🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1780@ra.nrl.navy.mil> atkinson@itd.nrl.navy.mil (Ran Atkinson) writes:
>
>  The inspection laws are fine, but many of the inspectors try to pull
>a fast one on people from out of state.  

True, doubtless. The inspector who had me spending over $500 was making
no money himself--Midas and Precision Tune made the money. When I told
the state bureaucrat what the inspector had said, the bureacrat agreed
with the part that had me spending the $500. He did allow that I need 
not spend more.

>  In Tidewater, Navy folks tend to be the main folks from out of state
>and are easy to distinguish from long-time residents.  The same thing
>went on in Charlottesville while I was there -- students from out of
>state who went in to the garage for a state inspection tended to have
>more problems, especially if they didn't put Virginia plates on the
>car and replace their old state's county vehicle sticker with one
>local to the area.

The experience I had at Tidewater was at a Navy Exchange garage. The 
inspector was sincerely trying to comply with his understanding 
of the many hundred-page manual for inspectors. He made no money
out of the window-tinting affirmation.

>  When I moved up here I didn't get the inspection until after the
>vehicle registration had been changed to a local address and the car
>had a local sticker.  The guys at the garage thought I was a local
>and gave me no problems.  A little prudence pays off.

I already had the sticker, having been in the county for over two years.
Couldn't register without the inspection. 

Let's face it, a law that confuses honest inspectors as much as this,
and allows dishonest ones to rip off people at will, is bad. Previous
sarcasm aside, the inspection program is a joke, and the law that implemented
it is nothing but a sop by the legislature for gullible voters, who will
be impressed that the state is "doing something" about traffic safety.