Comments | b0st0n: car inspection

lilaia in b0st0n

car inspection

Nov 29, 2010 15:03

I'm new to the area and will be transferring my car title soon. I understand there is a mandatory vehicle inspection as well. When I lived in Pennsylvania the inspection seemed mainly to be an excuse for the repair shop/dealer to find minor BS stuff. Does that tend to be the case here? I see the vehicle check itself should cost $29, have people ( Read more... )

cars

Comments 40

grahams November 29 2010, 20:06:52 UTC

I don't own a car anymore, but did for about 5 years. And for those 5 years, I got my inspection done at probably 4 different garages, and the only time on of them 'dinged' me for a repair was when I had a headlight out, which seems pretty reasonable. :)

lilaia November 29 2010, 23:47:41 UTC

Thanks, that does seem reasonable.

teawithfrodo November 29 2010, 20:11:30 UTC

I've never had a problem even with our older car.

lilaia November 29 2010, 23:47:57 UTC

Thanks, good to hear.

inahandbasket November 29 2010, 20:12:38 UTC

It definitely depends on the garage. I had one fail me twice for a headlight that was pointed at slightly the wrong angle. Would have taken him 2 seconds with a screwdriver to fix, but he failed me, sent me away, made me schedule a fix, then have him re-inspect. Then he failed me again for the same thing. Asshole.

Long story short: watch for shady shops. (Aka. Jack's Gas, Mass Ave. in Cambridge.)

token_fail November 29 2010, 20:20:47 UTC

this pretty much sums it up.
if you're confident that your car runs pretty alright, take it to a big name garage, and they'll probably pass you because they don't really care.

ellf November 29 2010, 23:41:10 UTC

Thirding this. Jack's is notorious.

lilaia November 29 2010, 23:48:38 UTC

Very good to know, I will avoid Jack's Gas and look for somewhere reputable. Thanks.

(The comment has been removed)

lilaia November 29 2010, 23:53:18 UTC

Hey, if they get you around, good enough. Thanks for responding.

ldthomps November 29 2010, 20:33:07 UTC

My old small-name garage was awesome. When they could no longer pass my care in good conscience (floor boards? why would I need floor boards?) they didn't fail me, in case I wanted to take it to someone else "who might not notice". On occasion they found something that needed a fix during inspection, but those things were always totally reasonable. Ask around for a good mechanic, and they'll probably also do inspections.

lilaia November 29 2010, 23:50:00 UTC

That's a good point, since I'll need a mechanic anyway. Thanks.