Virginia State Inspection

Oh I totally hear you man. I was going to do it on mine but crashburn's thread ruined me for good. I used to think I was cool by running Sylvania SilverStars on my Volvo 850 then wondering why they were burning out after a year. Didn't read the fine print that they only last like 450h.

Anyway, there are way worse offenders out there than running LEDs in a projector. Most smaller inspection shops here look for way bigger issues and more that your lights actually work. Appreciate the info you've put out there!

 

100%. Using LED in halogen housing might help you see BUT it creates an awful uncontrolled light pattern that blinds others. I am glad they are catching this kind of stuff.

 

Yes, it is in vogue to hate California. California is easy on autos. Heck, I built a vehicle from scratch (ie, no vin what so ever) and titled and licensed in California. When I see some things driving around (like converted bumper cars, for example), I wonder if California is too lax!

And zero property tax on autos. And land property tax is low.

 

While CA doesn’t charge property tax on autos, they still charge crazy rates for registration each year. And force all trucks to be registered as commercial vehicles. 700 bucks for a Tacoma, even older vehicles can still be 100s of bucks a year. Adds up. Plus the crazy sales tax. Parts of LA county are over 10% in sales tax! Plus high income taxes.

Can’t compare apples to oranges, but CA is very expensive to live in. Idk much about VA taxes and such, but I find it hard to believe it’s more expensive to live there than CA.

 

whoever mentioned the va property tax wasn’t joking, i made the move to MD and def don’t miss the yearly inspections, yearly emissions, and twice a year tax bills for my 3 vehicles.
VA is the WORST.

Although the one thing i will say you definitely see where that money goes for the most part when you compare roads and infrastructure between the two states

 

I’m considering buying in Hawaii, so I’m sensitive to high prices. Property tax is crazy there.

 

Everything is expensive in Hawaii. Except gas, which is somehow cheaper than CA…

 

I’ve lived in both types of states. In CT, you could run whatever POS you wanted as long as it passed emissions. In NH we have inspections, but no emissions tested.

I once got failed because on of my aftermarket fog lights quit working. The garage guy told me if there where lights on the vehicle, they had to work even if they were aftermarket. I just clipped the wire and unbolted them in the parking lot and passed.

FWIW, I tend to be on the side of mandated annual safety inspections. 90% of the population doesn’t need them as they try to be responsible, but it’s that 10% that requires babysitting.

 

Totally agree, although I think your percentages are overly optimistic

 

Had the same experience with the Sylvanias.

And yea there are worse offenders, like folks running their LED light bars AND LED fogs AND LED headlamps in halogen housings, on a winding two lane road. They come around the corner and you think the aliens are landing.

 

That is your locality not the state. Here in Chesterfield it is once a year. I do think it would be nice not to have any of it, but the money would come from somewhere else. Look at the extremely high registration fees out west. That’s something we don’t have to worry about in Virginia.

 

Yeah, but Hawaii has a lot of SPAM flavors!

 

That would be great if more people acted in a responsible manner. However since many don't, even considering the pain in the ass state vehicle inspection is, I'm glad to live in a state (such as Va) that requires it to help guard against my children and grandchildren possibly being killed in a traffic accident by someone who should have had their brakes replaced a year before.

 

The analogy to gun control laws is a poor one.

Vehicle inspections require the owner to correct the discrepancies. That’s the intention. Murder charges, or firearm enhancements to other types of charges, obviously exist for other reasons.

Your argument about people self-correcting the same vehicle issues that inspections are targeting has a number of holes:
-sometimes an inspection will catch an issue the owner wasn’t aware of.
-people don’t necessarily act in their own long-term self-interest, and some don’t understand the potential consequences of issues that will fail inspection. Well-meaning folks may not necessarily take good care of their vehicle. For lots of reasons. Mostly for the same reason that lots of people do lots of things that contradict logical economic models. Because they’re fallable human beings.
-there are lots of inspection failures that the owners then correct. So, clearly those people were not self-correcting.

Anyway, not a die on the hill argument for inspections…just making the point that they do have an impact on vehicle maintenance behaviors. Albeit imperfectly, and in many cases with regulations that are silly and go too far.

Obviously emissions regulations are a totally different story with a different intent.

 

Moved from DC area (Fairfax, Manassas) 5 years ago and never looked back. Saved a bunch of money on taxes. The rest of the state is not that bad. I don't pay anywhere near down here what I did in N.VA.

 

No, they preclude legal operation of the vehicle until the criteria are met, which is entirely different. That's why citations for driving with failed inspection exist.

Valid, but not a basis for legal compulsion.

Which, again, is why negligence liability is a thing. Ignorance is no excuse, as we know.

Not true, the majority of this is related to overreach regulations, which is to say things that *don't need correcting*. Tint limits are a great example. Here in our lovely state 32% is the minimum....unless you're talking about the rear windows/glass in a truck/SUV in which case whatever! Spray paint it black if you want!

Oh, and feel free to wear sunglasses with 5% light transmission while driving. No issue there.

Bumper height to ground. Mudflap requirements. Exhaust pipe locations. Etc.

The most damning data is the fact that states with safety inspections see no significant reduction in vehicle related deaths:

https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2019/06/do-mandatory-vehicle-inspections-really-make-us-safer/

The point is easy: Revenue for mechanic shops and the state. Remember: Any crime without a victim is actually a revenue generator!

 

The OPs logic for running those stupid lights is simply stupid. I love the "it is all about me" mentality that some people have and wish there were more inspectors like the one he went to. Of course the OP likes the brighter lights. I mean who wouldn't? Who gives a fuck about other drivers because he can see? Just because the after market lights have a low and high setting, it doesn't mean that low isn't blinding the other drivers. Thank you to the non government inspector that was doing his job. For the record, the inspectors in VA are not state employees. They are licensed repair shops.

 

All true, but inspections still shouldn't be a thing considering the cost they leverage on drivers for no meaningful benefit.

 

I stopped reading after you wrote that requiring the owner to correct discrepancies is completely different from precluding legal operation until criteria are met.

The requirement I spoke of literally IS the meeting of the criteria in order to operate the vehicle legally. Meaning, the state gets most people to comply by presenting a negative consequence within its sphere of influence. Preventively.

Definition of “requirement”: a thing that is compulsory; a necessary condition.

Unless your definition of “compulsory “ or “requirement” is the inspection mechanic holding a gun to the owner’s head until he fixes the vehicle, this is just a very fancy game of semantics.

Look, general knowledge by motorists of liability laws does not prevent operation of unsafe vehicles any more than murder laws prevent murder, to use your argument. Vehicles inspection requirements also don’t keep all unsafe vehicles off the road. But, mandated vehicle inspections prevent some number of accidents that liability laws alone would not. I don’t think it happens a lot, because so many more accidents are caused by driver error than vehicle malfunction.

If the illegality of murder could be compared to state mandated vehicle inspections, there would be mandated anti-murder efforts for everyone once a year. A class perhaps, with an anti-murder test at the end. Pass, or pay a fine….anyway they’re just completely different things, it’s a silly comparison.

 

This just reminds to keep my stock OEM headlights if I ever decide to upgrade and fail inspection...I'll just re-install the OEMs and pass inspection and re-install the upgrades once I pass.

I've got a 7yr registration so I don't have to worry about it until 2028.

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