I cannot speak for other governments, other cities, etc. I know,
however, that here in Arizona, there are inspection laws, and that
there is available financial assistance to get a vehicle in
compliance with the laws. It may be that , yes, it is difficult to
get a car to pass the emissions but it is also possible. Many people
seek a waiver, and thus are allowed to drive an obnoxiously
over-emitting vehicle. So, there are always legal ways to get a
vehicle on the road, here in Arizona. We do not have a safety
inspection, however, as there seems to be no one in the government
that has figured out a way to take any graft on it yet. But give it
time..

I have really enjoyed the helpful individuals on this list and find
it worthwhile. I was honestly shocked by the seeming hostility that
this thread has caused. I think that if people wish to be hostile,
they should take it off-list, work out their differences, etc. I am
not flaming anyone here, rather, I am encouraging healthy
communication - or so I hope.

Now, maybe we should discuss what it is like in various places -
these inspections, and such?

  For myself, when I lived in Missouri, my truck failed an inspection,
because the horn would not work. I had to turn the key to "on" - as
if it were running. Then it passed. The other failure was that it had
a dead headlight. Replaced it and the muffler too - then it passed
the safety inspection. There was no emissions testing there. I found
it odd that they were so worried about me needing to honk, yet not
worried that I was going to kill a farmer's crop with the carbon
monoxide and such that the old truck was spewing! Oh well.. so it
goes..

At 2:48 PM -0400 8/25/02, SpaceKommander wrote:
>>I hope you end up behind bars for a long long time.
>
>YOU have never gone over the speed limit? Speeding is illegal. Ever
>have a garage sale? Did you check to see if you need to get a permit
>from the town? Did you report the profits on your 1040? Ever get a
>monetary gift from your parents? I'm sure you followed the law and
>reported that on your 1040 also, right? - by law you have to.
>Don't be so sanctimonious. I mentioned I kept the vehicles insured
>so in the event of an accident that was my fault (almost 25 years of
>driving with none yet) the other person would be covered. There was
>no such thing as emission inspection when I started driving. I'm
>angry that the laws are so restrictive regarding emission/inspection
>that many people now drive an unregistered (and because of that an
>un-insured thanks to the morons in government reporting it to the
>insurance companies) vehicle. I was hit by somebody with an
>uninsured vehicle - I had to shell out a $1000 deductible because
>the other driver was un-insured thanks to failing emissions and
>having the registration canceled and then reported to insurance
>company - who then canceled their policy. They smashed up the front
>of my new Cadillac DeVille. I'm just saying that if you get a .09
>reading on some emissions thing when it should be .08 and don't have
>the money to spend a fortune on your car - what's the big deal? All
>the driving you do from repair shop to repair shop to reduce the
>level from .09 to .08 probably causes more pollution . . . . So long
>as you can drive a inusred safe car that's all that matters to me.
>
>The idiots in MA would not let me register my 80 Dodge Aspen because
>I had souped up the engine and it did not have the stock "parts."
>They even physically tried to prevent me from driving my car out of
>their shop (they failed) because I did not have a catalytic
>converter (safety fail on inspection).
>It passed emissions with flying colours but they failed it because
>of "modified components" and a safety failure because it did not
>have a catalytic converter. So, I drove it un-registered but insured
>for two years. If you can get insurance on the car and drive it
>un-registered or un-inspected for emissions that's OK by me. What
>harm to the world does that do? Oooooh I'm not following the law . .
>. bad bad boy. We had some idiot on the list mention how he was
>going to get a rabbit or something like that and then "wreck it" so
>he could collect insurance and then buy it back to get the motor. Or
>people describing insurance fraud (I've seen a few of these
>described on list). This hurts everybody. There's a big difference
>between driving an unregistered (but insured) car and insurance
>fraud. Think for a change . . . what causes what?
>

--
Happy motoring!

Timothy in Phoenix,
84 Vanagon "Sparkii"
69 Bus "Buster"