Safety Inspection in Ontario

[tmontague]

The laws around safety inspections drastically changed in June 1st of this year in Ontario. The amount of detail (and cost) has gone up considerably. The average price out here in Hamilton is about $110 where it used to be $50-$60.

It now take about 1.5-2 hours and the list they go through is exhaustive. If it's on the car it has to work. This means a slightly torn rear wiper blade or even 1 fog light being burnt out.

I took my newly (private sale) purchased '05 Vibe awd to CRS automotive in Hamilton (went there because it's close). When I inspected the car when I bought it I knew the front pads had about 50% left and the rotors were fairly rusted (~2 years old). The rear drums were rusted like crazy and I never took off the wheels to inspect the shoes as the car was on ramps. The shoes actually had about 80% left on them.

I knew it needed a new drive belt and the control arms were rusted and the bushing were the originals and were old so i figured I'd replace all that before the winter. Keep in mind the bushing were not torn.

Before I brought it in to safety I wiped any of the leaks and cleaned it up. When I picked it up the result was as follows:

failed due to:
-torn rear wiper blade
-control arms needs to be replaced-torn puck bushing
-rear shoes need replacing, drums are recommended
-front rotors need to be replaced, pads recommended
-drive belt needs replacement.

I also found out you only have 10 days to get it all done or you have to pay another $124 (taxes) to re do the safety. i scrambled and ordered the parts from Rock auto to get it done in under 10 days. I question the guy at the car place about how I thought the bushings were fine and the pads were more then 25% left (as pert the requirement). That said, I was going to replace everything that needed to be done anyways so I didn't push the issue. His response was basically ya the push bushing is torn but was nice about it all.

After inspecting the old parts I found the following was complete bs:

-rear shoes have about 80% left on them
-control arm bushing were old but fine and not cracked.
-Front rotors were fine just rusted but only about 2 years old.

I got it checked over last night and it passed but I can't get the paper until the tech that inspected it is working. So tonight I'm going to get the paper and once I have it I'm going to bring in all of the parts to the shop and ask them how the hell they failed the safety.

I'll post back and let you all know how it goes and what they say but it was a complete money grab which they never ended up making any money since I did all of the work myself. It would have failed due to the wiper and drive belt but the other stuff should not have failed it.

Apparently the gov't is doing randoms audits now so shops are no longer willing to turn a blind eye and sign a pass. However in this case it was blatant false measurements made.

Thought I'd warn any of you looking to buy a car "as is" good deals can still be made but its just harder to pass a safety now a days.