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Old 07-31-2018, 09:18 PM
 
2,333 posts, read 1,960,879 times
Reputation: 1321

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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRational View Post
The rather modest cost ($80) of the inspection is NOT the issue.

The uncertainty of not being able to get title & tags in one day is...
compounded by the 'what if' factor if the reason is serious or spendy
and that YOU are the one who will have to do all the running around getting it right.

(even with a late model toyota)

The VA based DC suburb car dealers know the score.
If they aren't willing to use their resources to get what should be a minor thing dealt with
I'm left to believe they know there is reason why the car won't pass inspection.
caveat emptor
Exactly! I would not buy used from a dealership. Not unless it was new, and I would price match other dealers, including out of state ones. Anyway.......
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Old 08-01-2018, 07:48 AM
 
675 posts, read 723,002 times
Reputation: 498
I bought a car in virginia and i live in baltimore. Supposedly the car was inspected in virginia. As it ended up the inspection station in maryland wanted about 2k in repairs to pass the inspection. I ended up paying abour 12 hundred to get it passed in maryland. Be careful where you take your car to have it inspected.
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Old 08-01-2018, 09:30 AM
 
Location: The Triad
34,088 posts, read 82,920,234 times
Reputation: 43660
Quote:
Originally Posted by debold4215 View Post
I bought a car in virginia and i live in baltimore.
Supposedly the car was inspected in virginia.
I'm sure it was. The issue is that the VA inspection is a joke.
The Maryland safety inspection is NO JOKE.

Quote:
the inspection station in maryland wanted about 2k in repairs to pass the inspection.
Maryland has had a very strong consumer protection philosophy for a long time.
As regards used cars this puts the burden on the SELLER to have something safe to drive.

Was anything on that repair order really out of line?
I'd be very surprised.

Quote:
Be careful where you take your car to have it inspected.
Old wives tale. Really.
These shops have far too much to lose by playing those games.
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Old 08-01-2018, 11:24 AM
 
Location: Boston
20,099 posts, read 8,998,912 times
Reputation: 18745
never buy a car from anyone unwilling to get the car inspected.
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Old 08-02-2018, 06:41 AM
 
Location: Metro Washington DC
15,427 posts, read 25,795,620 times
Reputation: 10450
Virginia does a safety inspection.(lights, tires, brakes, etc...) Maryland does a vehicle inspection. They check everything. They are not the same. Buyers from MD should be aware of that.
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Old 08-02-2018, 09:40 AM
 
Location: On the Chesapeake
45,333 posts, read 60,500,026 times
Reputation: 60917
Quote:
Originally Posted by dkf747 View Post
Virginia does a safety inspection.(lights, tires, brakes, etc...) Maryland does a vehicle inspection. They check everything. They are not the same. Buyers from MD should be aware of that.
Yeah. I've brought 3 vehicles, actually 4, from PA and all were recently inspected there. PA has a yearly inspection.

None of the 4 passed in MD. The most minor issues were headlight alignment, the most serious (which I doubt) were leaking shocks and bad tie rods.

I say "doubt" because both cars that had that problem were inspected by the same shop. Too much of a coincidence. I could see the one vehicle since it was 14 or 15 years old (although very low mileage) and had lived in PA the entire time. The other was only 4 years old and was from SoCAL and had only been in PA for the summer until I bought it.
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Old 08-02-2018, 04:26 PM
 
5,114 posts, read 6,084,776 times
Reputation: 7184
Leaking shocks/struts and tie rods are ones that sneak up on people with otherwise well maintained cars. I recently got rid of a car that I had used as the daily commuter until I retired . I thought it was in good shape, the mechanic who has maintained my vehicles for the last 10 years thought it was in good shape. Had it inspected ( My Mechanic does not do them, he has another shop in the area he goes to for them) and found out that both front shocks were leaking. I could have sold it in Virginia Pennsylvania, or (even better West Virginia) with little problem but the cost to sell it in Maryland was unrealistic. I ended up wholesaling it out. All shocks/struts leak eventually. Some are cheaper to replace than others. Maryland is considered one of the toughest in the region on its inspections. I guess they figure they only have one shot at you.
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Old 08-17-2018, 07:31 AM
 
Location: Pikesville, MD
2,983 posts, read 3,088,674 times
Reputation: 4552
Last year I bought this in VA from a small dealer:





Got my temp tags to drive it, took it to a garage on Joppa Road that specializes in inspections (in fact, it's all they do, no repairs are done at this shop) where it passed with flying colors.


I've done this many times. The car next to it was bought from a private party in VA 3 years ago. I drove it back here and took it to get inspected where it also passed. No problems.


it's. just. not. that. big. of. a. deal.


The only cars I've bought that I didn't have inspected were new cars, and I've never sold a car that *I* did the inspection on (but I've never had one fail, either).




Oh, and I don't recommend getting an inspection done at a typical repair shop. I've seen this numerous times with some older cars and with friend's cars: the shops will "find" things wrong that their shop specializes in. If it's a brake/wheel and tire shop, guess what will fail? If it's a muffler shop or the like, then THOSE systems will fail. I had one car years ago that went to a brake, wheel and tire shop and they said the brakes are bad, and two tires were worn too far (which was false). Took it to another shop (a muffler shop) and they said the brakes and tires were fine but the muffler had a pinhole that required the exhaust system to be redone. BS. Since then I've found an inspection station that doesn't do repairs and if they find something bad, it actually IS bad. Since they don't do repairs, they have no incentive to "find" things wrong with the car.
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Old 08-17-2018, 07:33 AM
 
Location: Pikesville, MD
2,983 posts, read 3,088,674 times
Reputation: 4552
Quote:
Originally Posted by Digger 68 View Post
Exactly! I would not buy used from a dealership.

I look for specialty cars (I don't buy basic transportation), and sometimes you have to go out of state and to small dealerships to find them. The one I just posted is a rare BMW 330ci ZHP (the ZHP package was quite rare on the convertibles) and the best one available in a 6 state radius was in VA at a specialty car dealer.
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Old 08-17-2018, 12:06 PM
 
5,114 posts, read 6,084,776 times
Reputation: 7184
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiffer E38 View Post
I look for specialty cars (I don't buy basic transportation), and sometimes you have to go out of state and to small dealerships to find them. The one I just posted is a rare BMW 330ci ZHP (the ZHP package was quite rare on the convertibles) and the best one available in a 6 state radius was in VA at a specialty car dealer.

Cars like that are in a different class than what most folks buy as used cars. I would expect a car in the price range I suspect you paid to have no problems with inspection.
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