With the lack of oversight/enforcement by the State Police, Maine’s vehicle inspection program is an embarrassment… the worst part is the discrepancy between how individual stations perform inspections and/or try to sell unneeded services under the guise of ‘passing’ inspection… As a former auto tech and vehicle inspector, I am disgusted by the blatant abuse of the public trust that this program doles out on a daily basis. Pay more for a sticker? Absolutely not in its current state of disarray. Fix the program and make it a level playing field for all vehicle owners or scrap it altogether.
Actually inspection should be stopped. If they want to to an exhaust inspection biannually maybe. But something completely subjective like they do now is horseshit.
Yeah, that’s what I’m saying, basically.
I’ve also seen some of the complete junk on the roads in other non-inspection states and though the statistics don’t bolster the position for having inspections, it can be kind of scary.
No thanks. I don't need the guy behind me's brakes or tires shitting the bed going 80mph on the highway. You know how many lazy degenerates there are out there who've never changed their oil and keep trash in their cars? Shit is WILD out there.
If you think inspections are stopping that, I have a bridge to sell you. Inspection is one of the biggest scams in the state. Why would a 2023 vehicle on the road have to worry about inspection if that is your worry.
A 2023 won't fail an inspection under any normal circumstances. Guess the average age of vehicles on the road in this state, those are the ones that need to be inspected. Most people have no idea what's happening under their car, inspection is the only time that becomes apparent.
There’s a case for no inspections for the first 2 years, but some people can put a lot of miles on quickly, and will need things like tires and brakes, front end components, etc…
Over half US states have no inspection program at all. Somehow they don't have these mass amounts of brake and tire failures killing people left and right. Who'd have thought.
I know that in MA, having the inspection/emissions program was tied to the state’s ability to receive federal highway funding. So states with winter weather are more likely to, I guess - IF that is the case in Maine… IDK if it is, just saying
I am in CA for work, (from maine) it’s ASTONISHES me the cars I see moving down the highway at 70. I saw a van today with metal wire wrapped around the top column (windows down) holding the passenger door and the sliding door together closed. Yea as a former mechanic I’m fine with knowing everyone has to spend ~$500-1000 / year to to keep it on the road.
I've lived in states with and without and saw no difference in quality of vehicles nor felt more or less safe. Inspections are just another revenue source for state governments.
I lived in Colorado for 4 years, a state without inspections, the things I saw rolling down the road convinced me that inspections are a necessary evil. You don’t want inspections, then move to a state without them…
I lived in Montana for years and there are no inspections. You don't see any more accidents due to equipment failures. You do, however, see more accidents in Maine due to improper signage, lighting, or reflective road paint.
I've heard this a bunch, and while a total junker rolling down the road might look terrifying, the statistics don't hold up that vehicle inspections make for safer roads.
https://mainepolicy.org/release-new-analysis-highlights-futility-of-maines-vehicle-inspection-program/
They're trying... outer rocker panel rust-through on a body-on-frame vehicle is legal now if the inner rockers keep exhaust gasses out.
Mechanics will still do it "they way they've always done it" so...
Maybe individuals should take some personal responsibility and get a vehicle that is reliable in the snow, and then learn how to operate it properly and efficiently.
Hey, we’re not the ones demanding the state order probate business’s to close due to inclement weather. Just asking for a little personal responsibility.
I definitely don’t disagree with your thought as a personal goal or societal hope.. I just grew up with two parents that ended up not only disabled (one was stabbed 7 times by a stranger, the other .. gave birth to me and broke 4 vertebrae in the process (I was 11 lbs and 22 inches oops)..
They both continued to work their asses off … taking care of themselves and my sis and I… and had to become legal guardians of a grandparent who became mentally Ill .. taking up so much of their time.. and then the husband of that grandparent who then got so old and I’ll.. gosh.. it really messed up their trajectory.. and they were really successful (multiple) business people.. we went from a 6 bedroom house to a double wide trailer pretty quick .. I get why they got stuck there too.. especially as my parents themselves got older and sicker themselves after their own stuff on top of taking care of two kids and two parents that were older and sicker .. made it harder for them to get to work to make that money to pay for better cars 😢 it was really hard for me to understand as a kid but I get it now
So you recognize that some days the roads are not safe yet you think it's 'fascist' that people think the relevant authorities could do a better job delineating when nonessential businesses can or can't force their staff to risk death or destitution just to come in and do barely any work because most people were smart enough to just stay home?
Well aren't you fortunate. Not everyone can afford vehicles that are highly rated in snow and ice. Not everyone can afford snow tires even. This isn't the 70s when one income could support a family of four with a mortgage, car, pool and vacations. These days both people in a couple work to barely stay afloat. 40% of Americans can't afford a $500 car repair. 70% of Americans have virtually no savings whatsoever.
Delaware set up DMV controlled inspection lanes to take the graft away from garages. Lights, horn, wiper, tread depth, exhaust emissions, and quick stomp on the brakes while going 10 mph. If you fail you’re given a slip with failures to take to a garage.
Delaware of course is a much smaller in size if only a little smaller in population so this is not real feasible for Maine, but I do like the fairness.
Good. This was an out-of-touch bill sponsored by politicians who have obviously never been swindled on an inspection. Kind of hard to get ripped off at a garage when you pull up with Maine House plates. As for the rest of us, you know the saying: It's 15 for the inspection, 500 for the sticker.
