I see the Virginia inspection as being a necessary evil and as Big  Brother's
attempt to protect us from ourselves. I work in a dealership and see
rejections constantly that customer's don't understand or agree with. Our techs  are
simply following the letter of the law so they do not loose their license.
You must have good credit and personal and professional references that suit the
 Va. State Police as well as a minimum number of years of automotive repair
experience. These techs are constantly required to test out on the  safety
inspection regulations and are spot checked on their inspections as  well as the
facilities record keeping and sticker counts. True, a lot of  repair work is
generated through the inspection process but the customer can  have that done
wherever they wish. Your results were fairly typical as some  inspection
surprises are quite expensive repairs (SRS control units, body frame  rust, engine
mounts, leaking power steering pumps.etc.) What you have with your  brakes for
instance means that you had less than 2mm of pad/shoe material  remaining.
I've seen cars that were totaled when the rear trailing arm bushings  on a Honda
gave out and caused the car to loose control and crash. I used to  look at
inspections as an attempt from the Commonwealth to control another  aspect of our
lives. I am just too big on vehicle longevity via preventive  maintenance and
safety checks especially with our aging and sometimes tired  Vanagons. If you
fail an aspect of inspection in Va. then you have some things  to do that
should be observed as part of basic maintenance. As a consumer you  should have
the inspector show you the failed item while your vehicle is still  in the
inspection bay and show you the printed regulation that addresses said  failure.
If you have any questions you should contact the State Police about any  issues
that concern you. There will always be disreputable and lazy  non-observant
inspectors out there that should be reported. Grin and bear it and  know that
the other idiot in the lane next to you would be a highway catastrophe  had he
not been failed for something.

David Clarkson
90 Westy (253k) in Roanoke, VA

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