I hate to admit it, but there was a time I was against motor vehicle inspections. I always thought they were a waste of energy. For me, anyway; they got in my way. The fact that they existed forced me to do something I didn’t want to do – an extra and irritating chore. And honestly, they still do get in my way, but that’s because of the simple fact that I know how to perform my own vehicle maintenance and repairs.
Over the past few months, I’ve listened to two stories told to me by two different gentlemen. Both stories concluded basically the same thing – that neither of the cars they had attempted to pass inspection, passed. One gentleman indicated that the auto mechanic wanted to charge him $3000 for the necessary repairs to “get a sticker” and the other gentleman was told it would cost approximately $900. Now, from personal experience, I know that each of these repairs would have probably cost around, in total, $400 and $150 in parts respectively if the owners had done the work themselves, but obviously not everyone has the knowhow or wherewithal to get things like this done.
I’ve been working on my own cars since I owned my very first one at 16 years old. That was a 1981 WV Rabbit. After that, I owned a Buick Regal, Chevy Camaro, Chevy pickup truck, Honda Prelude, Honda Accord, and many others. Nearly every one of my cars and trucks needed work. I can’t even imagine how much I would have spent if someone else did that work and then charged me for both the (inflated cost of) parts and labor. Most of the reason I messed with my cars so much was for the fun of it – I enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together. For most people, however, they don’t want to go near such things. Needless to say, when one of my vehicles required a repair, I knew it needed it before the car even knew it needed it and I did whatever required doing myself. So when it came time for an inspection sticker, I was wasting part of my day by having someone else look at what I was driving. I had the skills of a mechanic, so all I really sought was the sticker. And that’s why I was so against the entire ordeal.
Remember the two gentlemen I mentioned above? Neither of them know how to work on cars. Neither of them would have any idea their brake pads needed replacing and neither of them would realize the undercarriage of their truck was rusted out so badly that they’d soon be sliding down the road, butt to blacktop, rather than sitting comfortably in their driver’s seat. It’s because of reasons such as these that I came to conclude that, yes, the general public needs to have an eye kept on them and one way to do that is through yearly motor vehicle inspections. So as much as it pains me to say, since I’m part of the general public, I must have my own car and truck inspected too.
If you live in Maine and if you know nothing about cars or trucks, it’s important to find a qualified mechanic who will lift your vehicle inside a garage, pull off the wheels, and meticulously filter through each and every aspect of what might need filtering through – tires, brakes, brake lines, belts, filters, undercarriage, ball joints, struts – everything. If you’ve got a good guy who will do this for you, you’re in luck. And if he recommends that something needs a repairing or replacing, get whatever that is done. But if you’ve been working on your vehicles nearly your entire life and are careful about maintenance, go ahead and find another guy. One who is more efficient with his inspections. After all, having your car lifted and gone through with a fine tooth comb takes forever and many of us simply don’t want to wait for things like that.
This year’s been a bit sketchy in regards to auto repairs and safety inspections. I had to do some work to get things up to snuff. When I went to get my truck inspected in September, I discovered that from having it sit unused for so long, the brake calipers had partially seized up. That required me to purchase and replace all four calipers as well as pads. But by doing the work myself, I saved a ton of money. What would have cost in the thousands, cost in the low to mid hundreds.
At the same time as this, my car was giving me trouble. Due to corrosion, I was forced to replace the transmission pan. While I had the pan off, I changed the filter, gasket, bolts, and fluid. The car needed a filter and fluid change anyway, so that dampened the blow of the somewhat overwhelming project. But again, I would have spent thousands if I had a mechanic do the work. By doing it myself, I spent about $250 and learned a lot during the process.
The car also needed a driver’s side taillight because the blinker wasn’t functioning properly. The fix was simple, but if I hadn’t shopped around or if I had a professional make the repair, I could have paid far too much for the part. For the car I drive, when the blinker goes bad, the entire light assembly needs changing. A mechanic would have charged me hundreds for the part. How much did I pay through Ebay? $57.
I often say that people don’t not know how to do something, but rather, they simply don’t do that something. They don’t try. Do you think I somehow magically knew how to change the transmission pan or how to properly add the fluid? I didn’t. I did the necessary research and then performed the work. I actually did it. That’s really all it takes sometimes – to do the work.
Anyway, that’s my spiel on vehicle inspections and auto mechanics. Love them or not, if you’ve got a car, they’re a part of life.
