Merchants Tire & Auto Went in for State inspection, Merchant Thieves ask for $600 minimum to pass Richmond Virginia

You covered a lot of the obvious that many do not know like about how they charge for labor based on "the book" but I learned this past week, the State Inspector is not a tech or a mechanic at the shop but a private entity who takes up space at the shop.  So he works on his schedule.  I have been to a few places here where the inspector is VERY over worked, doing one car after another for the entire shift and others where the inspector gets one an hour or less.  Anyway, he and the number of people being inspected that day is the reason for delays.

Why I found most valuable about you rebuttal is that the State Police investigate the Inspections.  This was the information I was looking for when I started my search.  Thank you

 Had an incident with Hogan and Sons in which I failed the VA State Inspection because:

Pads and rotors were low

High and low, pressure hoses to the power steering were bad

Hogan wanted to charge me $1400 for the repairs.

 I took it to another mechanic to find the hoses were not bad just needed to replace clamps on low-pressure hoses.  The brakes were low but had enough to pass.

Found out later on that the VA Inspector did not inspect for the damages but saw moisture around the hoses and the low fluid level in the reservoir.  The low fluid was due to the age of the vehicle 2003 and never needing having the fluid topped off and the moisture, again age, and the condensation and wetness of this January 2015.

NOW, I feel that there might be something with the inspector stating a problem with the vehicle and the mechanic who checked it not finding the true repair need. 

To be fair, the brakes I replaced but they could have lasted another year.  It cost me about $160 to install and that was not far from the price quoted by Hogan but I was not going to have them do when the other mechanic saved me $1000 by changing the clamps.

At this point, I would like to find an email or an address where I can report this state inspector and recommend that they investigate him, first for not causing me to fail when I should have passed and secondly for possible working with one or more mechanics with the shop to charge customers more for unneeded repairs.  Can anyone help me find an address?

Lastly, I would like to thank Charlie at Hogan for recommending I price parts elsewhere to see if I can save buying non-manufacturer parts.  If he did not recommend this, I would not have found the savings.

Let's start with your first paragraph.....The reason it takes some time for inspection stations to inspect YOUR car is because YOU are usually not the ONLY car in their shop. Most inspectors are also technecians who must balance repairing and inspecting vehicles at the same time. If a vehicle fails inspection and the owner decides to have the car repaired, that inspector will stop inspecting and focus on that vehicle until completion.

Next, you stated the items "required" for inspection with a comment to remove an illegal sticker from the windshield. Not sure if you realized it or not, but you took your car to them for an INSPECTION. An inspection is just that.....an INSPECTION. State law requires YOUR permission to begin repairing ANY items for an inspection.

You later go on to say that you have a "trusted mechanic". Why didn't you take it to him to get an inspection or go to someone he recommended? Your "trusted mechanic" also seems to have some sort of super high definition eyechrometers as well. If he can hold and look at a brake rotor with normal wear and tell you it is above or below specification, he is not human. The only way you can tell if a brake rotor is above or below specification is to use a measuring device called a micrometer. Brake rotors can fail if they are .001 below the manufacturer's specification. Do you really think his eyes can see that small of a difference?

I dunno what to tell you about the prices they were giving you. It may seem like an unfair amount of labor for some things, but the way most shops calculate labor is from a labor guide. The technician gets paid the time that's in the shop's labor guide no matter how long it takes him. Which means some technicians who can work fast, make more money in less time. Maybe your "trusted mechanic" is very skilled at replacing 95 honda civic door handles in a matter of minutes. If he charged say a half hour to replace it and does it in two minutes, he has just made a half hour in two minutes. That is the goal of technicians-working faster than the clock.

So now you take it back to the shop for a reinspection. Not sure why the mirror was not found on the first inspection, but if you had any problems with a state inspection, you should have called the state police and let them handle it. If you want to view the official virginia state inspection book, it's available online for the public on the state police website. Be warned, you're gonna need a snickers bar to get you through the entire book. Inspectors have a lot of information they must retain about the laws in this book.

I'm not sure if anyone knows this or not, but if you think you are being taken advantage of on a virginia state inspection, CALL THE STATE POLICE! That's why they are in charge of the inspection program. They made it, so they have the final word. If the station or inspector are in the wrong, proper action will be taken by the virginia state police.

I have taken my vehicles to them for years and have never had a problem. The management team there rocks and communicates well and does not blow smoke. As far as the state inspection is concerned my husband use to be a VA state inspector, he said when ever in doubt call the state police safety division and let them get the matter straight . That is why you have the state fees and taxes. You should check this avenues out before slamming someone. Me and my husband will continue to take our vehicles to that location at 1101 sturbridge drive. As far as decals are concerned they have to have permission to remove before doing so.