Ah, seems you’re right, turns out in the UK most garages do MOTs. Where I come from, that would mean every car could be passed without being roadworthy, as no garage would voluntarily declare a car they’ve been maintaining as unroadworthy, plus you could just throw your mate a 50 euro note. So instead, we have certifications and licenses for TÜV inspectors and they get taken away if you get caught. There have to be cameras for investigators to see what was checked on any particular car and what was not. They can catch you if you pass a car with something like a malfunctioning light bulb. There’s spot checks (rare tbh) and of course if a particular garage or inspector is being suspected, they’ll be under extra surveillance. Plus you need equipment like the suspension and brake testers, so it doesn’t make sense for every single garage to join the org (paid membership), invest thousands if not tens of thousands in equipment plus all the mechanics to get tested, as there just wouldn’t be enough demand.
This was a huge problem here, to the point that people have died from cars simply not having any brakes and nobody giving a fuck because you could just give the inspection guy some money, so why bother fixing.
I used to live in Albuquerque NM which was one of the first places to impose emissions restrictions on cars. I took my '76 VW Rabbit in to be emissions-tested, and the mechanic spent half an hour trying to get the thing to pass. Finally he just stuck the sensor up the tailpipe of his own car and issued me my sticker. Lest any Albuquerquians get angry at me, I moved to Denver a week later.
This was common here in Estonia till they mandated the cameras. I’ve heard a story of one guy lighting matches to get some CO2 reading out of a completely perforated exhaust - though not sure if it’s true. My coursemate said that in his family, for about a decade, only the car’s registration papers visited the inspector, they didn’t bother driving there.
Where I come from, that would mean every car could be passed without being roadworthy, as no garage would voluntarily declare a car they’ve been maintaining as unroadworthy, plus you could just throw your mate a 50 euro note
Here in the Netherlands you can get your car MOT’d (APK in Dutch) at most garages. The person doing the inspection has to be licensed though and they can lose their license if found to be passing cars they shouldn’t.
After they enter a car into the system as passed they can get a random inspection by someone from the RDW (government service for road traffic) who will double-check their work.
Northern Ireland being the exception in the UK, we have government run test centres with dedicated inspectors. You the car there, you get it inspected and if it fails you take it to your mechanic. Honestly a much better system IMO, mechanics were always finding something that needed fixed when I was in England and that disappeared miraculously in NI.
Ah, seems you’re right, turns out in the UK most garages do MOTs. Where I come from, that would mean every car could be passed without being roadworthy, as no garage would voluntarily declare a car they’ve been maintaining as unroadworthy, plus you could just throw your mate a 50 euro note. So instead, we have certifications and licenses for TÜV inspectors and they get taken away if you get caught. There have to be cameras for investigators to see what was checked on any particular car and what was not. They can catch you if you pass a car with something like a malfunctioning light bulb. There’s spot checks (rare tbh) and of course if a particular garage or inspector is being suspected, they’ll be under extra surveillance. Plus you need equipment like the suspension and brake testers, so it doesn’t make sense for every single garage to join the org (paid membership), invest thousands if not tens of thousands in equipment plus all the mechanics to get tested, as there just wouldn’t be enough demand.
Jesus. Yeah, here, I’d just throw a guy $50.
This was a huge problem here, to the point that people have died from cars simply not having any brakes and nobody giving a fuck because you could just give the inspection guy some money, so why bother fixing.
I used to live in Albuquerque NM which was one of the first places to impose emissions restrictions on cars. I took my '76 VW Rabbit in to be emissions-tested, and the mechanic spent half an hour trying to get the thing to pass. Finally he just stuck the sensor up the tailpipe of his own car and issued me my sticker. Lest any Albuquerquians get angry at me, I moved to Denver a week later.
This was common here in Estonia till they mandated the cameras. I’ve heard a story of one guy lighting matches to get some CO2 reading out of a completely perforated exhaust - though not sure if it’s true. My coursemate said that in his family, for about a decade, only the car’s registration papers visited the inspector, they didn’t bother driving there.
I believe in Australia they have to meet a certain fail quota or the government gets suss.
Here in the Netherlands you can get your car MOT’d (APK in Dutch) at most garages. The person doing the inspection has to be licensed though and they can lose their license if found to be passing cars they shouldn’t.
After they enter a car into the system as passed they can get a random inspection by someone from the RDW (government service for road traffic) who will double-check their work.
Northern Ireland being the exception in the UK, we have government run test centres with dedicated inspectors. You the car there, you get it inspected and if it fails you take it to your mechanic. Honestly a much better system IMO, mechanics were always finding something that needed fixed when I was in England and that disappeared miraculously in NI.