4 ms·

Does the US or California not have some sort of annual check to ensure that cars on the road are roadworthy? Something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOT_t

Does the US or California not have some sort of annual check to ensure that cars on the road are roadworthy? Something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOT_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOT_test

sethammons 6y ago
You have, in California, a thing called Smog Check. An attempt to remove old, polluting cars - you can’t register your car without it. Lots of these check centers will let you pay under the table to let them hook up a better car to falsify your results. If a car is obviously not road safe, a cop can pull you over.
buescher 6y ago
In the US vehicle registration and vehicle inspection are state-by-state. California, while known for its strict emissions requirements, has no other vehicle inspection. Surprised me when I moved there!
leetcrew 6y ago
in maryland you can just pay a nominal fee/fine each month to defer your emissions test. it adds up, but it takes a long time to equal the cost of replacing a catalytic converter.
iamatworknow 6y ago
New York requires annual car inspections that include emissions testing as well as a basic safety check (tires, brakes, head/signal/brake lights, horn, fluids, and a few other things). They "only" cost $20 but they put a color coded sticker on your windshield that is easily seen by passing cops, who will pull you over if you have the wrong color. Getting the inspection done is a bit of a pain in the ass, too, as because at least for me it would usually require taking at least an hour off of work to drive the car to a garage who could do it. And the garages seemed to often run out of inspection stickers, as they're provided by the state and only allot so many to each garage that does inspections. It was kind of a nightmare in its own way. And if your car failed inspection, you were obligated to fix it, of course. I knew a lot of people who would postpone the inspection as long as possible and hope they didn't get pulled over. When I was pretty poor I had a car that frequently had its check engine light on (an instant fail for the inspections). It was cheaper to buy an OBD reader online that could reset the check engine light long enough to get the inspection done than it was to fix the problem. When I moved to Georgia which only does the emissions test (and only in the Atlanta area counties), I was surprised by how quick it was. Perhaps coincidentally, I see many orders of magnitude more cars engulfed in flames on the roads in metro Atlanta than I ever did in New York.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  >I see many orders of magnitude more cars engulfed in flames on the roads in metro Atlanta than I ever did in New York. Because cars in New York rust out structurally before much else can go wrong.
  - iamatworknow 6y ago
    This is a valid point, haha.
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
Would being forced to choose between a car that doesn't have government permission to drive and paying way more than market value for something that does from a BHPH lot make the situation of the person you're replying to better? Also what he described is pretty out there even by poor person standards. What you usually see is people failing inspection for rust holes in non-structural areas, cracked light lenses, leaky exhausts and non-functional evaporation emissions systems. In my experience: Lightbulbs are cheap and get fixed. Driving with bald tires sucks and people do get them replaced when they are showing cords. Brakes are important cheap enough and get fixed (helps that pretty much any shade tree mechanic will do them for parts plus a few bucks). People need to get to work. They don't try to put stuff off until payday because they like driving a car that might fail on them.

sethammons 6y ago

You have, in California, a thing called Smog Check. An attempt to remove old, polluting cars - you can’t register your car without it. Lots of these check centers will let you pay under the table to let them hook up a better car to falsify your results. If a car is obviously not road safe, a cop can pull you over.

buescher 6y ago

In the US vehicle registration and vehicle inspection are state-by-state. California, while known for its strict emissions requirements, has no other vehicle inspection. Surprised me when I moved there!

leetcrew 6y ago

in maryland you can just pay a nominal fee/fine each month to defer your emissions test. it adds up, but it takes a long time to equal the cost of replacing a catalytic converter.

iamatworknow 6y ago

New York requires annual car inspections that include emissions testing as well as a basic safety check (tires, brakes, head/signal/brake lights, horn, fluids, and a few other things). They "only" cost $20 but they put a color coded sticker on your windshield that is easily seen by passing cops, who will pull you over if you have the wrong color. Getting the inspection done is a bit of a pain in the ass, too, as because at least for me it would usually require taking at least an hour off of work to drive the car to a garage who could do it. And the garages seemed to often run out of inspection stickers, as they're provided by the state and only allot so many to each garage that does inspections. It was kind of a nightmare in its own way. And if your car failed inspection, you were obligated to fix it, of course. I knew a lot of people who would postpone the inspection as long as possible and hope they didn't get pulled over. When I was pretty poor I had a car that frequently had its check engine light on (an instant fail for the inspections). It was cheaper to buy an OBD reader online that could reset the check engine light long enough to get the inspection done than it was to fix the problem. When I moved to Georgia which only does the emissions test (and only in the Atlanta area counties), I was surprised by how quick it was. Perhaps coincidentally, I see many orders of magnitude more cars engulfed in flames on the roads in metro Atlanta than I ever did in New York.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
>I see many orders of magnitude more cars engulfed in flames on the roads in metro Atlanta than I ever did in New York. Because cars in New York rust out structurally before much else can go wrong.
- iamatworknow 6y ago
  This is a valid point, haha.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

Would being forced to choose between a car that doesn't have government permission to drive and paying way more than market value for something that does from a BHPH lot make the situation of the person you're replying to better? Also what he described is pretty out there even by poor person standards. What you usually see is people failing inspection for rust holes in non-structural areas, cracked light lenses, leaky exhausts and non-functional evaporation emissions systems. In my experience: Lightbulbs are cheap and get fixed. Driving with bald tires sucks and people do get them replaced when they are showing cords. Brakes are important cheap enough and get fixed (helps that pretty much any shade tree mechanic will do them for parts plus a few bucks). People need to get to work. They don't try to put stuff off until payday because they like driving a car that might fail on them.