Find a reputable shop. They won’t fail you for things that aren’t real.

Sounds hella frustrating. Would you like to add your town or county to your post? That might help us recommend honest shops.

It’s not just you. That is one of the spots some garages use. I have tried to get my car alignment done at VT Tire probably 6 times. Every time I needed a ball joint. I stopped trying and found a guy who was more honest. He said, may need a new one in a few years but you are fine now.

It’s hard to find an honest mechanic in general and Vermont strict laws make it easier for mechanics to take advantage of people. If you manage to find one I suggest you treat them well.

It's a racket period. Anyone who cares should bug the shit out of your reps about it come election time. It's fair time to abolish this bull shit.

I appreciate hearing about your experience. As you mention, all I want is honesty, that’s all I’m asking.

My family had one of these mechanics that was the absolute model for integrity in the business. We had an older Audi, which as you can imagine needed a lot over time, but it never felt like we were being ripped off. Simple things like the owner saying “you could replace this now, but you’ll be fine for X miles or X time” helped us as a customer prioritize and tackle what was important.

I get where you are coming from and sure does feel like extortion? Or robbery…

If almost like to see the state run inspection sites where there is not a financial incentive to fail cars a quick buck.

I’m trying! 2nd shop in barre-Montpelier area, and another in Waterbury. Definitely open to hearing suggestions.

Great suggestion! Added.

Try Montpelier auto clinic? They are honest mechanics there.

I'd rather have a safety inspection to make sure YOUR car isn't going to take mine out if a part fails.

I've driven through enough states without inspections that had cars with no business on the roads broken down or on fire on the side of the road

I tried to keep a 10 year old truck going and every year at inspection time it was a list of items totaling 3-4 thousand many of them things that had been replaced recently. I would take it to another shop and the list of items were different but the price the same, 3-4 thousand. They see an old vehicle and it’s dollar signs. For that money I can have a car payment so that’s what I did. Keeping an old car alive in vermont isn’t worth it because you are dependent on some scammer mechanic every year. It’s actually not environmentally friendly to send our cars to junk yards after 5-10 years and not a very “vermonty” thing to do.

If you have a Japanese car George’s in Montpelier is great. in East Montpelier cross roads auto is good too. Stay away from Auto Craftsman.

A bit of a drive for you but I’ve had good experiences at Dona’s in Hardwick. (Also with Auto Shaman in Woodbury though I don’t know if they do inspections.)

Edit: which does inspections

Yes Dona's Car Store is great decent honest folks and Bear does really good alignments. One of the few for sure.

Thank you so much for the recommendation. I’ll try Dona’s next time.

Not too bad of a drive, and I’d go farther to find a solid shop! Love the Hardwick area too.

It’s not within walking distance of downtown. The Taco Truck there is great. Best of luck. Hope you leave feeling like you got a fair deal. Never hurts to bring ‘em some fresh baked brownies or a good joke.

It's a tax on the poor.

Just don't get it inspected.

Montpelier auto clinic is great! I was one of the folks who opened it and though I left, I cannot speak more highly of the crew down there. Also, The Source, out on rt 2 heading towards east Montpelier is another fantastic shop I have personally worked for that strives to be open and honest

There is a lobby that pays to keep this and no right-to-repair laws in place. It's just another way someone has found to extort money for an industry. I never got my car inspected in Vermont. Where I worked, one guy would come to work on a pickup with no headlights and — I kid you not — no windshield. If you don't draw attention to yourself, it's not likely you are going to get caught.

I turned down a service writer job in a Rutland dealership due to the pay scheme. You were expected to get a certain amount of money for every car that came in. That is what your paycheck depended on. So if you didn't sell unnecessary services, you didn't pay rent. Nice system.

Out of spite, I admittedly gone way overdue. However, my wife hates driving around with the anxiety of old sticker. She’s been pulled over 2 times just for the sticker and she’s over that as well, especially when she’s had 2 toddlers in the car.

According to section c, you'd be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $5. https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/013/01222

lol

Is it annoying? Yes

Is it necessary? Absolutely yes.

We all share the road in 1ton + metal boxes, sure a ball joint or pads or tires being replaced is annoying, but so is a component failure due to wear resulting in a vehicle loosing control at 65mph and crossing the lanes

This should be much, much higher

I have had fantastic experiences with Auto Craftsmen just outside of Montpelier. My mom and I have been going to them for years, and they've always been transparent, super friendly and honest.

