Do you have an annual, mandatory, car/vehicle inspection in your country/state?

[Count Arthur]

Basically you can drive a car here until it's either a) pulled over and defected or b) it breaks down.

Only time you'll get emissions type defects are when the car is belching so much smoke the cars behind cannot see.

If you go to sell it, it needs a 'roadworthy' certificate, but they are pretty easy to get 'organized'* if you know what I mean...

*standard 'fee' is a carton of beer in most cases.

Florida - no.

Florida some basic mechanical testing many years ago, and emissions testing not as many years ago, but both programs have since been cancelled.

It seems things have got pretty lax in the colonies.

 

[thewas]

In germany everythink gets controlled and you can find a law for it
So sure you have to go every two year to inspection. And they look into details. We even exported this system to turkey.

When the car is new the first check is after 3 years and for trucks, taxis and rental cars the intervals are shorter, mostly 1 year.

Most European countries have similar regulations:

	FIRST TEST	SECOND	THIRD	YEARLY IF
BELGIUM	after 4 years	1
DENMARK	after 4 years	2	2
GERMANY	after 3 years	2	2
FINLAND	after 3 years	2	1
FRANCE	after 4 years	2	2
GREECE	after 4 years	2	2
GREAT BRITAIN	after 3 years	1	1
ITALY	after 4 years	2	2
IRELAND	after 4 years	2	2	older than ten years
LITHUANIA	after 3 years	2	2
LUXEMBOURG	after 3.5 years	1	1
MALTA	after 4 years	2	2
NETHERLANDS	after 3 years	1	1
AUSTRIA	after 3 years	2	1
POLAND	after 3 years	2	1
ROMANIA	after 2 years	2	2
SWEDEN	after 4 years	2	2
SWITZERLAND	after 4 years	3	2
SLOVENIA	after 3 years	2	2	older than nine years
SPAIN	after 4 years	2	2	older than ten years
CZECH REPUBLIC	after 4 years	2	2

Translated from https://www.tz.de/auto/europaeische-laender-ihre-tuev-untersuchung-regeln-zr-2390009.html

 

[tomtoo]

When the car is new the first check is after 3 years and for trucks, taxis and rental cars the intervals are shorter, mostly 1 year.
Most European countries have similar regulations, https://www.tz.de/auto/europaeische-laender-ihre-tuev-untersuchung-regeln-zr-239000

I was to lazy to go into details.

 

[RayDunzl]

It seems things have got pretty lax in the colonies.

Florida was not subject to British Colonial rule.

 

[NiagaraPete]

We were required to do an “E test” every 2 years but that’s now been canceled.
Trucks and buses are now being checked.

 

[MCH]

Florida was not subject to British Colonial rule.

View attachment 217718

Well we do have technical checks in Spain

 

[Chrise36]

In germany everythink gets controlled and you can find a law for it
So sure you have to go every two year to inspection. And they look into details. We even exported this system to turkey.

I heard in Germany the police can fine you if the car has worn out tires even when the car parked is that right?

 

[raindance]

In North Carolina we have to have an annual inspection and, if that is successful, you can then pay your car tax and licensing fee to allow you to continue driving the car... Although, it is not unusual to see cars with tags that have been expired for 3 or 4 years, so I don't think there is much enforcement. I typically follow the rules, but keep thinking I could save a lot of money by not doing so .

I do wonder what happens when a car is sold if the taxes are in arrears, do they have to be paid or not? With motorcycles, I know there is no requirement to catch up with taxes or inspections if you sell to a dealer. So it is like having a law with no teeth.

 

[sergeauckland]

I heard in Germany the police can fine you if the car has worn out tires even when the car parked is that right?

I'm pretty sure they can do that in the UK unless the car is parked on private land. If it's on a public road, it has to be fully roadworthy, taxed and insured, with a valid MOT test.

If you take a car off the road for any length of time, it should have a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) which exempts the vehicle from needing tax, insurance and MOT for as long as it's kept on private land.

Once a car is ready to be returned to use, it is allowed to be driven directly to a MOT testing station for its MOT, and then it can be taxed for use on public roads. Insurance must be effective during the drive to the testing station.

S.

 

[Mart68]

Florida was not subject to British Colonial rule.

View attachment 217718

Actually it was but only for 20 years. The British got it in the Treaty Of Paris, at the end of the Seven Years War. After the American Revolution the Spanish took it back.

 

[thewas]

I'm pretty sure they can do that in the UK unless the car is parked on private land. If it's on a public road, it has to be fully roadworthy, taxed and insured, with a valid MOT test.

Exactly, same in Germany and probably also many other EU countries.

 

[tomtoo]

I heard in Germany the police can fine you if the car has worn out tires even when the car parked is that right?

Yes, as long it is not parked in private space.
Public space is somehow treaded like you drive the car.

 

[Count Arthur]

Florida was not subject to British Colonial rule.

