Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story

   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story #41  
PA does inspections and it's fine with me.

NJ used to do full inspections, when they stopped, the change was very visible.
People with bumpers taped on, visible rust.
Crabbing, bald tires.
Actually had someone skid into a curb in light rain as they had 0 tread on their tires.

We have steep hills, don't want people who only get their cars checked when the brakes catch fire coming down the hill behind me.
 
   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story #42  
Other common emission modification include exhaust modifications that eliminate power robbing cats. Or injector pump mods for more power.
 
   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story #43  
My state or at least county doesn’t have inspections. There are some rolling wreaks on the road but they don’t seem to be causing accidents. The cause of accidents is idiots can’t drive. If you can fix that problem I’d be all for it. Yesterday I had to stop half way across the intersection while my light was green while 2 people back to back were making left turns across the intersection when they only had the right of way to go straight. A few days ago the power went out in town. People were speeding through the dead traffic lights like it was I40.
 
   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story #44  
I believe drivers in middle Tennessee are worse than ever.
 
   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story
  • Thread Starter
#45  
This sure sounds like they where trying to scam you to pay for something that you didn't need. It didn't work out for them because you had already paid them to install one, but I wonder how many people they do this to? How many customers go there and are told that they have to pay for something that they don't need? and then they pretend to do the repair and charge them for it?

Didn't Sears get in trouble for doing this back in the 90s?
Eddie, I just don't know what to make of it. After my converter was stolen 2 years ago, I took it to this dealer to have a new one put on. They told me that Ford no longer stocks a converter for this truck and that I should take it to a muffler shop. Keep in mind, this is a 20 year old truck with less than 10,000 miles on it. It still looks and smells brand new and everything is original (except the catalytic converter and A/C compressor now).

Because this truck it kind of special to me, I really didn't want to take it to a muffler shop because I have had vehicles butchered at them before. I wanted Ford to do it because I thought they would do a quality job, however, I practically had to twist their arm to get them to order the part and install it for me. Took something like three weeks to get this done.

As I was walking out, I noticed that the same service writer who I dealt with on the converter replacement two years ago was sitting there, kind of laughing about it.

So as much effort as it took to get them to work on it before, I cant imagine why they would want to work on it now. The only thing I can figure is that the mechanic actually didn't realize he was looking at a catalytic converter, probably because the replacement doesn't look like the original equipment. Still, the correct course of action would be to do a little research and/or ask a supervisor, not just turn it down because you're not sure.
 
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   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story
  • Thread Starter
#46  
I'd say that would fall under the "gotta find something wrong" category. Many years ago I broke one of the tail lights on my truck loading something. Just glued the pieces back together, never had a problem. Again, a good reason to avoid the chain shops.
Around here, they are super-worried about windshield wipers. They will fail an inspection if you have even a 1/4" split in the end of a wiper blade.
 
   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story #47  
Oh of course it was a scam. BTDT as a college student in NY. My Dad knew better, but was too late for me. They red tagged me and I had 14 days to fix it. Drove home a couple days later worried I was going to get pulled over (6-7 hrs) and Dad took it to his mechanic who passed it instantly and said it was a scam. I think it was tire tread depth. Didn't know any better at the time and waaaaay before cell phones.

Now NY regulated what those private businesses could charge for the inspection and it was almost nothing relative to the actual time spent, if they did it right. So there was ALWAYS a "lightbulb they replaced" or some such minor thing to get the bill up a bit.

This is one of those things that is good in theory but never works as expected in practice. The unintended consequences are typically the biggest real-world impact of the policies of those who think more government is the solution to everything, and those consequences are never positive...
 
   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story #48  
PA does inspections and it's fine with me.

NJ used to do full inspections, when they stopped, the change was very visible.
People with bumpers taped on, visible rust.
Crabbing, bald tires.
Actually had someone skid into a curb in light rain as they had 0 tread on their tires.

We have steep hills, don't want people who only get their cars checked when the brakes catch fire coming down the hill behind me.
No fix it tickets from local LEO?

Any vehicle violation is grounds for citation... it is not dependant on third party inspection.
 
   / Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Story #49  
No fix it tickets from local LEO?

Any vehicle violation is grounds for citation... it is not dependant on third party inspection.
Rare around Central NJ, I avoid the area as much as possible.
Always see car parts on side of road.
 

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