MANY CONSUMERS DO NOT TRUST AUTO MECHANICS
In theory, vehicle safety inspections help identify serious mechanical problems before parts fail and cause an accident. In reality, the idea that inspection guidelines are consistently applied to every vehicle is just not true. Mechanics often use the threat of withholding an inspection sticker to coerce drivers into paying for unnecessary “repairs.”
Who hasn’t driven a vehicle that seemed to be in perfectly good condition to a garage for its annual inspection, only to be told that the car was too dangerous to drive and needed hundreds of dollars of repairs to earn a safety sticker? And how many times have you gone to another garage for a second opinion, where the costs and types of repairs cited were significantly different?
According to a 2016 AAA survey, two out of three Americans simply do not trust auto repair shops. Drivers cite excessive charges, unnecessary service recommendations and poor past experiences as the top reasons for their lack of confidence. The National Insurance Crime Bureau warns that “unscrupulous and dishonest collision repair operators are key contributors to the nation’s insurance fraud problems.”
Instead of incentivizing transparency and consumer trust, Maine’s unnecessary inspection mandate does the opposite, undermining honest communication.
In 2013, the last year for which data is available, the Maine State Police received 559 complaints from drivers about inspection stations, issued 129 warnings, and suspended 37 stations and 78 technicians for violating inspection program rules.
Consumers’ misgivings are well-founded. In one study, researchers in Pennsylvania intentionally created 13 defects in a brand new car prior to inspection. Among the many garages they visited, the detection rate of real defects varied widely, from 25% to 54%. Interestingly, while mechanics on average only found five of the 13 defects, they also “found” an average of two non-existent defects.
Another study echoes similar conclusions. A researcher visited 40 garages with a well-maintained thirteen-year-old Subaru Legacy. Prior to each visit, the vehicle was thoroughly inspected by two expert mechanics who documented the condition of all of the car’s parts and noted any defects. The car had five defects that required immediate attention: a loose battery cable, low coolant, a missing backup tail light, misfit and worn spark plug wires, and an exhaust pipe leak.
Six other defects needed to be monitored but required no urgent action: a slightly weak alternator; an exhaust system with rust along the center pipe and muffler; an unknown condition of the timing belt; moderately-worn shock absorbers; two moderate oil leaks from the engine; and a rattling noise that occasionally came from the right-front brake (braking ability was not impaired). The rest of the vehicle was in good condition.
Of the 40 shops that inspected the vehicle, the plurality of mechanics discovered only one of the 11 defects, and in 55% of visits, two or fewer defects were detected. In only 10% of visits were the majority of the defects discovered. The blown tail light was discovered in only 13% of visits, showing that even trivial-to-discover problems were usually overlooked. The loose battery cable was corrected 68% of the time. The low coolant level was detected in only 28% of visits.
At best, mandatory safety inspections are ineffective ways of identifying needed repairs. At worst, they create a government-created market for unscrupulous mechanics to invent defects and maximize profits. With more government mandates, the people lose more of their liberty with no guarantee of safety. Residents and visitors of the 30 states without mandatory inspections rely on personal responsibility, as we all do in many aspects of daily life.
Most mechanics are just trying to provide good service to their customers; some garages even offer safety inspections free of charge. But a few bad actors unquestionably and intentionally inflate charges or uncover fictional problems—and Maine’s inspection mandate empowers them to commit this fraud.