Quote:
Originally Posted by rhodes2010
Should we gather a 50 state classic MB diesel owners guide to registration ?
Pretty interesting when I hear all the variations.
What I like about California - no bi-annual smog inspection for diesels (or motorcycles).
No vehicle safety inspection , UNLESS - the vehicle was deemed a total
and then needes to have a paid for ($90 last time) inspection that includes brakes, rotor thickness, and lights.
My pontiac with a dented door was forced to have this and failed.
Car was never off the road and ran great. Rotors were too thin.
Vehicles not previously registered need to be inspected for VIN number matching, sometimes by the Highway Patrol.
So.... the car went to OREGON-
What I learned about Oregon, no need to even see the car at all.
For $10.50 a family member was issued a set of Oregon vehicle license plates
for a car that was in California that they had never seen (what's a smog inspection??). Plates were installed and car went to Oregon.
Sold a Chevy Suburban to an Oregon guy who had no idea what an inspection was.
Off Road (dirt bikes and quads ) rules vary too. California has many rules.
|
But if I remember correctly, CA police are notorious for giving out "fix-it" tickets and they can even pull a car over just for smoking too much. Around here that's absolutely inconceivable.
Every 12 months, ALL cars in NC must have a safety inspection. This consists of making sure every light (headlights on both beams, all parkings, all turn signals, all brake lights) comes on when it should, the horn functions properly (almost failed because they didn't know you have to have the key on for an MB horn to blow) and the tires have sufficient tread left to be proclaimed "safe" on the road.
In addition, all cars undergo a basic emissions test in which the ONLY thing checked is that "every emissions device that was originally present on the car must be present and untampered with". Technically I'd fail for having my EGR removed, IF they had any idea that it was supposed to be on there. They couldn't possibly KNOW about everything that every engine was equipped with, so typically they don't do much checking under the hood. 99% of what they're looking for is cat converters removed and replaced with straight pipes. One time they couldn't figure out where the mufflers and such were on mine so they put it up on the lift to be sure. They saw the stuff under there but weren't diesel-familiar so they were being careful.
In addition, all gasoline powered cars newer than model year 1994 get their exhaust "sniffed" by an electronic machine that analyzes the exhaust and red-flags you if it's beyond certain levels of a few substances.
Oh, and everybody, regardless of year, also gets their headlight ANGLE checked by shining it into this prism type device to be sure they aren't blinding other drivers.
It's a lot to go through, and as of about 3 years ago, when the rules changed, you can't even GET your license plate registration renewed for another year until you have successfully passed the inspection. Used to be your license renewal was a separate issue and a separate sticker, but they did away with the windshield "inspection passed" stickers a few years ago. Now it's all in the same system, and your license renewal month is your inspection month.
In exchange for all of this, however, our police rarely if ever give tickets for mechanical problems. When I read of california people getting their exhaust checked for opacity and such nonsense by troopers on the road, I just think... that's yet another reason I don't live there. They check us once a year and then let us go. "Improper equipment" IS a ticket that some officers still give. 99 times out of 100, it's for driving at night with a burned out headlight or brake light. It's a zero points, zero insurance points ticket that basically you don't have to prove you ever did anything about, you just pay the fine and go on about your business. Usually, improper equipment is what the lawyers manage to get our actual speeding tickets reduced to. Or we pray for the officer to be generous and write that out on the ticket instead of a speeding ticket.... like THAT ever happens. That's another thread: "Where did all the NICE cops go?"
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to mention, if you cancel the insurance on a car in NC without canceling the license plate registration first, you're in SERIOUS legal trouble and you get a huge fine. They "assume" you are driving a registered car without insurance, and the fact that it was sitting in your yard with the engine sitting beside it rather than in it makes NO difference to them. There's no such thing out here as a cop coming to your house to verify your story. They just mail you the bill and then your insurance company mails you your rate increase. If they don't summons you to surrender your license for driving uninsured.
Hasn't happened to me but I've heard stories. Sometimes these automated systems are more trouble than they're worth. The computer knows the minute your insurance lapses and it doesn't matter if you "were going to turn the plate in tomorrow when the office opens"... you've just had it. Again, never happened to me, but I've known people. For all the mercy you get from the "system" and the police nowadays, they might as well be robots.