I’m at the point I just tell the guys at the shop to make it safe to drive. As far as I’m concerned the state can suck it!

A few years ago I got pulled over and issued a ticket with a >$100 fine for a very out-of-date inspection sticker (no other violations). The cop said that if I didn't pay it within the set time period my license would get suspended (and he mentioned something about a possible future warrant for my arrest, maybe if I ignored the suspension, but I forget the exact context). Either something changed in the past few years or there's another relevant law you haven't linked.

And yet we still have car with bungee cords and ratchet straps holding down hoods. VT stay inspection has nothing to do with a

safe car. It’s just a way for the state to make a buck and then the shops figured out they could make a quarter and here we are. With 10+ year old cars that are perfectly safe to drive.

But if you are that worried about roadway safety how abouts we ban driving for white plates during the fall. I know I would feel safer with out a bunch of ass hats stoping on blind corners and hills to take a picture or a cow and some trees. But if the car has a stick and is deemed safe we don’t have to worry about the idiots in the driver seat.

The issue is the rules have to be somewhat blanket which does lead to some things that are not inherently unsafe getting flagged. There is also the emissions and pollutions part as well which is important

That guy was putting other peoples lives at risk with an unsafe truck. Driving is a privilege, not a right

https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/xymrqh/whats_making_the_clunk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Here’s a good reason to have inspections

Look, we all get frustrated at getting ripped off, but getting rid of inspections is a bad solution. What they should do is make inspections good for two years and raise the price, so mechanics aren’t penalized for being honest. And new cars should be exempt from inspections (for a fee) for 4 years. That’s my humble opinion.

I failed my inspection because my registration sticker was on the bottom left of my plate instead of the bottom right- so grateful to the state they saved me from my car flipping over due to uneven weight I think-safety first!

I straight up got a new car so I could pass. I took my jeep to the same place for years and always fixed what they told me to. Suddenly it can’t pass inspection, even after fixing everything.

Yup I'm over it. I've lived here my entire life and have had 50+ vehicles, and like you, I have only had 2 or 3 pass on the first shot. It's always something like a foggy headlight lens or a crack in a tail light. I also do all of my own work unless I don't have a very specific tool and there's no way around it. I currently have 3 vehicles that are past inspection and they'll stay that way. It really is just a money grab at this point.

I lease. Not everyone can. I never wanted to. BUT. "They" wanted 3k to fix my last vehicle. I don't fucking think so. Drive it for 3 years, get another one. Don't have to think about it.

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I'd prefer if there were discounts for interim inspections so there can be a harder paper trail. Had to get a new car for my car being unsafe, legit a month after the place I took it to said it was good to travel for well over 1500 miles, citing a bad wheel bearing (which I had suspected and had told them about), and rotted brake lines (didn't hear shit about that). Would've had $2k+ more for a down payment if I didn't do the repairs needed and just gotten a new car at that point.

And nope, they can't sell a used car for book value these days I guess, when you're stranded otherwise.

I agree with your last suggestion. And to be clear, I believe an inspection is fine, but as I mentioned in another comment, perhaps have the state run the inspection sites where finding something to repair isn’t an incentive.

Ah, yeah a leased car would be nice. Wish I had the budget for it, but I know the additional cost of a lease has perks like this. I tend to buy and hold the car as long as possible, which is becoming IMPOSSIBLE when dealing with state requirements and a shops motivations .

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My car caught on fire exactly 1 month after a vermont state inspection on the highway. I had just dumped 1000 into brakes and rotors because those failed. I had done all of the recommended maintenance and always had some emergency to keep it on the road. Bought a new car last may and already need new rotors as mine are 'rusty'.

I’m trying to get new York’d

Inspections are definitely important but it would be nice if there was financial help from the state at least once a year (around the time your inspection is due) for suspension and alignment work. Because to be fair, the reason ball joints and whatnot are going bad so fast is because the state lets the roads go to shit and plow trucked chunk it all up every winter. And brand new cars rust and crumble to pieces after a couple years if you don't have a garage because the salt they use for the roads are horrible.

I called out Burlington Subaru for failing my 3 year old car on a "free annual inspection." Apparently all 4 of my brakes were causing the issue despite all brakes being replaced within the last 3 months. I had to speak to the service manager during the week who agreed to look at the car himself when I could come back in. He took a look and said the vehicle was fine, then passed it.

