The station I used to go to in Sioux Falls was owned by a young guy that immigrated from somewhere in Washington. He always had a rain coat hanging by the door. Said in Washington when someone drove in for gas, first thing he’d do was put his rain coat with hood on.
Back in 1970, we were traveling back to our apartment at the graduate school we attended. The road was slushy and my windshield washer had quite a workout. We were about 55 miles out and I stopped for gas. This was before the days of self service stations. The attendant offered to fill my windshield washer reservoir for $1.50. Back then, a jug of washer fluid was 49¢. I gladly paid the $1.50 even though we were poor graduate students.
Incidentally, the first cars I owned, including my 1965 Rambler did not come equipped with windshield washers. This was an option. I bought windshield washer kits from J.C. Whitney and installed the kits myself. I don’t know when windshield washers became standard equipment. The first car I remember having a factory installed windshield washer was a 1946 DeSoto.
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Yeah I remember parking my 59 Pontiac on the side of 35w just south of Minneapolis to clean my windshield. A patrol stopped to check on me. Guess he had a newer car with washers. Always used to carry windex and paper towels. My 68 was the first with washers. Step on the foot pump. I liked it because I could ration the fluid used.
As far as I know, most if not all states do not allow the inspector to make any repairs during the inspection and if you put in a complaint, the inspector could loose his license to do inspections.
However, in this case the inspector may have done you a favor. The alternative would be that your vehicle fails, you now have to get the WW reservoir filled and then pay for a re-inspection. Certainly more time consuming if not more expensive.
Back when OK had their vehicle safety inspection in place a mechanic was not allowed to perform any repair or alter anything involved in the inspection. A washer bottle (operative or not) was not part of the inspection. Wiper operation and condition was.
The car either passed or failed for one or more reasons. A failure meant a reject slip was automatic. If any repairs were needed the customer was advised of it and the decision was in their hands as to whether the inspection station could do the repairs if possible or have it done elsewhere. Once the repairs were done the customer could return and the new pass sticker would be applied to the windshield.
This has reminded me that I need to put fluid in my rear window washer!
I usually do a light inspection right before I take the car in. A few years ago, I missed the dead license plate light (one of two). That cost me $12.
Do the States that have no inspections have measurable data to show that they have a poorer safety record?
I don’t know. What I observed, back when my state had safety inspections, you could drive with broken/inoperative lights, bad tires, faulty exhaust systems, LEOs ignored it if your inspection sticker was current.
True, but the line is very blurry between the inspection, repair and re-inspection. One of the things that always irked me was the situation where the place that can service the car is also doing the testing. Seemed too much a conflict of interest to me.
In MA, the inspection is paid for before it starts. Then, if you fail, they are supposed to follow the process through to issue a repair sticker. The state allows one free re-inspection to prove compliance. For something quick, like a burned out bulb, loose mirror or even a ball joint repair if you agree to address it immediately with them, they don’t issue the repair sticker and immediately do the work. Once complete, the process resumes and you get the pass sticker. I assume the failure, repair and subsequent pass are recorded in the state system but the consumer never sees it unless they refuse the service and want to drive away. Then they provide the failure report and affix the repair sticker. You now have 30 days…
This seems like a small ripoff to me. Call and let them know that you could have filled this for $2 yourself and tell them you think that it is a little high. If they make no offer to refund, tell them you will go elsewhere for service from now on, no matter how small or big the job is. This is still such a small amount of money I wouldn’t even worry about it besides being pissed off. I deal with people getting ripped off for $5000-6000 daily with online scams (and that is just warming up!) so you gotta keep things relative. I paid a bill recently and got confirmation it was paid. Then I got an overdue notice and a $20 charge. I was pissed but it wasn’t worth calling and wasting time sitting on hold, etc. The time it would take to deal with it would cost me more than that.
I know mechanics around here hate inspections. They are held at $12 so this is a loss-leader for them at best. I do my own basic walk around for lights but missed a brake light that last time around. He charged me $8 for the bulb and installing it so I was quite happy to just simply get it done and not have to worry about it.
