Vehicle inspections

[signalman]

Hi all,

In addition to liking roads and traffic signals, I collect license plates and temporary tags.  I also collect windshield stickers from applicable states.  I've decided to have a survey of sorts.  I'm curious to see if your state has a vehicle inspection, and if so, is safety and emissions checked or just one or the other?  And, if your state does infact have an inspection, do they use windshield stickers to validate it?  I'll start with my home state of New Jersey.  New Jersey checks safety and emissions every 2 years, 4 years on new cars (then 2 years on subsequent inspections) and uses windshield stickers to denote the vehicle passed or failed  (marked with a red rejected sticker)  Upon registering a car bought privately, one will receive a pink temporary card that is good for 2 weeks incase the vehicle's inspection is expired or it was purchased out of state.  New York uses windshield stickers for both their inspection and to validate registration, and I know safety is checked state wide and emissions are only checked in some counties.  Pennsylvania also checks safety state wide and some counties also check emissions and windshield stickers are used to validate both.  Delaware checks safety and emissions, but they do not use windshield stickers.  Instead, the owner does not get their plate sticker until the vehicle passes inspection.  I'm interested to hear what is done in other states.  Members from other countries can feel free to chime in as well. 

[mightyace]

Tennessee has no vehicle inspections to speak of other than maybe a rare police checkpoint.

Emissions are tested in and around the major cites, but not outside.  If an emissions test is required, proof of passing it is required to renew your tags but no special plate or windshield stickers are used.

Fortunately for me, I live about 2 mile outside of the current limit for Nashville emissions testing.


BTW.  My home state of Pennsylvania used to be even worse on inspections.  I remember as a kid, my dad had to get our car(s) inspected twice a year!     Cars were classified into two groups based somehow on plate number and inspection was either 1st and 3rd quarter or 2nd and 4th quarter.

[signalman]

Yeah, I do remember PA's biannual inspections.  I can't recall when they went to annual.  I want to say sometime in the early 90s, but I'm not positive.

[signalman]

Also, please correct me if I'm wrong.  But is it not required in Tenessee to carry auto insurance?  Or is it now required?

[mightyace]

Also, please correct me if I'm wrong.  But is it not required in Tenessee to carry auto insurance?  Or is it now required?

Insurance is required and has been, IIRC, the whole time I've lived in TN from 11/1995 on, though the county clerk's offices (who handle registration in TN) rarely check this.  But, the cops will, at least if you're in an accident.

[Bryant5493]

I know Metro Atlanta does emission tests for newer vehicles. Older vehicles-- 1984 and older -- are exempt.


Be well,

Bryant

[SP Cook]

West Virginia:

Annual inspection.  Safety only.  Mostly just a joke, the price the garages can charge has not been changed in decades and is so tiny with inflation that it does not justify doing any actual inspecting.  Emissions not inspected.  Stickers are rectangular and go in the driver's side left. 

[Crewdawg]

AZ just Emissions in Metro Pheniox and Tuson. no sticker

[corco]

Ada and Canyon counties, Idaho have mandatory emissions inspections, but otherwise Idaho is totally free

Wyoming has no inspection process that I am aware of

[PAHighways]

Yeah, I do remember PA's biannual inspections.  I can't recall when they went to annual.  I want to say sometime in the early 90s, but I'm not positive.

For as long as I can remember they've only been once a year, and for sure since I've been driving.

As for emissions, only vehicles registered in 25 counties are required to have the testing:  http://www.drivecleanpa.state.pa.us/.

[deathtopumpkins]

Virginia just does an annual state inspection. Though they test for other things that have nothing to do with the safety of other people if you get in an accident, so I consider it a big waste of time, but once a year you take your car to a mechanic and they give you a sticker that is valid for 12 months.

[Alex]

Delaware requires vehicle inspection and emissions tests whenever registering a car or renewing registration. There are no windshield stickers.

Florida does not require vehicle inspections and I believe the only area with emissions tests is the Miami area.

[mefailenglish]

Maryland has a vehicle inspection program.  But cars are inspected ONLY when they are titled and registered in the date.  After that, I guess they don't care.  Based on my one experience, it seems like a giant scam.  A car I bought in VA (where it had just passed inspection a week ago) somehow needed hundreds of dollars in repairs to pass inspection in Maryland. 

Emission inspection is every other year, IIRC.  They print out a certificate at the emissions station which you're supposed to keep in the glove box with the registration and insurance cards.  But in 16+ years, I don't think anyone has EVER asked to see that certificate.

[vdeane]

MD probably has higher standards than VA given that their inspection can potentially be valid forever, depending on if you sell the car and when you consider it to no longer be worth it to repair the car and get a new one (a honda, for example, will typically last at least 15 years before this point).

