Turns out that in Maine, you have to have your car inspected yearly. And it turns out that if you don't, you can get a $200 ticket. I didn't find that out personally, but I've heard enough "I know someone who..." stories to believe it. So I finally got my car in, and it passed (whew). I'm kind of curious as to what they inspected. I asked, and got a general answer about emissions and fluid leaks. I don't really understand how the program works. I get the idea is to make sure cars are road-worthy, and I think its a good one. And obviously it does work, since its been in place since 1999. But just about any garage is able to do an inspection, and its common knowledge that some places pass cars more easily than others. What stops a mechanic from finding a 'problem' that he can charge you to fix? Sure you can get a second inspection somewhere else, but pass or fail, just getting the inspection costs about $20. Seems like you could really get stuck, if you had an older car and not a whole lot of money. I'm also curious as to if, because of vehicle inspections, there are fewer broken down cars on the road, or fewer accidents due to the car malfunctioning.In any case, I'm set until next year.
