<VV> Safety Inspections / Antique Plates

[Bill Elliott]

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 18:09:06 EDT, UltraMonzaWest at aol.com wrote:

>In a message dated 9/30/2005 2:39:42 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
>Corvair at fnader.com writes:

>> Getting out of a safety inspection might not sound like a good idea...until 
>> you see a program like the MD 
>> one... similar to the British MOT, but only necessary when you first 
>> register the car. I've spent upwards of 
>> $2000 to get a car through that had a valid and current VA or NC inspection.
>> 
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>So tell us.......what did they  find wrong with a car that had recently 
>passed  another states inspection?   Is it just arbitrary?

>Sure sounds to me like you folks are living in a "police state"......where's 
>the "curtain"??   gggg




Somewhat arbitrary...here's how it works.. you take the car to the inspection station and they give you a 
list of what's wrong and an estimate to fix. If you let them fix it, you get an inspection. Now a retest is 
free, but with some (many) stations, if you take the car and fix the hit list yourself, they are free to 
reinspect EVERYTHING and give you another list...and another estimate.

In the specific car that I mentioned, they demanded a replacement steering rack because it was 
leaking...VA found the amount of leakage acceptable, new windshield due to a star on the passenger 
side that VA ignored....I've seen MD fail for milky edges to windshields,  they demand NO rust holes in 
the bodywork anywhere, they decided the plastic rear window was too opaque bodywork, rotors at the 
minimum (once failed for NEW rotors being below the minimum in their book...their book said "all 
SAABs" for that year while the SAAB Sonett had a completely different system), too much ball joint play 
is common, won't allow exposed springs in the seats, defroster not blowing sufficient air on the 
windshield, etc, etc.

MD is moderately collector car friendly, but this inspection is something to avoid if AT ALL possible.

Bill