> I live in Virginia which as an inspection system. Its a hassle and
> is useless. You'd have thought that they'd have told me that the
> brakes were within a year of needing replaced, but no - mine failed
> about 5 months later. They don't wear that fast, so the inspectors
> _should_ have known it, but didn't bother to mention it.
>
> Driveshaft problem won't be picked up in an inspection - they don't
> drive 'em in order to be able to feel the vibration.

I'm also in Virginia.

What's worse is the inspection scams.

I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee I took to the dealer for some warranty work (I
would never otherwise use a dealer) and, since the inspection was almost
due, I asked them to do that too.

"Needs new front brakes" they said. I asked, "How much?" They say "$300".
After cleaning the coffee from the phone, I said "Reject it!"

So I go to Advance auto parts and buy new pads for $18 and proceed to do the
job myself - it takes about 15 minutes.

When I pull the old pads off, I notice they didn't seem to be too worn. I
pull out my micrometer and measure them, the worst point had 50% more pad
than required by state law.

So I drive in there and have a little talk about it.

There was much scrambling and tripping over tongues as to giving me an
explanation. The only thing they could say is "Well, they would have been
worn out befor NEXT inspection!"

So, they bribed me with several coupons for free oil changes, car washes and
other stuff "to make up for the trouble".

I should have had their damn inspection license pulled.