View attachment 217718

* Full disclaimer, my tongue in cheek remarks are not designed to stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever and I make no claims as to their historical, scientific, geographical accuracy or any accuracy at all.

 

[Chrise36]

Exactly, same in Germany and probably also many other EU countries.

This is true but how can the police decide if the tires are good or not on a parked car is a bit weird. If i remember correctly they have to measure the remaining "gummi" or something like that.

 

[RayDunzl]

* Full disclaimer, my tongue in cheek remarks are not designed to stand up to any scrutiny whatsoever and I make no claims as to their historical, scientific, geographical accuracy or any accuracy at all.

No problem, you and others made me look, so I learned something new to me and all but useless otherwise, just the sort of thing I like to waste my time upon...

 

[sergeauckland]

This is true but how can the police decide if the tires are good or not on a parked car is a bit weird. If i remember correctly they have to measure the remaining "gummi" or something like that.

If there's a bald patch, then the whole tyre is scrapped. In the UK, the minimum legal tread depth is 1.6mm across the centre three quarters of the tyre footprint. Likewise, European standards require tyres to be manufactured with a visual indicator allowing drivers to know when the tread has worn down to 1.6mm or less.

It's measured at two or three points round the tyre, so quite doable with a parked car if the Police can be bothered.

I normally change my tyres at no less than 2mm, using a tread depth gauge, and I always change both tyres on an axle even if the other one is worn less. My car uses run-flats and doesn't have provision for a spare wheel so I'm sensitive to keeping my tyres in good condition. I generally get over 40,000 miles to a tyre, so not too onerous.

S.

 

[MCH]

In Germany policemen have a extraordinary sharp sight to detect where the bloody sticker is pointing to. Once i was stopped in the Autobahn (!!) because my inspection was past due. Once stopped, when they checked closely, one of the Polizist told the other "ha! see? I told you".

That day was when i learned, the hard way, that i needed to do the inspection, and how to read the sticker.
I also learned that patrolling the motorway must be the most boring job ever...


The sticker is tiny!

 

[tomtoo]

In Germany policemen have a extraordinary sharp sight to detect where the bloody sticker is pointing to. Once i was stopped in the Autobahn (!!) because my inspection was past due. Once stopped, when they checked closely, one of the Polizist told the other "ha! see? I told you".

That day was when i learned, the hard way, that i needed to do the inspection, and how to read the sticker.
I also learned that patrolling the motorway must be the most boring job ever...

View attachment 217730
The sticker is tiny!

Hehe, the eye of the law is sharp. Ok at least sometimes.

 

[rdenney]

I don’t recall exact statistics—US states vary widely in their requirements from no inspections to annual safety and emissions testing.

Virginia has been reported. The safety inspection provides a checklist of about 30 items. If the vehicle has sufficient support for OBDII, the tailpipe emissions test can be replaced by consulting the vehicle’s computer. And now northern Virginia (at least) has monitoring stations that will record your vehicle automatically, making the emissions inspection automatic.

The safety inspection primarily checks tire tread depth, parking brakes, service brakes, lights, steering, interior safety equipment, and exhaust system. I have on occasion been advised on mechanical issues not part of the inspection—“there’s a big chunk missing from your CV joint boot, Rick”—and have failed the test in most of the above categories at one time it another. That’s the price of driving cars to extinction as I often do. (Three of the vehicles in Fleet Denney have earned antique vehicle plates, but those are kept and used consistently with the usage restrictions placed on such vehicles.)

When I lived in Texas, safety inspections included (in big cities) emissions testing and were conducted annually. As far as I know they still are.

Judging by what I see on the roads, there is a lot of corruption in the system, but the penalties for such are quite high in Virginia, for both the vehicle owner and the service facility licensed to conduct the inspection. Safety inspections in the US are usually conducted by private certified inspection stations; emissions less so.

I believe only California certifies aftermarket equipment for emissions (California Air Resources Board—CARB) and then requires modifications to use only certified products.

Rick “vehicles are generally bound by the laws in effect when new” Denney

 

[rdenney]

If there's a bald patch, then the whole tyre is scrapped. In the UK, the minimum legal tread depth is 1.6mm across the centre three quarters of the tyre footprint. Likewise, European standards require tyres to be manufactured with a visual indicator allowing drivers to know when the tread has worn down to 1.6mm or less.

It's measured at two or three points round the tyre, so quite doable with a parked car if the Police can be bothered.

I normally change my tyres at no less than 2mm, using a tread depth gauge, and I always change both tyres on an axle even if the other one is worn less. My car uses run-flats and doesn't have provision for a spare wheel so I'm sensitive to keeping my tyres in good condition. I generally get over 40,000 miles to a tyre, so not too onerous.

S.

Tires in the US also have tread wear indicators molded into the tread pattern.

Rick “but the laws for tread depth might not be exactly the same—3/32” is common” Denney