[mightyace]

Yeah, I do remember PA's biannual inspections.  I can't recall when they went to annual.  I want to say sometime in the early 90s, but I'm not positive.

For as long as I can remember they've only been once a year, and for sure since I've been driving.

As for emissions, only vehicles registered in 25 counties are required to have the testing:  http://www.drivecleanpa.state.pa.us/.

Here is an archived news article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Apr 27, 1982 discussing the possible passage of a bill to once a year auto inspections.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Apr 27, 1982

It's not an exact date for the switch to annual, but it gives a ballpark figure.

[Chris]

This is how it works in the Netherlands;

For vehicles older than 3 years, there is an annual vehicle inspection. The vehicle will be tested for several safety points, and if it fails, it must have reparation, or else it's not allowed to drive on the roads anymore. There is a particle/soot test for diesel engines, but no emissions check for gasoline engines, since emissions are already regulated by the government. I'm not sure why diesel cars do have to do an emission test.

The cost for this inspection is about € 40 ($ 55) for gasoline cars, and € 60 ($ 85) for diesel cars, but it depends on the garage, and excludes any repairs.

However, this inspection is not to determine the maintenance status of a car. It only covers the safety area.

[Truvelo]

That's very similar to the UK where we also have annual tests for vehicles over 3 years old. I assume vehicles under that age are considered too new to have defects except my last car which had topped 200,000 miles by that age and the wheel bearings were starting to get a little noisy. Still, it passed first time.

Incidently, the emissions test here covers all vehicles, not just diesel. However it depends when the car was first registered. Cars before 1993 had no emissions test, just a visual smoke test so if there's a blue cloud coming out the exhaust it would fail. Vehicles younger than 1993 need to have a probe poked in the exhaust to measure the levels of certain gases.

The test is carried out by regular garages who need a licence from the government. Some garages have been known to pass cars that should fail because they belong to friends or relatives. If found out they could lose their licence and face charges. The other big scam is when people fit performance modifications to their cars and refit the original items for the test so it passes and then put the performance parts back on.

[HalifaxTravaler]

Nova Scotia Canada.

We until this year had to have a safety inspection done every year.there is a windshield sticker for it.This year they switched to first inspection due after 3 years on brand new delivered cars.All other cars the inspection has to be done every 2 years.The fee is set  by the Nova Scotia Provincial government.The cost is$30.Vehicle registration is every 2 years and you get a sticker for that that goes on your plate.

[Alps]

NJ just updated so that new cars have 4 years off instead of 2, and otherwise you have to check in every 2 years instead of 1.  As a kid, I remember sitting with my mom in hour-plus long lines to get inspected.  Now you can go through in 10 minutes or less unless you've waited till the end of the month.  You have the option of having a private inspection by a licensed facility, but the state will do it for free if you pull into a state facility.  Some have closed but most are still open.  I like that way of doing business - some people can barely afford to keep their car running as it is without having to pay a day's wages just to prove it's running.

[golden eagle]

Mississippi requires an inspection, but just for safety. Also, there's an inspection on tinted windows (which my old car had), which requires an additional fee ($10, IIRC). BTW, I'm having to get an inspection sticker twice this year. I got one in January for my old car (which ended up getting wrecked) and I bought a new one in April and that sticker expires in November (which happens to be my birth month).

[Scott5114]

Oklahoma once had a vehicle inspection program, but it was discontinued in the first part of this decade. Stickers were green papery stuff, with two large numbers, one for the month and one for the year (so an inspection expiring in June 1999 would have said 6/9). No idea what they did for Oct, Nov, Dec.

[florida]

Florida does not require vehicle inspections and I believe the only area with emissions tests is the Miami area.

Ex-Gov. Bush signed a bill on 6/29/00 letting the only six counties in Florida had auto emission testing, Duval, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Hillsborough, off the hook for requiring them.

We used to have annual vehicle inspections until the 80's when Ex-Gov. Bob Graham did away with them.

[/nerdy]

[mefailenglish]

DC is ending their vehicle inspection process (for privately-owned vehicles) starting 01 October:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091402794.html

[US71]

Arkansas got rid of inspections 6-8 years ago, but they were a joke anyway. Almost everyone know which shops were the easiest to pass the test.

*headlights
*horn
*signals
*wipers

Done, $5 please

There was supposed to be more to it than that, but knowing the right shop you could avoid it.

[agentsteel53]

I hear New Mexico inspections are quite trivial.  The car I'm driving right now ('89 Escort, 205000 miles!) is up for re-registration at the end of the month, so I'll be buying it for a buck from its current owner.  It's got a fairly impressive spider-web crack in the windshield!  (Taking highway sign photos has gotten slightly more interesting.)