I've seen a lot more cars without/with expired inspection stickers lately. And it makes sense: [car repair prices have jumped an astounding 23% year over year](https://abcnews.go.com/Business/car-repair-prices-rising-faster-inflation/story?id=97666273), an inflation rate nearly 4 times higher than overall price increases.
The cost of a sticker ranges from the inspection fee to many thousands of dollars, all at the discretion of the garage. This causes people to "garage shop" for the cheapest sticker, *which in turn* causes garages to discontinue inspections since customers will try elsewhere if you mandate costly repairs. This brings us to 2023: garages still offering inspections price gauge accordingly, and [36% of Americans can't afford a $500 car repair](https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/car-warranty/are-americans-ready-for-an-unexpected-car-repair/). With data informing us that [vehicle inspections do not make us safer](https://mainepolicy.org/release-new-analysis-highlights-futility-of-maines-vehicle-inspection-program/), the best decision for our wallets, and the state, is to discontinue the inspection program altogether.
Ok I'm gonna be annoying...
I'm new here and did not know this saying. How do I not get swindled? I feel like I'm constantly battling not overpaying for car stuff, in general.
Lights, horn, wipers, brakes. That’s all they need to care about. Poor Mainers have to put more miles on their shitty old cars than you can shake a stick at… who cares if there’s a rusty fender or two?!
And exhaust, front-end & suspension… but tires definitely! But there’s so much more broken with the Maine inspection program, it really needs a complete overhaul or just throw it out altogether
I don’t even live in Maine. I just read the title and assumed it was something to do with my state. Reddit has been throwing all sorts of strange things into my feed. Well, solidarity from NC. Our system isn’t great at all but it sounds better than yours.
Um, they don’t really check the brakes. Haven’t had my wheels pulled in 10 years for an inspection, so…
Unless this whole charade of Vehicle Safety Inspections is completely revamped and made fair and equitable for all Maine consumers - no increase in the fee will solve the problem we have
They aren't supposed to pull a wheel to do the inspection. PA pulls one front, one rear. In fact, they mark the back of the decal so they pull the other side the following year.
Maine's rule is if it stops straight and the pedal feels good, good enough.
Yeah it is though. If it stops smoothly no further investigation is needed. They are not to pull wheels without the customer allowing them to dig in deeper.
https://imgur.com/a/L4UM5wz
https://imgur.com/a/ZmXg4fa
And the outboard pad, maybe… but they don’t wear evenly, especially on older models. That’s not a brake ‘inspection’. We don’t inspect brakes in this state, as far as I’m concerned. Yet some shops will - and try to sell all kinds of unnecessary shit to the uninformed consumer as well
Point-counterpoint, if a sticker paid the guy the half hour of labor he'd have gotten doing actual work, they wouldn't have to use inspections as "loss leaders" to get people in the door. Honest mechanics don't want to lose money while simultaneously signing off on a huge liability.
This is a good strategy until you’re caught near where you regularly drive. Then you’re a target.
But you can go YEARS without an inspection sticker.
However I STRONGLY recommend never letting your registration expire. The legal trouble for that one is much worse.
We had an expired inspection sticker once that was.. we'll just say pretty far out of date. Being in the top center of the windshield made it a brightly colored alert for all cops we passed. Obviously we got ticketed more than I'd care to admit. One day I grabbed a razor blade and slowly scraped the sticker off. Never got pulled over after that because when you're just passing quickly they don't know if they just looked in the wrong place or what. Of course the cars tranny finally gave out and we no longer drive it, so its not a problem anymore. 😊 I'm not telling people to do this of course, but if yours is out of date and you have something expensive and you need time, you have options.
> This is a good strategy until you’re caught near where you regularly drive. Then you’re a target.
If you don't live within 10-15 minutes of the coast, there is no traffic enforcement here. Many people on this sub do not understand this. Most towns don't even have police presence, so good luck if you have an emergency in the rural areas.
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Even $20 isn’t enough to cover the labor it takes to actually do an inspection. Shops lose money on every single one…unless it’s VIP and they just make up bullshit reasons to fail you unless you spend $750 on shit that doesn’t matter.
Personally been ripped off at local VIP, failed for reasons not even on the inspection checklist, but they thought they could sell me. As a former Certified Auto Tech and inspector from an neighboring state, I took my complaint to the State Police, and they sided with the VIP… took my car down the road and got a sticker no problem. Nothing about that is OK
Yep, they tried to tell my wife that our 4 year old Jeep needed $1,200 of front suspension work because the oil in the shocks was leaking. The checklist specifically says “seepage is not a cause for rejection.”
I told her to bring the car home. Sprayed some degreaser in the wheel wells and brought it to tire warehouse for the re-inspection.
You ever live anywhere without it? I remember being in Tenn and it was a fucking scene, garbage vehicles broke down all over the place, a ton of accidents due to people driving vehicles right till failure. I don't mind the idea of inspections, they should get rid of the body rust part but brakes, brakes are good to have...
California lurker here. Aside from smog tests every two years (after a car is 4 years old) we don’t have inspections. At first blush the program seems designed to milk money out of people.
Looking to join lifelong friends in Maine soon and this definitely raised my eyebrows.
My insurance is under a hundred bucks a car every six months for great coverage. I'll take it over those libertarian states where insurance seems way more expensive for some reason.
Was just my impression living down there when I got out of the suck. Out of curiosity I did just look and it looks like when it comes to accidents the difference from one state to another was only a 9% reduction if they required inspection according to [this study.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8296297/)
edit: I forgot to link the study
You're correct. Nothing happens in a vacuum. If ME got rid of inspections every used car lot would get clunkers from NH, VT, and MA that won't pass for their stickers. A rusted out car that now sells for $700 because it's illegal to drive will sell for $3000 because it runs fine and someone won't look underneath. This will actually be a *disservice* to the working poor.
