Provincial motor vehicle inspections

[Nuclearjack]

Below is an article in the paper about Nova Scotia safety inspection system. They changed the law here and every car needs to be inspected once a year.


http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/845066.html

It’s the MVI lottery
One old car, five inspections and five wrenchingly different repair estimates
By JEFFREY SIMPSON Staff Reporter | 5:24 PM

AT CANADIAN tire on Quinpool Road in Halifax, a 1997 Plymouth Breeze needed no repairs to obtain a new safety inspection certificate, and the total bill for getting the car out of the shop was $30.21.

At Steele Chrysler on Robie Street, the estimated cost for renewing the same car’s motor vehicle inspection sticker was $973.32, and the required repairs included new brake lines and rear tires.

Three other Halifax-area garages also provided different advice, at various prices, to pass the same vehicle.
Welcome to the province’s new inspection system for motor vehicles, which is supposed to put safer cars on the road. It’s also designed to cut down on fraudulent and deficient safety checks, making service stations more accountable for their work.
And the new mandatory annual inspections cost more — $25 compared with $15.50 under the old system.
Jamie Muir, the provincial minister responsible for MVIs, said the system is improved, yet still not "perfect."


But mechanics, garage owners and service station managers told The Chronicle Herald that a lot of subjective judgments go into rating cars for safety. They also believe there are some shady practices among mechanics in the industry."A lot of them are ripping the public off," said Steve Lacey, the operator of Ochterloney Service Centre in Dartmouth.
Some mechanics use the safety inspection as a way to create business for themselves because they often get paid per job rather than by an hourly rate, he said.
"They’re looking for stuff that’s wrong with vehicles . . . compared with doing what they’re supposed to be doing for safety."
Mr. Lacey’s garage performed the final inspection on the Breeze, charging $289.27 to pass the car after replacing a scored brake drum, two rear tires and a light bulb over the licence plate.
The Breeze wouldn’t have passed the inspection without his repairs, but it didn’t require the further work noted by other mechanics, he said.
"I don’t gouge anybody, man," he said. "That car wasn’t in that bad shape — not really."

Mechanics at Canadian Tire certainly agreed with that assessment. The Breeze breezed through its safety inspection there — it was the only garage out of five to say the car required no repairs.
The garage slapped an inspection sticker on the window, charging $30.21 for the check and shop supplies.
Robert Burke, the service manager, said he doubted his mechanics missed anything.
"They only get paid if they find the work to make it off," he said.
His guys should have noticed if a licence plate light bulb was burned out, he said. But he couldn’t explain how they passed a car that other mechanics didn’t.
"I don’t know that there is an explanation," he said. "It’s got to be done by the book, but there’s always room for subjectivity in that."

At the Petro-Canada Certigard station farther along Quinpool Road, it was a different story altogether.
Mechanics there not only failed the car after finding several deficiencies that would cost $738.72 to fix, they also suggested over $1,000 worth of repairs in addition to those needed to pass the provincial inspection.
"There are a lot of things that are judgment calls and unfortunately you are going to get different opinions from people," manager Michael Kennedy said. "I wish it wasn’t true. But it is, unfortunately."
His mechanics found the car needed a front sway bar link kit, its horn wasn’t working, the rear tires were too worn, the left rear wheel cylinder was seized and the right rear brake drum was scored.
Those are repairs that leave little room for different interpretations, he said.
"Everything I have down there listed on yours is pretty straightforward," he said. "I could see some people might let the scored brake drum pass. It shouldn’t."
Mr. Kennedy recommended replacing the brake drums and wheel cylinders on both sides, despite only one of each being deficient. It’s more cost-efficient to do them at the same time and they generally wear out close to the same time, he said.
"Doing both is the proper way, the normal way of doing things," he said.

