New Hampshire Excitement #2

General Discussion
1

I can hardly believe it’s actually happening. The sunset for New Hampshire mandatory state inspections on safety and emissions is ending less than 40 days. Something I had wished for but never thought it would actually happen. Hooray!

Why am I happy about it? Couple reasons-

  1. In New Hampshire, all of your registrations come due in your birthday month. That means you have to get inspections for all your vehicles within the same month. If you have more than two vehicles, this becomes a scheduling and time sink problem.

  2. The program is run using independent car repair shops that have a bit of a conflict of interest. They make money on repairs, hold all the cards and have a captive audience. Too many times I have experienced shops finding all sorts of issues, some minor for which they charge inflated prices to resolve. Already consuming lots of your time, you are often inclined to just pay the inflated prices to get the vehicle through inspection and be done with it for another year.

Finding a decent shop is difficult. There are precious few that do not attempt to gouge you or spend inordinate time doing inspections looking for anything to cite and generate a repair.

The cost varies significantly from shop to shop. The lowest I have found is $45. The highest was $75 but that is not the maximum they are allowed to charge.

Now the opponents to the repeal are coming out of the woodwork claiming the place is going to degrade into chaos and destruction. There are lots fo studies to show this isn’t the case. Read this particular summary for what I think is a balanced view- https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/2019/06/do-mandatory-vehicle-inspections-really-make-us-safer/

The other gripe is that we are seeing an increase in registration fees this next year. Ignoring the fact they were going up regardless, people are saying this is the result of eliminating inspections. To that I say so what? You were paying $50 per car for an inspection so who cares if that now goes directly to the state instead of lining the pockets of the repair shops? BTW- the increases are actually much lower than the typical inspection cost but don’t let that interfere with the griping about it… :smile:

2

Not all. If your vehicle is in a Trust (like ours are), then it comes due based on the First initial of your last name. My wife’s Crown and my Highlander and Corvette along with our house and other assets are in a Trust. All three vehicles registration is due in April (neither of our birth months).

My wife gets free state inspections for 3 years on her 1yo Crown. So - we lost some money on that deal..lol

This is the case of finding a good trusted mechanic and sticking with them. I’ve come across those shoddy mechanics and just walk away and never return for anything. $45 is the lowest I’ve seen also.

3

Good point about the trust Mike. Unfortunately, since you both have the same last name, they are still due in the same month which is what causes me so much angst. In MA, they were due based on the month you first registered them so they would be scattered throughout the year. My birthday is during one of the coldest months so that doesn’t help either.

Is the Crown deal something the dealership provided as part of the sale? Kind of a nice side benefit if they were still required.

I certainly agree and have tried to do just that. Unfortunately, my first place the guy retired and the last place, the guy was seriously injured when he was hit crossing the road. His business closed down and hasn’t reopened. I have the same kind of luck with Doctors I like…

4

Just the dealer. Something they did as a perk.

Before putting in trust we registered on our Birth Month. Wife and I have different birth months. All our kids have different birth months. I kinda like registering all the vehicles at once especially now since I don’t have to worry about getting them inspected. The one caveat to this is my Camping trailer. It’s too small to have a title, so it can’t be in the trust. I have to register that in my Birth month.