No explanation as to why the first inspection failed. Basically, my free inspection turned into 6 hrs of driving and $50 worth of gas to make the trips. I'm not even ranting here, just want to warn everyone about Burlington Subaru.

Our late model car failed because the check engine light was on. We are retired and on a fixed income. The dealer wanted $250 minimum just to diagnose. We let it slide for a year then took it in. It was something, something, oil change. Ridiculous that folks get a fail for something that doesn’t effect safety of driving. I feel bad for folks these days. It’s hard enough as it is. Check engine light, SMH.

Second Crossroads Auto

Stony Brook Auto in Northfield. John Lambert is a standup guy.

Playing Devil's advocate here but rust fucks cars so quickly here that inspections are needed. I would not trust the average person to ensure their car isn't a bald tire brakeless 2 ton metal death trap that is going to murder me at 70mph. This is coming from someone that has driven a ton of uninspected shitboxes here.

Itt: dumbasses who want to drive a car but not pay for maintenance. Vermont is fucking lax on this shit compared to like Canada and western Europe. Or even like new york or Massachusetts or California. Like come on. All of the examples of things I see cars failing for in this thread are rust related.

You are getting downvoted but you arw right. The rust eats cars really fast here. The average person cant be trusted to not let their brake calipers wear into the disks and kill the entire system. I dont want to share the roads with dumbshits on bald tires and no brakes.

I work for a very busy independent shop and we don’t need to look for work by selling unnecessary repairs. We love easy inspections!

Maybe a busier shop can be better trusted to shoot straight with you? Good luck…

If it's within 14 days of the expiration.

(c) A person shall not operate a motor vehicle unless it has been inspected as required by this section and has a valid certification of inspection affixed to it. A person shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $5.00, which penalty shall be exempt from surcharges under 13 V.S.A. § 7282(a), if he or she is cited for a violation of this section within the 14 days following expiration of the motor vehicle inspection sticker. The month of next inspection for all motor vehicles shall be shown on the current inspection certificate affixed to the vehicle.

I am fine with it as long as an independent third party does the inspection that doesn't gain from a failure .

Good to have input from someone in the industry! I’ll find a shop like yours someday.

Man, that’s what gets me. So many peolle probably just say yes to repairs instead of calling out their shady practices.

Probably more than the money it’s the time and energy of wasted taking time off from work or making repairs that were never really necessary.

I’ve been New Yorker… it wasn’t pretty.

Just a heads up to anyone reading this, if you get a CEL you can generally go to an auto parts store (e.g. Autozone) and they'll read+clear the light for you

Don't inspect it. Do your maintenance. It's a 100 dollar ticket.

I was thinking the same thing. Although not too many older cars pass first try, I love the ones that do. I got way too much work to be adding to my suffering.

Every few years (over the last two decades) I give VT Tire another chance (for convenience sake) and every single time it's an upsale.

Imagine a year where a critical mass of car owners simply refused to participate in state inspection as protest. It would be glorious.

Seems like the application of the inspection process isn’t uniform. That’s no bueno

Nobody is claiming a periodic inspection for frame integrity isn't reasonable.

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Just drive without the inspection. Take a stand. I know quite a few who do. For months. Even years. Fugin Nazis. No one puts baby in the corner.

What a glorious day indeed! Perhaps on that day we may join our semi-free brethren in declaring that we too are a Live Free or Die state. May the fat cats upstairs at the stealerships tremble as they see their profits dwindle. Praise be the beater owners!

Can't you say "show me that my ball joint is bunk my dude."? All mechanics that I've dealt with are really happy to talk to folks who can talk the talk, knows their way around a car, and can hold a convo using industry lingo.

I'd try a non confronting and lax approach, and I always find success with that.

I know you’re in Barre-Montpelier area but RC Motorsport in Essex has treated me and my family wonderfully for years now. Very honest and transparent. They have to take photos of the car from underneath and a state office has to sign off on the condition so they’re incredibly picky about what passes. My wife’s car failed because the registration was expired by a month but Ralph didn’t charge since he couldn’t sticker it. Might be worth a shot

I can speak for mass versus Vermont and it was wild how in a couple months when the same car went from mass to Vermont it all of a sudden needed thousands in work…

No doubt. Vt roads are hard on cars. It’s hard to fund improvements in small communities.

Yup, totally agree.