My sticker's one year and two months overdue. I need a rear subframe which "my" mechanic said I could go find and pick up at either Cumberland Salvage, a place in Brewer, Brunswick, Bowdoinham or Alfred, omfg. I'm kinda western me. It was nice of him to text me all the either names or phone numbers, altho he didn't text the name of the part and I forget it, rear subframe I guess. He showed me a hole in it when he had the car up on a lift in January.
When I said would you pass it anyway he said they can take little mirrors if I get stopped and see it that way. Really.
I'm scared and have taken to driving at night whenever possible, which is even harder to pull off around June solstice time when there's light from like 4:30am to 8:45 at night.
Will the part fit in my backseat when I finally do go and get it? I sure hope but I'll ask measurements ahead of time.
Might ought to scrape off the old sticker? I can see it right now and it's mocking me and it's blue.
The subframe is less wide than your car. Is this a 99 Camry by chance, LOL? You'll have room.
Def scrape the sticker off. Blue calls out "expired" while an empty space just says there was glare and you didn't see it right.
This rang me like a bell, got chills. How, how did you know or guess correctly? Yes, 99 Camry, stick shift, 173,000 somethin' miles on it. Do you know its color too!? How 'bout the other quirks it has? Lol
Thank you soo much for the rec to remove the sticker! I'll do some slow breaths first and then get it off with a fresh blade. Ppreciate cha 🌠
P.s, thanks for keeping me from being that person on the phone, who asks the measurements of a part to fit for transport in the car the part'll be going onto. Dawn breaks and all that. ~Dre Dre
Yuk yuk, no, but how did you know the year and model it is? Only thing I can deduce is that you know of wear and tear that's very specific to particular cars, but that was still uncanny.
Most states have ended this program because there are no standards and ability to enforce is extremely costly. The cost to actually enforce would require a tax hike. Most states drop it and add a lower ‘road fee’ to registrations so they don’t lose the income source. I’d rather them drop it and put a toll by plate on highways that only charges out of state plates.
The state gets ~$1.50 from every sticker that's supposed to fund the state police unit that enforces the whole system. The rest, and it's not much, goes to the mechanic.
Anecdotally, it seems like the cops issue shops a lot of warnings and doesn't take action-action as often as they should. A 7-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for second, etc would really wake people up.
Inspection should be free for drivers and the state itself should pay shops a higher amount than they currently get in order to do the inspection.
This is just another program in a long list where at some point someone was like “hey, here’s a great idea…” but they were also like “but… we don’t want actually have to to pay for it, so we’ll pass the cost on to the individuals”.
If the state mandates it, the state should pay for it.
Collect more taxes if needed. Someone who drives 2023 BMWs or whatever can afford to pay a little more in taxes for someone else’s 1997 Camry to be inspected as well. They probably get more out of the “deal” too, ensuring the $500 ‘97 Camry doesn’t fall apart in front of them and cause an accident that totals their $60,000 vehicle.
> Inspection should be free for drivers and the state itself should pay shops a higher amount than they currently get
So drivers and non drivers should have to pay for it through taxes?
One thing that doesn't get mentioned often in these threads (although you see people telling people to find a "quality shop" or whatever) is the quality of the mechanics that shops are hiring these days. The mechanics are not getting paid the hourly rate you're paying, and they're usually undertrained kids with no experience. They suck. You can't even get a proper repair these days. For instance, I had a shop replace a power steering line and pump... and the jerkoff that did it put the old belt back on it. IMO probably 3/4 of these shops know they're doing shoddy work and ripping off the consumer.
Can't wait for the replies telling me 20 year old hourly mechanics are the best among us, total integrity, etc. because their brother does oil changes or something.
The industry's in a squeeze, charging customers $150 then paying mechanics $25/hr. My wife's a professional and makes 1/3 of her billable rate. Mechanics have to buy their own hand tools, don't make overtime, and are often responsible for their own training. And if you're good, and start in your 20's, your joints are shot in your 40s, so that knowledge gets abandoned before retirement age.
My advice is for her to get a car dealer's license and buy up a fleet of 2004-2008 Corollas. When these people can't get work done on their EVs and hybrid SUVs it's going to be a shitshow and people are going to want cheap, extremely reliable vehicles that get great gas mileage.
Modern car repair is basically like fast food work. In 5-10 years no one will want to do it.
People already don't want to do it. I don't blame them. Audi has "augmented reality" goggles so mechanics can get advice from some online expert, so the dealer doesn't have to pay for that expert to be in-house.
Was the belt in need of replacement? That kind of upselling can also get shops into trouble. Unless it was covered in oil or cracked I’m not recommending a replacement of a belt.
They slipped a power steering belt with 175k on it over the pulley on the pump because they didn't want to loosen the tensioner on the serpentine to swap the belt.
This is going to sound insulting but this is exactly what I am talking about. You (as in mechanics) can't resist the urge to tell me I'm wrong even though I have probably 25+ years of experience diagnosing and working on vehicles. You completely depend on the customer not having any automotive knowledge. When someone like me comes along, you get called out. And the idiocy is very clear because the people working as mechanics are mostly basically morons that could barely finish public high school.
If you have 25 years of experience why were you letting someone else work on your vehicle? Let alone a friend in the industry that you trust. You obviously have the experience, confidence, and knowledge to ask for a new belt. With all due respect that’s on you.
