The state has a very poor inspection process. We'll clean it up

North Carolina is one of only nine states that have annual vehicle safety inspections. Most states have realized that these inspection provide no value to the community and have long since done away with these expensive and unnecessary practices.

One reason we still have them is our politicians don't trust us to take care of our own  vehicles.  They simply think they know more than us, nothing could be further from the truth.  There is no data that shows there are any less fatalities in a state that has vehicle inspections than ones that do not have the inspections.

The inspection process preys on the uneducated and in some cases women.  A case in point.  My daughter went to get her vehicle inspected.  They told her she needed a new fan belt.  Is the fan belt a safety item, we think not, but she had to pay over $80 to get a new fan belt and have her car pass the inspection.   I asked her to bring me the old fan belt.  I have a car that is  the same model as hers so I put her old fan belt on my car.  Her old fan belt has now went through 2 years of vehicle inspections and has went over 30,000 without a problem, and is still on my car.

Many inspection stations are honest but some are not.  The original inspection law had inspections of  only 9 items.  North Carolina DOT has added over 100 more items some that are questionable as to the safety value.  An inspection station that charges $10.00 for an inspection simply cannot make any money if it has to inspect over 100 items, so the only way they can economically do the inspection is to find something wrong. 

As I told you before most states have recognized this is a flawed practice and most have done away with inspections. 

I will through executive order eliminate the inspections items "added" by the DOT and reduce the inspection to what was approved by the General Assembly, this will effectively eliminate the program.  This can be done immediately by executive order and will stand until the General Assembly can eliminate the safety inspection program altogether. 

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