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In OK the fee was 5 dollars; 2 to the inspector and 3 to the troopers retirement fund. A failed inspection meant the vehicle could be repaired at the inspection station if possible, another shop, or even as a DIY job. Once repairs were completed the car could come back, have the car rechecked, and get a new sticker applied for no extra charge. Lot of work for 2 dollars considering a proper inspection was an hour plus by the manual; including pulling brake drums… 
Some car owners would get upset of course. Fail them and “You’re just nitpicking it to find problems so you can gouge me”. The alternative is for the inspector to look the other way and risk punishment by the DPS.
The DPS used to send bait cars around to inspection stations at times. They were carefully checked over in advance but would have 1 or 2 things sabotaged on it in an attempt to catch an inspection station cutting corners.
Many people whose car failed an inspection would resort to the can’t you go ahead and put a new sticker on it because I have an appt. next week to have all of that fixed ploy. No.
Some would insist on stopping the inspection when a fault was present but that wasn’t happening either. State law said once started it goes to the conclusion; pass or reject with no time out option.
$5 is ridiculous. The only reason to go into the inspection business at that price is in anticipation of the repair work it could generate. It almost encourages the desire to find something to recoup the expense.
I cannot imagine being the mechanic in this situation. It’s essentially punitive work.
Around here, the price is not set. It varies within a range of acceptability. The place I go has not raised their price in a long time and it is $45. The inspection is reasonable and with the advent of 4 wheel discs, takes about 10-15 minutes to complete.
When I lived in MA, it was very hard to find a place that was reasonable. The price was set. I had inspections that lasted 45 minutes or more. I found one guy looking at my rear tail light lens from 3" away. What are you doing? Looking for cracks. Unreal…
Anyone remember the old VW Bug with the washer being “powered” by the air in the spare tire? Cheap and simple solution but not so great if you got a flat and didn’t keep the spare aired up.
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I’ve been thinking of parlaying that idea, using an old tire, pump it up to max rated pressure, then use it to supply some quick pressurized air when I need it, like to blast out debris from a blind fastener hole. Seem much easier than having to deal w/ the portable compressor .
You might consider a portable air tank rather than a tire.
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Yup!
My brother’s '64 Bug had that badly-conceived feature. In addition to the fact that it could easily lead to a flat spare, those tanks weren’t built to withstand the pressure to which they were subjected. During the brief warranty period, he had to have his WW reservoir replaced, because it had a leak. When the replacement reservoir failed after the warranty had expired, he opted to just go without washers.
The fee for an inspection is $12 in Missouri. I can tell shops have a real love/hate relationship with this. On one hand, it can generate a lot of income if they find an honest problem with a car. On the other hand, it can be a real drain if you do the proper inspection and only make $12. You could do random work for anyone off the street and make more than that these days. The last time I had one done, it was like he wanted me to only come in when there was absolutely no other work at the shop so I had to wait. I guess I can’t blame him if the other work is making him money and an inspection is only getting him $12 for the time spent. I am sure some of that goes to state fees as well.
I sure remember. I bought a 72 VW bug brand new (It was a “Custom” model and cost more than the "regular’ Beetle. I had to pay $2,250 and I drove it for 35 years. If I recall correctly, I had to keep the spare inflated to 60 psi, which I was always careful to do.
I agree there were problems with those things. But I thought it was a neat design.
Yup!
The concept was very good.
The execution of that concept was… not so good.
Back in the days before the alternator replaced the generator, it seems to me that auto manufacturers minimized the equipment that used electrical power. Many cars had vacuum powered wipers. My 1954 Buick had a vacuum powered windshield washer. The big draw in the electrical system was the radio before the days of transistors. (I don’t understand why the radios had to electrically powered because they had vacuum tubes). Chrysler cars impressed me because many of its models had electric wipers at least as far back as 1940. Chrysler vehicles also had generators that had a higher amperage output and its vehicles were the choice of many amateur radio.operators with mobile equipment.
As for windshield washers, I had no problems in my earlier cars with a foot powered windshield washer pump that I installed myself.