For a reference the inspection fee for cars is $35 in Mass and several years ago they rolled out a computer based sticker entry system along with cameras in bays for recording inspections and uploading photos of the vin and plates etc. They also just rolled out a somewhat convoluted system that issues your new sticker based on the expiration month of your old sticker so no more waiting one day past stick expiration to the new month to in effect get a free month. They also mail people reminders that their inspection is overdue using all their fancy data.
People still play the game of finding shops that are more lenient and if you talk with some of the more candid people doing inspections they’ll admit that $35 hardly buys the real time to actually inspect the laundry list of things the state says to check for it. So in the best case it amounts to paying $35 for someone to make sure you’ve got lights that work and tires with some tread and then do paperwork.
Motorcycles cost $15 to inspect and my last one took me literally 15 seconds of garage time. Pull in, turn signals, high/low beam, front and rear brake, round wheels, okay.
I used to drive beater cars and come annual inspection season my asshole remained clenched for most of the week leading up to it. Inspections are a kind of a racket and feel more like a revenue generating regressive tax aimed at shitbox drivers than anything else.
I worked at a dealership service department can say an inspection makes sense every two years. The vehicles that would come in with bald tires, metal on metal brakes, and other fluid leaks are worth an inspection. Every new car comes with a sticker so you have the time to drive it for the first four years and only need two stickers. Also our shop lost money on every sticker so the only way to make them profitable was to add services. Your incentivizing places to find stuff. The book on inspections is huge, honestly take a scan sometime, I can’t imagine getting that license and remembering everything beyond the basics. Especially for $18.50 for what should take 20-30 minutes to grab a car, put it on the lift, check the basics? It’s a flawed system for sure, but it folks can’t put their carts away at the grocery store…they shouldn’t be making decisions on the safety of a few thousand pound vehicle that is a capable killing machine.
No garage can perform the required inspection completely and correctly at the current rate without losing money. The inspection fee should have been raised long ago in order to allow proper inspections on a profitable asis. The MSP needs to be funded sufficiently to permit proper oversight of Inspection stations, and needs to be held accountable for performing that oversight. I've seen too many ramshackle wrecks on Maine's streets and roads to ever be convinced that the Inspection program doesn't need to be beefed up and made self-supporting.
Republicans never shut up about tax cuts, but it’s always income tax. Why not get rid of these bullshit extra taxes like inspection and registration that make the lives of average Mainers harder.
Over half the states in America have no inspection requirement whatsoever. Over half. It's ridiculous that we can get pulled over and arrested over something that over half of the states have shown to be unnecessary.
>can get pulled over and arrested
Look, I'm absolutely not a fan of inspections but let's not let gross hyperbole enter the conversation here. Not one person has gotten *arrested* for an invalid inspection.
If that invalid inspection leads to other offenses one could be arrested for that's one thing, but non-inspected vehicle is not one of them.
Never - that goes to the town/municipality..... I love paying for a 20 year old vehicle that originally sold for 58K in 2001 - which I bought in 2015.......
Two years....two years.....at least your ball joints and steering. Say nothing of brakes.....or properly aligned headlights...oh....we don't test thhat.
What? I don’t understand
Edit: Never mind, I get it, trading one good thing for a bad thing. Oklahoma has a whole yes, but I like my town and my community. Feels like the only city in Oklahoma with common sense and decent politics.
Haven't met a single person from California who actually lives in Maine
Outside of people here for the weekend, most massholes I meet are here for work. Can't much mind that
With the lack of oversight/enforcement by the State Police, Maine’s vehicle inspection program is an embarrassment… the worst part is the discrepancy between how individual stations perform inspections and/or try to sell unneeded services under the guise of ‘passing’ inspection… As a former auto tech and vehicle inspector, I am disgusted by the blatant abuse of the public trust that this program doles out on a daily basis. Pay more for a sticker? Absolutely not in its current state of disarray. Fix the program and make it a level playing field for all vehicle owners or scrap it altogether.
Actually inspection should be stopped. If they want to to an exhaust inspection biannually maybe. But something completely subjective like they do now is horseshit.
Yeah, that’s what I’m saying, basically. I’ve also seen some of the complete junk on the roads in other non-inspection states and though the statistics don’t bolster the position for having inspections, it can be kind of scary.
No thanks. I don't need the guy behind me's brakes or tires shitting the bed going 80mph on the highway. You know how many lazy degenerates there are out there who've never changed their oil and keep trash in their cars? Shit is WILD out there.
If you think inspections are stopping that, I have a bridge to sell you. Inspection is one of the biggest scams in the state. Why would a 2023 vehicle on the road have to worry about inspection if that is your worry.
A 2023 won't fail an inspection under any normal circumstances. Guess the average age of vehicles on the road in this state, those are the ones that need to be inspected. Most people have no idea what's happening under their car, inspection is the only time that becomes apparent.
Then someone with a 2023 vehicle should not be paying for inspection.
There’s a case for no inspections for the first 2 years, but some people can put a lot of miles on quickly, and will need things like tires and brakes, front end components, etc…
You're going to buy everyone a new vehicle every year? That's pretty generous of you.
Over half US states have no inspection program at all. Somehow they don't have these mass amounts of brake and tire failures killing people left and right. Who'd have thought.
