Good news for N. C.

[Rhino 21150]

As of November last the state of N. C. no longer requires inspections of cars older than 35 years. "Most of these cars dont get driven enough to pose any serious risk to the motoring public." So true! My 38 picked up less than 1K miles last year. My 76 Olds will soon qualify! Good, since it will probably need a new catalytic by then.

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Rhino,

I date say that most of the people working at the Inspection Stations wouldnt know what they were looking at in a car older than 30 years.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

[Mark S.]

In the Sunshine State of Florida there are NO INSPECTIONS for any year car.

[Randall Ayers McGrew CLC # 17963]

Of course not ... you have cockroaches the size of Buicks down there.  It would be a nightmare inspecting every shiney old thing on the road!!! LOL

Just kidding...dont take it badly.  Here in Colorado, particularly in the county of Boulder (infamous land of the Lotus Eaters) we have an 8 year period on collector cars.  One inspection at the production year level, and it lasts 8 years.  Nice.  And we still check the pollution standards.  Believe it or not, my 1977 Eldorado did better than the 1998 Buick that was in front of me in line.

[Yann Saunders, CLC #12588]

South Carolina enjoys that privilege ...irrespective of the age of the car.  

Its a change from Switzerland where the dreaded inspection notice for any of my old Cadillacs used to send shivers down my spine.

One time they wanted me to "shave off" the fins on my 60 Biarritz because they were considered a potential hazard to cyclists and pedestrians alike !  

Gladly, I was able to talk them out of it after presenting the results of research I had conducted and that showed that other equally "hazardous" cars (including Cadillacs) had been allowed to pass inspection WITH similar "dangerous protrusions".

[Michael Stamps 19507]

Yann,
  I dont know if you lived there back when South Carolina did inspections.  I think they stopped in the early 90s as it had become a joke.  The state limited the inspection fee to $3.  The only inspection they did was driveablity stuff and no pipe test.  Everyone knew the shop or two in town that you could just hand them $10 and they would hand the sticker back.

Stampie

[Mike #19861]

 Regular inspections always become a target for corruption and cheating. No matter how you try and safeguard against it, it will happen. Here, in Ontario, we have bi-annual emissions tests. But not for all areas of the province. They are only required for the southern portion, the most populated area.

 As of late, there has been much talk of corruption within the system, by both the testing stations and the government alike. It has become a much hated ritual for us car owners. The standards vary year by year for the same car. No one seems to have a handle on why this is, except that it is a secret plot by the government to get old cars off the road. Newer cars seem to have less stringent standards than older cars.

 The testing stations have been caught "clean piping" where they use a car that will pass on the dyno and issue a certificate to a car that will not pass. It has become big business for some folk, and a real game of cat and mouse for the governmnet.

 There has been some rumours of scrapping the system since it has become such a huge boondoggle. But of late it has been pretty quiet. The testing stations were required to invest in dynomometers with the related equipment and train their personel to operate it. The expense has run into the hundreds of thousands. You cannot simply scrap a system that has devoured such a huge amount of investment both publicly and privately.

 The net effect of all this has been zero. Hundreds of millions of dollars invested, a populace that is completely disillusioned by the process, and in most cases fearful of the impending notice. Air pollution has been the same or worse. Most of our foul air is blown up from the Ohio Valley, so what we do here will have a negligable affect on pollution anyway.

 And, since we have had regulations in place that would remove gross pollutors from the road all along, the whole system was unnecessary from the outset. I feel it was simply a kneejerk reaction by our government to the greenies. An attempt to gain votes.

 Mechanical inspections are a bit more realistic. You are required to only subject your car to such an inspection when ownership of the car is transferred. Police are empowered to remove any car from the road they feel is grossly unsafe, and they have occasional blitzes targeting these cars. Usually in the spring time. This seems to work well, and the general condition of the cars on the road is fairly good. Less beurocracy (sic?) and good results.

  Mike

[densie 20352]

  AZ also came to their senses, with the provision that you still have to pay the fee.  I think that was all they were after anyway.

-densie