I've lived in States that didn't have inspections. Never once had an issue. 10 years of used cars and beaters and never once saw or heard of someone's POS causing any other person an issue. Worse I ever saw was a car die at a light that would get pushed off the road.

Or go back to inspections being about emissions. Not stupid things that don't matter.

I have never gotten a sticker without at least a few hundred dollars, many times 1000+ in repairs. I have always had older (10-15 years) vehicles. I’m a woman who does not know much about cars, and that has worked against me (not based on assumptions, but people I’ve checked with after the fact).

I agree we need safe vehicles on the road, but lower income people struggle to get cars inspected. Many people have to commute to decent paying jobs, and may get ticketed along the way to work, while they try to save for costly repairs to meet an inspection. I can say personally, from years of dealing with that stress and anxiety, wondering if you’ll get pulled over and receive an expensive fine or be made late to work, is often one more thing on a list of costly expenses and life stressors-things low-income folks deal with daily that are huge barriers to successful employment.

Uttons in Montpelier is fantastic. They’re up front and honest. Tuck’s Repair in Northfield is great as well. If you happen to have a VW or Audi, Auto Union is a wonderful shop dedicated to those cars.

John is amazing and VERY trustworthy! I lucked into going to his shop by chance when I first moved here and he has never given me the runaround on anything! Wonderful person and excellent service!

Solid plan. Not optimistic it happens tho

I have not failed a safety inspection yet 🤷

My 2000 Audi A6 is in top shape, inspection wise, but I refuse to get a billboard. I have a yellow 10 under my rear view mirror and it'll stay that way. There's always something "wrong" with my car, even though I have bought and paid for this car 3x now over the years in maintenance and modifications. I see plenty of others out there with very old stickers as well. The day of protest is upon us, I say.

Haven't had a sticker on my truck for 2 years. Just a blank windshield. Never been pulled over and no one seems to care.

Just be like me and get bitten by a dudes German shepherd when you fail your inspection so that the guy behind the counter is too shaken up to charge you any money. Yes that actually happened to me. Luckily I was wearing three layers and a winter coat and that fucking dog still pierced my skin. I wish I could knock that dirtbag owners teeth out. He barely even did anything about the dog. But yeah inspection is super annoying and now I live on a pretty gnarly dirt road and I feel sooooo bad for my car during mud season :(

I am in NH and it is similar here. I do not have the same issue as you, but I have heard the same story many times here. We have used the same shop for 25 years and my wife grew up with the owner. He is realistic about inspections and we just had three cars done with no issues. Safety inspections are useless. The only reason they exist is to generate income for the state. Statistically, states without inspections do not have more vehicle accidents due to mechanical failure. Actually, studies show that people who live in states without inspections maintain their cars to a higher level than states with required inspections.

You say that but you haven't seen accidents caused by things people get failed on for inspection.

I was poor once. It sucked, I dreaded and still dread inspections but seriously - it's for your own good. One of the few times this conservative is ok with government over reach.

Trust me. Your only failing because your car needs work to be safe.

You needed a ball joint because it wiggles laterally. That means it's not good. You really trust your ball joint to hold up when a skinny white dude wiggles it and sees more than a half inch of play?

Give yer balls joints a tug.

It’s crazy bc we get Vermont vehicles all the time covered in rust and making noises that wouldn’t pass MA inspection. We call rust “Vermont Chrome”

You did not adhere to standards set forth by the DMV. Yes a shitty fail but it's the law. Put the sticker on the right side and be done with it.

I've lost my license once not paying a fine for this shit. Sucks, but when you aren't getting your car inspected you're not getting evaluated for safety checks which puts us all at risk on the road.

Ever seen a tire fly on the highway cause some idiot decided he didn't need an inspection cause they thought they knew better about their ball joints? I have seen it first hand, so did my windshield.

Dealerships are evil.

Yeah you try that and you're only funding the police. Good job bud.

Then make car inspections safety inspections. Having the headlight wipers on a car fail the inspection when no other cars have that part is bs.

If you look at road safety data there is no impact in states that have done away with inspections. Facts over feelings.

On my newer car which is under warranty I still have extreme anxiety about failing because it’s a huge waste of my time. Basically an entire morning of my life not to mention cost. I just replaced 1 year old rotors because I knew the dealer would fail them (I had my own ran post about it ha). But I bring it to the dealer because car is under warranty so if it were something larger and they failed it they would have to fix it for free. So if you can afford it on a newer car , bring car to dealer that gives free inspection where you bought the car ( I made the mistake of buying car far away ) and car under warranty and it’s mostly their problem. With only a few exception items.

