** down here if a cop questions your cars sticker or other inspection issues he needs to cal DOT and they will deal with it the chances for anyone besides a tractor trailer seeing that......slim to none

but every now and then I get to deal with a cop (yes one in particular ) that thinks he can scrape stickers for being expired or questionable or because Pluto is lined up with the moons of Uranus what the ***** cant get thru his head after being warned many times by his superiors and the dot is the only persons that can remove a sticker are the DOT and the inspectors when replacing or when expired and doing an inspect (but the windshield company's obviously get around this)

 

[Yardape]

no need to apologize, no harm in expressing your opinion.

 

[Roadkill]

I would like to add something about those cops that you guys mentioned. In my job (military policeman) I deal with a lot of civilian and military law enforcement people and those guys you've been talking about do not represent the vast majority of us. Most of us are normal people just like everyone else and are not out to arrest or ticket everyone we meet. In my opinion, those who behave that way should be removed from their jobs. Also, being halfway through a one year tour working with police in Baghdad, I can say be glad we have the profesional police that we have. It could be far worse!

Just my two cents worth, not trying to step on anyones feelings.

 

[Big Ragu]

thank god I now live in fl. I lived in new york almost all of my life and moved to fl. where there are no inspections about 5 years ago. Now let me say that all my past cars and trucks were mech. sound and safe but they did not look it. I have a 1990 vett bought it new for myself for xmas in dec. 89 she is my first new car and I still treat her like it. she's only 33.000 mi. old. I have always bought 2-500 dollar beaters to go and from work and where ever. one thing i never laxed on were the braking system. I always made sure my e-brake worked and that all 4 wheels had good hardware. The bodys on the otherhand well.................... not good. I dont mean not good to the point where fenders were going to fly off or anything like that , but ruff. I had a inspector fail my 82 f250 cause i had holes in the bed!!! I didnt understand this, at this point i had the truck for 3 years and got it with the holes and got my sticker the last 2 years. So I went to auto zone and bought a bed mat to make him happy. When I went back he got under the truck and said they were still there!! Well now I was ****** so I drove to the next town over about 15 mi. went to the station there and he looked at everything and found the truck to be mech. sound. So after he put my sticker on............. I asked him if it were pos. to fail because of holes in the bed and he looked at me with a very puzzled look and said no why? After I told him the story he went over and lifted up the bed mat and seen the 4 quarter size holes and just laugh and asked how much the bed mat cost me. So as far as inspectors trying to get the old iron off the road I truly beleve this. when all the old iron is off the road there will be no more shadetree mech. all cars and trucks will have to go to the shop and be hooked to a computer to tell you that a $200.00 senser that checks the temp of the muffler bearing is bad. i mean come on!!! My 93 bronc is not the best looking truck going down the road. But everything works even the a/c works (very important in fl.) and mech. shes sound and would pass an inspection. Just glad I dont have to deal with it anymore.

 

[gnarly_bronco_kid]

It's the best when you live in a small town like I do, and you work for the best mechanic in the town that EVERYBODY trusts. When he does my inspections you looks out his window at my truck and says, "looks good," and passes her off. I've driven my truck for 1 week straight with no bumpers on it. I also got away with not having ANY license plate for about 3 days. To bad they all know my truck and they all pull me over because they're smart enough now to know that I'm always doing something against the law. sux they're able to stop me before I even commit any kind of crime.