By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Jerry Alligood jokes that there are four groups confused by North Carolina’s new method of motor vehicle safety inspections.
They are:
– Vehicle owners,
– Vehicle inspectors,
– Representatives of the N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and
– Those who work in the license plate renewal office.
“Other than them, everyone’s pretty clear on things,” quipped Alligood, owner of Jerry’s Shell on Jake Alexander Boulevard.
Since last fall, North Carolina’s vehicle safety and emissions inspections have gone electronic. The days when windshield inspection stickers were slapped on are gone, replaced by a system where a vehicle’s inspection is recorded in the Department of Motor Vehicle’s computer system.
The system also changed the month by which inspections are due. Now, a vehicle’s date of inspection coincides with the month the license plate is due for renewal.Since everything is done electronically, it’s nearly impossible to have the license plates on a car or truck renewed unless the vehicle has been inspected beforehand. In the year since the new policy took effect, the DMV has returned to residents thousands of checks for renewal accompanied by rejection notices.
A box checked on the notice advises the vehicle’s owner:
“We are unable to renew your registration due to an emission/inspection block.”
In other words, “Get that car inspected!”
Car owners attempting to have their vehicles’ licenses renewed at a DMV office are told the same thing by employees there.
Alligood, the owner of Jerry’s Shell, said he thinks the process will clear itself up once the first year of its introduction is finished. But he admitted that getting car owners used to the process has been an undertaking.
“So many people are confused,” Alligood said. “It won’t level off until all the stickers are gone.”
That will be, he noted, at the end of December. Alligood said that next year and in years thereafter, people should be far more accustomed to having the inspection of their vehicles coincide with their license renewals.
Alligood said he thinks that in the long run, the new method of having vehicles inspected will be a positive.”Before, people could get by without having their cars inspected,” he said. “I’ve heard that as many as a million cars a year weren’t inspected. That won’t happen anymore.”
Marge Howell, a DMV spokeswoman, said she wasn’t sure of the number of vehicles that managed to avoid inspections before the new process was implemented, but she said it has surely decreased over the past year.
She admitted there’s been some confusion surrounding the whole thing.
“It’s a new situation and it takes some getting used to,” Howell said. “It’s really been interesting.”
She said that because the process is computerized, it’s now possible to determine the leading causes for vehicles failing inspections. Howell said the top reason is bad tires followed by worn-out windshield wipers. Burned-out license plate lights is also high on the list, along with faulty steering mechanisms.
“Getting people in the program, there’s been some confusion,” Howell said. “Things are getting better.”