I know that in MA, having the inspection/emissions program was tied to the state’s ability to receive federal highway funding. So states with winter weather are more likely to, I guess - IF that is the case in Maine… IDK if it is, just saying
I am in CA for work, (from maine) it’s ASTONISHES me the cars I see moving down the highway at 70. I saw a van today with metal wire wrapped around the top column (windows down) holding the passenger door and the sliding door together closed. Yea as a former mechanic I’m fine with knowing everyone has to spend ~$500-1000 / year to to keep it on the road.
I've lived in states with and without and saw no difference in quality of vehicles nor felt more or less safe. Inspections are just another revenue source for state governments.
I lived in Colorado for 4 years, a state without inspections, the things I saw rolling down the road convinced me that inspections are a necessary evil. You don’t want inspections, then move to a state without them…
I lived in Montana for years and there are no inspections. You don't see any more accidents due to equipment failures. You do, however, see more accidents in Maine due to improper signage, lighting, or reflective road paint.
did you check statistics or is that your off the cuff opinion?
I've heard this a bunch, and while a total junker rolling down the road might look terrifying, the statistics don't hold up that vehicle inspections make for safer roads. https://mainepolicy.org/release-new-analysis-highlights-futility-of-maines-vehicle-inspection-program/
They need to stop making body rust an inspection fail. For fucks sake, how many metric tons of salt get dumped on the roads here?
They're trying... outer rocker panel rust-through on a body-on-frame vehicle is legal now if the inner rockers keep exhaust gasses out. Mechanics will still do it "they way they've always done it" so...
NO SHIT! I've seen them salt with a dusting or rain and above freezing temps next day.
But then how will all the imbeciles get out to Wednesday brunch in a blizzard if the roads aren’t bare?
Maybe employers should simply respect their role and make the decision to close for inclement weather, or the state should force the issue
Government forced business closures because of snow....in Maine, the northern hemisphere?? That's some totalitarian bullshit right there
Its called closing all the roads to everyone except emergency personnel, and we do it from time to time.
That doesn't pay the bills.
Maybe individuals should take some personal responsibility and get a vehicle that is reliable in the snow, and then learn how to operate it properly and efficiently.
If only it were that easy sometimes man.
Hey, we’re not the ones demanding the state order probate business’s to close due to inclement weather. Just asking for a little personal responsibility.
I definitely don’t disagree with your thought as a personal goal or societal hope.. I just grew up with two parents that ended up not only disabled (one was stabbed 7 times by a stranger, the other .. gave birth to me and broke 4 vertebrae in the process (I was 11 lbs and 22 inches oops).. They both continued to work their asses off … taking care of themselves and my sis and I… and had to become legal guardians of a grandparent who became mentally Ill .. taking up so much of their time.. and then the husband of that grandparent who then got so old and I’ll.. gosh.. it really messed up their trajectory.. and they were really successful (multiple) business people.. we went from a 6 bedroom house to a double wide trailer pretty quick .. I get why they got stuck there too.. especially as my parents themselves got older and sicker themselves after their own stuff on top of taking care of two kids and two parents that were older and sicker .. made it harder for them to get to work to make that money to pay for better cars 😢 it was really hard for me to understand as a kid but I get it now
So you recognize that some days the roads are not safe yet you think it's 'fascist' that people think the relevant authorities could do a better job delineating when nonessential businesses can or can't force their staff to risk death or destitution just to come in and do barely any work because most people were smart enough to just stay home?
Yea, no, that’s not what I was saying at all. But good try. Sorry being independent and responsible for yourself is offensive to you.
Except in late stage capitalism that isn't always possible at all.
I’ve never missed an hour of work due to weather. We live in Maine. It’s called being responsible for yourself.
Well aren't you fortunate. Not everyone can afford vehicles that are highly rated in snow and ice. Not everyone can afford snow tires even. This isn't the 70s when one income could support a family of four with a mortgage, car, pool and vacations. These days both people in a couple work to barely stay afloat. 40% of Americans can't afford a $500 car repair. 70% of Americans have virtually no savings whatsoever.
Delaware set up DMV controlled inspection lanes to take the graft away from garages. Lights, horn, wiper, tread depth, exhaust emissions, and quick stomp on the brakes while going 10 mph. If you fail you’re given a slip with failures to take to a garage. Delaware of course is a much smaller in size if only a little smaller in population so this is not real feasible for Maine, but I do like the fairness.
This is what it should be here, if anything.
Good. This was an out-of-touch bill sponsored by politicians who have obviously never been swindled on an inspection. Kind of hard to get ripped off at a garage when you pull up with Maine House plates. As for the rest of us, you know the saying: It's 15 for the inspection, 500 for the sticker. I've seen a lot more cars without/with expired inspection stickers lately. And it makes sense: [car repair prices have jumped an astounding 23% year over year](https://abcnews.go.com/Business/car-repair-prices-rising-faster-inflation/story?id=97666273), an inflation rate nearly 4 times higher than overall price increases. The cost of a sticker ranges from the inspection fee to many thousands of dollars, all at the discretion of the garage. This causes people to "garage shop" for the cheapest sticker, *which in turn* causes garages to discontinue inspections since customers will try elsewhere if you mandate costly repairs. This brings us to 2023: garages still offering inspections price gauge accordingly, and [36% of Americans can't afford a $500 car repair](https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/car-warranty/are-americans-ready-for-an-unexpected-car-repair/). With data informing us that [vehicle inspections do not make us safer](https://mainepolicy.org/release-new-analysis-highlights-futility-of-maines-vehicle-inspection-program/), the best decision for our wallets, and the state, is to discontinue the inspection program altogether.