On my older car I go to an small local independent and let them know I do 100% of the work on this car please let me know if you see something and I’ll plan on fixing it myself.

patonbike, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty

They will fail you for equipment like accessory wipers that are not working. Should have not bought that expensive car bud.

Your saab is old. They don't make them anymore. Nice ninja delete though.

Yes all those $1000 Saabs with 300 miles. Wicked expensive. It's nice to know all conservatives are the same. We give you facts and you respond with insults.

I get your a pro inspection person but come on we are having some fun here.

Head to green city garage in South Burlington. Chris always shoots straight, and is the only mechanic my family trusts. When my dad has repairs that he isn't equipped to handle, green city is the only place he'll go.

R&J Service Center on North Main St. in Barre is an honest shop, or if you’re in Montpelier you could try Perry’s service station on State St. Both smaller outfits with honest mechanics.

I have accepted that, every year, we will need to do a brake job on one of our 2 cars.

I’ve learned how to repair my own car out of spite. They can fail me for ball joints and brakes all they want, but I’ll be damned if they get a thousand dollars out of me for 80 bucks in parts.

Lol just put the sticker where they tell you to

Cars with failed brakes and rusty frames crashing all over the highway. I love it

Mass fails cars for cosmetic rust spots

California actually checks smog tho. Vt just sees if the check engine is on or not

Mass fails cars for cosmetic rust spots lol

My sticker is in the center of my plate because I have an old license plate bracket that blocks the corner… had my car inspected at the dealership for years and nobody has ever said anything. This is the most ridiculous fail I have heard of lol

No, I didn’t need a ball joint. I have in other cars. And tie rod ends. In this case VT tire just wanted money. Had a coworker bring their 8 month old Subaru there for work. They were told they needed front suspension parts. VT Tire uses Montpelier’s ignorant white collar population as an easy target to upsell

I’m glad he moved into White’s shop. Getting to him during mud season was always a challenge.

In regards to the down votes, Rick Sanchez said it best. “Your boos mean nothing to me, I’ve seen what makes you cheer”

I've never had a vehicle fail inspection, so certainly not all shops are trying to use it to drum up business.

Read the comments, people are

Also have a Golf Sportwagen 4mo (not an Alltrack) and I'm about to do my second set of rear rotors in 5 years (< 30k miles) because I "don't drive enough" and they rust. Super annoying.

Right, we don't want to be like Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota, Michigan, Alaska, where their highways are littered with the abandoned burned out wreckages of rust bucket vehicles because they don't have state inspections.

Auto Shaman is doing inspections now? That's good news if true! Scot does all my repairs that aren't covered by warranty and he is a straight shooter who has never tried to up sell me and has even recommended less expensive options when he didn't need to. I see him working on allot of RVs lately, I assume because he is HVAC certified now.

I didn’t mean to imply he is doing inspections. Oops. Only meant to say I trust him 100%. My mistake for not communicating clearly. Thank you. Will edit.

And if fines are not paid as a form of protest?

A heated garage will cause a car to rust faster.

LOL Now my weekend is ruined, and Sunday morning started out with such a cool high note only to be dashed within minutes.

I've never had a garage but this will stick with me incase I do in the future. Much appreciated.

You have your license taken from you and have to pay more fines. 🤡

Right, I’m implying that mass standards are tougher than VT

Might be a bit of a drive for you, but Night Owl in Fairlee and WRC in Chelsea are both awesome.

Jury nullification.

Let the protest movement extend to inviting persons selected for jury duty to use jury nullification to save all persons who get arrested on warrants for unpaid fines and suspended license driving connected to failing state inspections for a misplaced registration sticker, small windshield crack, windshield wipers, foggy headlamps, duck tape patching a hole on the body not structure.

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George’s is the best.

Jury nullification!

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Got my new sticker today. The stickers now have to be placed in the lower driver’s side corner of the windshield. The location of the sticker obscures the point on the hood that I use to judge if I’m in the lane. It used to be completely out of the way behind the rear view mirror. I feel like this is going to make me less safe, as it’s harder to be sure if I’m in my lane.

First mistake was replacing the ball joints 3x in 4 years. Ball joints don’t wear out like that