MarkVII88 t1_j1z23ac wrote on December 28, 2022 at 1:41 PM

Vehicle inspections in VT have gotten pretty crazy in the last few years. Certainly makes it harder to keep an older, cheaper car on the road. And I'm sure it's by design. But my big question is, if you're driving an $800 car that failed VT inspection, what the hell are you doing moving to Vermont in the first place? This state is not kind to those who don't have means. And to come from Central NY? I am originally from CNY and I know that it costs much less to live there, in general. You're fighting an uphill battle. Unless you're intentionally living below your means, driving this POS, I'm going to assume that you're probably going to take more $$$ in services from the state than you pay in taxes. Maybe that's the point.

MarkVII88 t1_j1zak4f wrote on December 28, 2022 at 2:51 PM

Aww =(

8Dyl8 t1_j1zf1aa wrote on December 28, 2022 at 3:24 PM

Believe it or not they have actually relaxed a lot of the rules. For example, no front plate in 2016, fail. Tinted windows, fail. No registration sticker, fail. They have gotten rid of all those useless rules, even relaxed some of the brake requirements. Don’t get me wrong, some more work needs to be done. But public outcry has helped.

MarkVII88 t1_j1zh2jy wrote on December 28, 2022 at 3:39 PM

My recollection of past inspection rules was that tint on the front driver/passenger windows had to be very minimal in order to pass inspection. For example, I had dark limo tint applied to the back 7 windows of my van back in 2012, but my front driver and passenger windows could not be tinted. If I wanted any tint at all on the front windows, it was essentially nothing, and all my other windows had to be tinted to the same minimal level.

Another change with vehicle inspections has to do with dummy lights on the dashboard. For example, if your vehicle came with TPMS tire sensors, and you were running aftermarket wheels that didn't have TPMS sensors, the dummy light on the dash would be illuminated. This was grounds for failing inspection, because it was essentially a factory safety feature that had been disabled. Now though, the TPMS dummy light can be on and your car won't automatically fail inspection. This is helpful because, when I run snow tires on separate rims, I don't have TPMS sensors installed. I used to have to get my vehicles inspected every year before I swapped out my summer rims/tires for winter rims/tires. But in January 2021, I bought a car, which had just been inspected prior to sale, so inspection wasn't due until February 2022. Of course I put new steel rims with snow tires on the car, and the TPMS light is on during winter. My mechanic said this was no longer a problem.

8Dyl8 t1_j1zhils wrote on December 28, 2022 at 3:42 PM

Correct. TPMS lights can now be on and still pass. That wasn’t the case a few years ago. A change I was very happy about. They did get rid of the tint rule. It used to be any tiny applied to front windows was a failure. The inspection tech must notify you that you can be pulled over and ticketed for it though. It’s an advisory item now. Not a rejection item.