My truck is due for inspection this month. The inspectors do not do inspections while it is raining, nor if the streets are wet. It’s pretty handy to have the mail in kind of license sticker service, but one now has to get an inspection first. One has to show proof of insurance at time of the inspection as part of the new procedure.
The cost is around $14 dollars for the inspection, and that goes to the state. If anything is wrong with the vehicle; cracked windshield in the wrong place, check engine light on, worn tire(s), burned out lights, the station can provide the parts for a nominal fee. If they cannot, they will still charge you for the inspection, and you must get the problem fixed and return. They won’t charge you again for the repeat.
In the old days in the seventies, they used to charge me an extra $2 for “adjusting the headlights”….every year. That was at a place called “White’s Auto” franchise. They are now gone.
These days, I think the inspection stations are not nearly as bad at screwing folks, as the stations can now get audited by the state, and lose their inspection license. A good revenue draw for stations, as a lot of folks go ahead and get their oil changed while it’s in the shop.
So, I get the inspection, they give me a printout with a code on it, I log into the state website and provide the code, and they mail me a new license sticker. Of course, the sticker price is a whole ‘nuther ball game. My truck costs around $80 a year.
I’m tellin’ ya, they get you every way they can.
The sticker now goes inside the windshield, as opposed to the old days when a smaller sticker was attached on the rear license plate corner. Sneaky folks, aka thieves, would cut the corner of the plate off to get your sticker. It happened to me, and I had to purchase new plates. I went to the county, told them my sad story, and they just shrugged and said “$75 please”…cold bastards.
If you get your windshield replaced in the interim period of your sticker, they cut out a hunk of glass from your old windshield, and let it slide around on your dashboard until the next inspection.
Don’t know about you, but every time I replace the windshield on my truck, it’s only a month or two before I get a new ding. New windshields attract passing gravel trucks like ugly on apes.
Also, an expired sticker is an invitation for any old cop to pull your ass over…been there. I carry a rather large fixed blade knife with a window buster in my toolbox behind the front seat, and would probably be construed as a concealed weapon.
The forecast tomorrow is another front moving through, bringing with it lower temps and more rain. I’d like to get the inspection and early voting during the same run into town…and then there is the grocery run, but that’s a different town.
The wife’s car is due for inspection next month, and the whole process starts again.
The Holiday Ale is still fermenting; albeit very slowly. This tells us that there are still dissolved sugars in the beer. If we bottled at this time normally, we run an extreme risk of having our beer overcarbonate…overcarbonate bad.