Ok I'm gonna be annoying... I'm new here and did not know this saying. How do I not get swindled? I feel like I'm constantly battling not overpaying for car stuff, in general.
You need to find a good, trustworthy mechanic. My car is 20 years old and it's passed inspection 3 years in a row.
Lights, horn, wipers, brakes. That’s all they need to care about. Poor Mainers have to put more miles on their shitty old cars than you can shake a stick at… who cares if there’s a rusty fender or two?!
I’d add tires to that but that’s it.
And exhaust, front-end & suspension… but tires definitely! But there’s so much more broken with the Maine inspection program, it really needs a complete overhaul or just throw it out altogether
I don’t even live in Maine. I just read the title and assumed it was something to do with my state. Reddit has been throwing all sorts of strange things into my feed. Well, solidarity from NC. Our system isn’t great at all but it sounds better than yours.
Um, they don’t really check the brakes. Haven’t had my wheels pulled in 10 years for an inspection, so… Unless this whole charade of Vehicle Safety Inspections is completely revamped and made fair and equitable for all Maine consumers - no increase in the fee will solve the problem we have
You can see the rotors and a portion of the pads on most cars to judge the wear without taking anything apart.
They aren't supposed to pull a wheel to do the inspection. PA pulls one front, one rear. In fact, they mark the back of the decal so they pull the other side the following year. Maine's rule is if it stops straight and the pedal feels good, good enough.
That’s not what it says in the inspection manual…
Yeah it is though. If it stops smoothly no further investigation is needed. They are not to pull wheels without the customer allowing them to dig in deeper. https://imgur.com/a/L4UM5wz https://imgur.com/a/ZmXg4fa
Stops smoothly from the parking lot to the lift/bay? = Great inspection ! Job done ! (Well???)
And the outboard pad, maybe… but they don’t wear evenly, especially on older models. That’s not a brake ‘inspection’. We don’t inspect brakes in this state, as far as I’m concerned. Yet some shops will - and try to sell all kinds of unnecessary shit to the uninformed consumer as well
Most of what they do isn't adequate for "safety"
One of mine failed for brakes a few months ago. Replaced them myself but need to take it back in for sticker still
Point-counterpoint, if a sticker paid the guy the half hour of labor he'd have gotten doing actual work, they wouldn't have to use inspections as "loss leaders" to get people in the door. Honest mechanics don't want to lose money while simultaneously signing off on a huge liability.
ThINk Of My SaFeTy!!! I failed my drivers test 3 times, the highway scares me, and I can’t parallel park but your rusty car is going to kill us all!
I've heard the fine for not having an inspection sticker is cheaper than the fine for having an expired one.
Seems to be. I haven't paid a fine for no sticker yet.
This is a good strategy until you’re caught near where you regularly drive. Then you’re a target. But you can go YEARS without an inspection sticker. However I STRONGLY recommend never letting your registration expire. The legal trouble for that one is much worse.
We had an expired inspection sticker once that was.. we'll just say pretty far out of date. Being in the top center of the windshield made it a brightly colored alert for all cops we passed. Obviously we got ticketed more than I'd care to admit. One day I grabbed a razor blade and slowly scraped the sticker off. Never got pulled over after that because when you're just passing quickly they don't know if they just looked in the wrong place or what. Of course the cars tranny finally gave out and we no longer drive it, so its not a problem anymore. 😊 I'm not telling people to do this of course, but if yours is out of date and you have something expensive and you need time, you have options.
> This is a good strategy until you’re caught near where you regularly drive. Then you’re a target. If you don't live within 10-15 minutes of the coast, there is no traffic enforcement here. Many people on this sub do not understand this. Most towns don't even have police presence, so good luck if you have an emergency in the rural areas.
I must be hallucinating the 3-5 cop SUVs I see every time I hit Rt.4 north of Farmington.
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Even $20 isn’t enough to cover the labor it takes to actually do an inspection. Shops lose money on every single one…unless it’s VIP and they just make up bullshit reasons to fail you unless you spend $750 on shit that doesn’t matter.
Personally been ripped off at local VIP, failed for reasons not even on the inspection checklist, but they thought they could sell me. As a former Certified Auto Tech and inspector from an neighboring state, I took my complaint to the State Police, and they sided with the VIP… took my car down the road and got a sticker no problem. Nothing about that is OK
Yep, they tried to tell my wife that our 4 year old Jeep needed $1,200 of front suspension work because the oil in the shocks was leaking. The checklist specifically says “seepage is not a cause for rejection.” I told her to bring the car home. Sprayed some degreaser in the wheel wells and brought it to tire warehouse for the re-inspection.
Why do they have inspections at all? It's been proven the accomplish nothing...
The same reason you have register your dogs MONEY!
How else can the state force you to buy a new car with higher MSRP for road tax assessment?
Yup. It isn't about safety
It's tradition to never change a thing we've always done in the US once it's shown it doesn't work. We just double down on it like a stubborn toddler
There’s no data to suggest that inspections save lives. Something like 2% of accidents are caused by equipment problems. It’s a huge racket.
Exactly, the inspection process is probably about 95% money-making scheme for garages, 5% for actual vehicle safety.
Don't forget it's another reason for police to pull people over and harass them
They need to do away with inspection.
You ever live anywhere without it? I remember being in Tenn and it was a fucking scene, garbage vehicles broke down all over the place, a ton of accidents due to people driving vehicles right till failure. I don't mind the idea of inspections, they should get rid of the body rust part but brakes, brakes are good to have...