But mechanics wouldn’t even have noticed that problem prior to the legislated MVI changes the province introduced in February because previously they didn’t have to take the wheels off to check the brakes, Mr. Kennedy said.
The new regulations have resulted in a more thorough going-over that, in this case, cost the car’s owner a bit more to pass, he said.
The inspection makes more sense now in ensuring that cars are safer but service stations barely cover their costs for the 45 minutes or so it takes, Mr. Kennedy said. "It’s kind of like a loss leader," he said. "It does bring in business "We couldn’t function without it."
Some mechanics prey on the automotive ignorance of their customers by failing a car for things that are actually fine, he said.
"There’s that one to five per cent who are basically in there for the quick buck," he said. "They’re taking advantage of people in whatever way, shape or form it might be."
Mr. Kennedy also believes mechanics in rural parts of the province are more lax in performing the government inspections because nobody wants to be known as the bad guy in a small community.
"The Motor Vehicle Act is a law and every station should be doing this exactly the same way," he said. "But you don’t see that."
Whoever looked at the Breeze next should have noticed the car needed a new brake drum, he said. Canadian Tire didn’t.
But the Speedy service station on Robie Street picked up on it.
"Obviously, I don’t think they were doing their job right if we failed stuff that they didn’t," Speedy owner George Jean said.
"If I think that they were doing their job right and had inspected your vehicle properly, then that means I was trying to sell you something you didn’t need."
Like the Ochterloney Service Centre and the Petro-Canada station, Mr. Jean’s mechanics failed the car for the brake drum and two rear tires, providing an estimate of $319.41 to make it legally roadworthy.
"We are doing an MVI within the guidelines that are set out for us to the best of our abilities," he said. "Things are open to interpretation; there are circumstances where you can’t possibly identify things that potentially could fail on a vehicle."
Brake lines, or tubing, are one such grey area, Mr. Jean said. They’re often hidden behind plastic guards, so it’s difficult to determine if they’re in poor shape. He tells his staff to fail a car if they can flake substantial rust off them.
But that still leaves a degree of judgment.
"Everything has scale rust on it in Nova Scotia," Mr. Jean said.
At Steele Chrysler, the brake tubing, which is expensive to replace due to labour costs, failed to pass muster. Same goes for the rear tires.
Steele’s estimated cost for making the car roadworthy was the highest — $973.32.
Rob Murray, Steele’s service manager, said some garages try to compensate for the low inspection fee by finding things wrong with a car.
"There are those who do use it as a tool to try to up-sell, based on the consumer taking their word for it and whatnot," he said.
"There’s a lot of people that don’t like the idea that you have to spend this time hauling brakes and everything apart."
But Mr. Murray is not aware of that happening at his shop.
"We don’t tolerate any kind of gouging or thievery," he said. "I haven’t run across anybody in my shop who fits that category. I’m not going to say it hasn’t been done because I really don’t know.
"We hope that all of our technicians are good quality individuals who are out there working for the customers’ best interest."
Mr. Murray said opinions can vary among mechanics but his technician probably didn’t want to tell someone their brake lines were fine only to have them fail shortly afterward.
"You’re trying to be as safe as you can with the customer," he said. "If he really felt that the brake lines should have been replaced, well, in that case, he wasn’t interested in signing off on it until they were replaced."
Katherine Power of the Ontario consumer information group Car Care Canada said the provinces with mandatory safety inspections tend to have vehicles in safer shape on their roads.
"They’re definitely a good idea," she said of the inspections. "Why you’re getting different answers as to what needs fixing, that I’m not sure."
Varying prices for the same repairs are normal in any free-market business environment, she said. Some garages will use more expensive car parts from the manufacturer while others will use cheaper ones made by a different company or even used components.
And "dealers tend to charge more for their labour rate than independents," Ms. Power said.
"Their costs may be different. Maybe because they can get away with it because sometimes consumers assume that when you go to the dealer you’ve got the big fancy showroom, you pay a higher price for the flat-screen TV in the waiting room and what have you."
But it’s not a good idea to shop for repairs based only on the cost, Ms. Power said.

"Like anything else, you hire a tradesperson and they say, ‘Oh, I can do it for $5,000 less than the other guy,’ " she said. "Is the quality of this work going to be $5,000 less, too, and are you going to be happy with the end product?
"You don’t want to get the lowest common denominator because then you may be compromising the safety of your vehicle or the length of how long that part’s going to last."
( jsimpson@herald.ca)

[Arch Stanton]

That's f'd up. Down here, I don't think you can even get your car fixed at the place that did the inspection. They make you take it elsewhere to prevent this kind of thing.

[gn300]

Majpr difference in inspections is they have to pull all 4 wheels and check the brakes.

but it is still based on specs and opinion 2/32 in min pad thickness.

But that is worn out anyway.

All brakelines in n.s. are rusty but its only if they are bad or swollen,ready to burst(opinion).

My sister's car was taken off the road for the following


Muffler
hole in body

all brake lines

rear wheel cyls,2 drums,(no shoes?)

one rear spring

front pads one rotor(?)

1992 5th ave 180,000 kms air still blows cold!

Can't offord to put it on the road again!(fixed income)

Most places will not let you leave with the car untill repaired couse new rules make them liable if the car leaves "unsafe"

Rumer has it they plan to change so there is a Provincially run inspection station and if it doesn't pass it's towed to your repair shop and towed back!

It stems from sone tree hugging, green lovin wannebe who thinks, and wants Nova Scotia to adopt california style emmissions etc. to make N.S. a leader in greenhouse gas emission reduction

see my post on idiling your car!

[Nuclearjack]

hehe its sad to note that Steele Chrysler is the most expense of the 5 places to go to.

I tried to clean up the post to make it more readable but your better off clicking the link. Its to the Halifax Chronicle herald news paper.