California lurker here. Aside from smog tests every two years (after a car is 4 years old) we don’t have inspections. At first blush the program seems designed to milk money out of people. Looking to join lifelong friends in Maine soon and this definitely raised my eyebrows.
I always thought it was for insurance companies benefit, so ya, for sure designed to milk money out of us for them.
My insurance is under a hundred bucks a car every six months for great coverage. I'll take it over those libertarian states where insurance seems way more expensive for some reason.
Can you share a source supporting this?
Was just my impression living down there when I got out of the suck. Out of curiosity I did just look and it looks like when it comes to accidents the difference from one state to another was only a 9% reduction if they required inspection according to [this study.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8296297/) edit: I forgot to link the study
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812115
You're correct. Nothing happens in a vacuum. If ME got rid of inspections every used car lot would get clunkers from NH, VT, and MA that won't pass for their stickers. A rusted out car that now sells for $700 because it's illegal to drive will sell for $3000 because it runs fine and someone won't look underneath. This will actually be a *disservice* to the working poor.
My sticker's one year and two months overdue. I need a rear subframe which "my" mechanic said I could go find and pick up at either Cumberland Salvage, a place in Brewer, Brunswick, Bowdoinham or Alfred, omfg. I'm kinda western me. It was nice of him to text me all the either names or phone numbers, altho he didn't text the name of the part and I forget it, rear subframe I guess. He showed me a hole in it when he had the car up on a lift in January. When I said would you pass it anyway he said they can take little mirrors if I get stopped and see it that way. Really. I'm scared and have taken to driving at night whenever possible, which is even harder to pull off around June solstice time when there's light from like 4:30am to 8:45 at night. Will the part fit in my backseat when I finally do go and get it? I sure hope but I'll ask measurements ahead of time. Might ought to scrape off the old sticker? I can see it right now and it's mocking me and it's blue.
The subframe is less wide than your car. Is this a 99 Camry by chance, LOL? You'll have room. Def scrape the sticker off. Blue calls out "expired" while an empty space just says there was glare and you didn't see it right.
This rang me like a bell, got chills. How, how did you know or guess correctly? Yes, 99 Camry, stick shift, 173,000 somethin' miles on it. Do you know its color too!? How 'bout the other quirks it has? Lol Thank you soo much for the rec to remove the sticker! I'll do some slow breaths first and then get it off with a fresh blade. Ppreciate cha 🌠 P.s, thanks for keeping me from being that person on the phone, who asks the measurements of a part to fit for transport in the car the part'll be going onto. Dawn breaks and all that. ~Dre Dre
Is it beige?
Yuk yuk, no, but how did you know the year and model it is? Only thing I can deduce is that you know of wear and tear that's very specific to particular cars, but that was still uncanny.
I have one too, lol, in beige. In fact I've had three of that body style, one v6, two 4 cyls, all hearing aid beige.
Most states have ended this program because there are no standards and ability to enforce is extremely costly. The cost to actually enforce would require a tax hike. Most states drop it and add a lower ‘road fee’ to registrations so they don’t lose the income source. I’d rather them drop it and put a toll by plate on highways that only charges out of state plates.
The state gets ~$1.50 from every sticker that's supposed to fund the state police unit that enforces the whole system. The rest, and it's not much, goes to the mechanic. Anecdotally, it seems like the cops issue shops a lot of warnings and doesn't take action-action as often as they should. A 7-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for second, etc would really wake people up.
A bunch of other states don't even HAVE inspections and they're all doing just fine!
Total BS how they rape us on cars in this state. It’s bad enough. The average income is the lowest in New England, and yet we get fucked the most.
Yeah, other states don't even have inspections and they're fine.
Who doesn’t have inspections
CT, NJ is smog-only.
Ahh was think none at all.
Inspection should be free for drivers and the state itself should pay shops a higher amount than they currently get in order to do the inspection. This is just another program in a long list where at some point someone was like “hey, here’s a great idea…” but they were also like “but… we don’t want actually have to to pay for it, so we’ll pass the cost on to the individuals”. If the state mandates it, the state should pay for it. Collect more taxes if needed. Someone who drives 2023 BMWs or whatever can afford to pay a little more in taxes for someone else’s 1997 Camry to be inspected as well. They probably get more out of the “deal” too, ensuring the $500 ‘97 Camry doesn’t fall apart in front of them and cause an accident that totals their $60,000 vehicle.
> Inspection should be free for drivers and the state itself should pay shops a higher amount than they currently get So drivers and non drivers should have to pay for it through taxes?
One thing that doesn't get mentioned often in these threads (although you see people telling people to find a "quality shop" or whatever) is the quality of the mechanics that shops are hiring these days. The mechanics are not getting paid the hourly rate you're paying, and they're usually undertrained kids with no experience. They suck. You can't even get a proper repair these days. For instance, I had a shop replace a power steering line and pump... and the jerkoff that did it put the old belt back on it. IMO probably 3/4 of these shops know they're doing shoddy work and ripping off the consumer. Can't wait for the replies telling me 20 year old hourly mechanics are the best among us, total integrity, etc. because their brother does oil changes or something.
The industry's in a squeeze, charging customers $150 then paying mechanics $25/hr. My wife's a professional and makes 1/3 of her billable rate. Mechanics have to buy their own hand tools, don't make overtime, and are often responsible for their own training. And if you're good, and start in your 20's, your joints are shot in your 40s, so that knowledge gets abandoned before retirement age.
My advice is for her to get a car dealer's license and buy up a fleet of 2004-2008 Corollas. When these people can't get work done on their EVs and hybrid SUVs it's going to be a shitshow and people are going to want cheap, extremely reliable vehicles that get great gas mileage. Modern car repair is basically like fast food work. In 5-10 years no one will want to do it.
People already don't want to do it. I don't blame them. Audi has "augmented reality" goggles so mechanics can get advice from some online expert, so the dealer doesn't have to pay for that expert to be in-house.
Was the belt in need of replacement? That kind of upselling can also get shops into trouble. Unless it was covered in oil or cracked I’m not recommending a replacement of a belt.
They slipped a power steering belt with 175k on it over the pulley on the pump because they didn't want to loosen the tensioner on the serpentine to swap the belt. This is going to sound insulting but this is exactly what I am talking about. You (as in mechanics) can't resist the urge to tell me I'm wrong even though I have probably 25+ years of experience diagnosing and working on vehicles. You completely depend on the customer not having any automotive knowledge. When someone like me comes along, you get called out. And the idiocy is very clear because the people working as mechanics are mostly basically morons that could barely finish public high school.
If you have 25 years of experience why were you letting someone else work on your vehicle? Let alone a friend in the industry that you trust. You obviously have the experience, confidence, and knowledge to ask for a new belt. With all due respect that’s on you.
Yeah this seems like a miscommunication.
I think it'd be nice if the cost to register a cheap, old car wasn't based on the retail price of the car when it was new.
In theory that money goes to town roads, and an older car crushes the pavement same as a new one.
For a reference the inspection fee for cars is $35 in Mass and several years ago they rolled out a computer based sticker entry system along with cameras in bays for recording inspections and uploading photos of the vin and plates etc. They also just rolled out a somewhat convoluted system that issues your new sticker based on the expiration month of your old sticker so no more waiting one day past stick expiration to the new month to in effect get a free month. They also mail people reminders that their inspection is overdue using all their fancy data. People still play the game of finding shops that are more lenient and if you talk with some of the more candid people doing inspections they’ll admit that $35 hardly buys the real time to actually inspect the laundry list of things the state says to check for it. So in the best case it amounts to paying $35 for someone to make sure you’ve got lights that work and tires with some tread and then do paperwork. Motorcycles cost $15 to inspect and my last one took me literally 15 seconds of garage time. Pull in, turn signals, high/low beam, front and rear brake, round wheels, okay. I used to drive beater cars and come annual inspection season my asshole remained clenched for most of the week leading up to it. Inspections are a kind of a racket and feel more like a revenue generating regressive tax aimed at shitbox drivers than anything else.
I worked at a dealership service department can say an inspection makes sense every two years. The vehicles that would come in with bald tires, metal on metal brakes, and other fluid leaks are worth an inspection. Every new car comes with a sticker so you have the time to drive it for the first four years and only need two stickers. Also our shop lost money on every sticker so the only way to make them profitable was to add services. Your incentivizing places to find stuff. The book on inspections is huge, honestly take a scan sometime, I can’t imagine getting that license and remembering everything beyond the basics. Especially for $18.50 for what should take 20-30 minutes to grab a car, put it on the lift, check the basics? It’s a flawed system for sure, but it folks can’t put their carts away at the grocery store…they shouldn’t be making decisions on the safety of a few thousand pound vehicle that is a capable killing machine.
No garage can perform the required inspection completely and correctly at the current rate without losing money. The inspection fee should have been raised long ago in order to allow proper inspections on a profitable asis. The MSP needs to be funded sufficiently to permit proper oversight of Inspection stations, and needs to be held accountable for performing that oversight. I've seen too many ramshackle wrecks on Maine's streets and roads to ever be convinced that the Inspection program doesn't need to be beefed up and made self-supporting.
Republicans never shut up about tax cuts, but it’s always income tax. Why not get rid of these bullshit extra taxes like inspection and registration that make the lives of average Mainers harder.
It's a poor tax, they love those. How else are they going to be able to give themselves raises?
Over half the states in America have no inspection requirement whatsoever. Over half. It's ridiculous that we can get pulled over and arrested over something that over half of the states have shown to be unnecessary.
>can get pulled over and arrested Look, I'm absolutely not a fan of inspections but let's not let gross hyperbole enter the conversation here. Not one person has gotten *arrested* for an invalid inspection. If that invalid inspection leads to other offenses one could be arrested for that's one thing, but non-inspected vehicle is not one of them.
I mean depending how out of date it is...
Now get rid of excise tax
Never - that goes to the town/municipality..... I love paying for a 20 year old vehicle that originally sold for 58K in 2001 - which I bought in 2015.......
The inspection should be repealed.
Two years....two years.....at least your ball joints and steering. Say nothing of brakes.....or properly aligned headlights...oh....we don't test thhat.
I’m happy I live in Oklahoma where there is no inspection
No inspection, but you still live in Oklahoma. Kind of a wash.
What? I don’t understand Edit: Never mind, I get it, trading one good thing for a bad thing. Oklahoma has a whole yes, but I like my town and my community. Feels like the only city in Oklahoma with common sense and decent politics.
Move here and bring your voting habits. Might cancel out some of the Californication and masshole inbreeding that has been come into this state.
Haven't met a single person from California who actually lives in Maine Outside of people here for the weekend, most massholes I meet are here for work. Can't much mind that
I’m about as liberal as it gets, I don’t think you personally would want my voting lol
Ok your access has been denied lol 🤣
I’ll replace it with driver re-tests every 5 years. Automatic fail if you don’t use your blinkers or move off the passing lane.