Hello Again,
I recently took my vette in to get inspected, long story short they said it needed new front brakes. The guy first told me it was metal to metal and it was dangerous to be driving. I knew this wasnt the case since I checked the brakes before I took it down there and on both sides I can still see the wear indicators and they have a good amount of shoe left (about 1/4") so I told them not to touch it. I explained this to the guy at the counter and he said it failed because the shoes were below the pad depth. I didn't know what the exact depth was at the time so I kept my mouth shut but when I came home I looked it up and its 1/16th of an inch. The brakes are not below 1/16th or even close. They put a failed inspection sticker on my car and I have 15 days to bring it back and they will re-inspect it for free.

My question is, what should I do now? I know the brakes are good but I don't think they will pass it if I take it down to the garage again and complain. I would take it somewhere else but with a failed inspection sticker I think I'm just askin to get the vette failed again and spending money for nothing. I could replace the brakes myself, I've worked on cars my entire life, but it is damn cold outside and I dont have a garage...lol.

These guys were out to make money on me cause I have a vette and they just think everyone with a vette is made of money or something, but all they did was cause a lot of headaches for me in the long run.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

Sounds like you have 2 choices, change the brake pads or take it to another inpection station. That's the main reason we don't inspect vehicles here anymore. The shops were failing vehicles to drum up business for themselves.

 

Take it to the state police and explain what happened and show him the brakes. My guess is he will go to the inspector [if he finds the brake pad thickness to be o.k.] and take it from there
If the inspector is lieing to drum up business he will soon find himself in a mess!
ex inspector Dave

 

I think this could be a fun game! Change the pads and see what he comes up with next!

 

 

Its extortion and sad. I can't imagine how much money they get from scaring people and telling them they NEED something fixed when that isn't the case. I have seen so many friends of mine spend hundreds of dollars on fixes when they didn't know anything was wrong with the car. I know enough about cars to know when theres something wrong and needs fixin.

The thing I did have to laugh about in this whole thing was when the guy who inspected the car called me up he told me it failed cause of the brakes and then fired right into telling me how much it was gonna cost. He said 500 for new front brakes and rotors and then he said something that almost made me fall out of my chair....He told me that they were going to need to bleed the brakes and that was going to cost 150 bucks!!! I almost laughed at him on the phone. It takes 2 guys, one wrench, and 5 min to bleed brakes. I've done it probably 100 times.

Maybe I could start chargin people a discounted price at 100 bucks to bleed their brakes and make some money on the side??? Start a mod fund for the vette....lol

Kevin

 

I disagree with the both of you on calling the cops. Nothing good can come of this except a bigger headache. The police don't usually get involved in "business" cases unless it is a legitimate fraud investigation, and of high value, and corvette brakes don't count.

My advice to the OP is to suck it up, go get the parts and change them yourself. Then ask friends or co-workers if they know of any good garages and take your car to the recommended location but DO NOT take it back to the same place just to save a couple of bucks. If you do decide to go back, make sure you stay by your car and watch them like a hawk as they inspect the vette.

Once all is done call and complain to the better business bureau about the garages conduct. ALSO, you can call the better business bureau and see if they have a list of reputable garages. (I think they keep this info as well)

Good luck.

 

Scrape off the fail sticker and take it to another shop. I did this on my truck b/c the first shop I took it too said it needed ball joints and it didn't. If you leave the fail sticker on they will look for a reason to fail it.

 

Actually our state police in Va are the ones that go to shops routinely to make sure they are inspecting vehicles correctly. All of our inspectors have to perform an inspection in front of an officer before they get licensed to inspect vehicles. That being said he could go to them and this guy will probably lose his inspection license.

 

Wow, my bad

I guess I learned something new. We have several other governing bodies where I live that look after inspection stations and garages to make sure they follow guidelines that are mandated by the province (state). If they fail they get their license pulled...well actually the onus doesn't fall on the garage, I think they get a fine, but he mechanic an get his license pulled.

 

I'm also in Virginia and have had the same type of thing happen. Take it to another inspector, they will read the failed sticker and see that it was failed for brakes and recheck them. If your brakes are okay, they will pass it with no problem.

 

In NJ you would be given a form that the "repair shop" would have to fill out as proof. If you did it yourself receipts would be needed and they would just recheck the item you failed for. I still like the inspection because it does keep a lot of unsafe cars off the road that might hit you in the vette

 

Pretty sure its illegal to take the failed sticker off...although I do wish they would have left the old inspection sticker on

 

Its not the same process in Va. I like the inspection process when its honest. If my brakes were bad, no problem, I would have fixed them and happily gone on my way. I just think they are takin me for a ride and seeing me drive up in a vette was just dollar signs to them.

 

Thankfully, we don't have this type of inspection in California. Our big problem here is with smog inspections.

In California, we have the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) that checks up on smog shops. They covertly send in good vehicles and bad vehicles and see if the shop will inspect the car properly.

If a car is improperly inspected, the inspector and the shop are fined $10,000 EACH. Needless to say, our problems in this area are far and few between these days.

 

I had a problem like this when I lived in Richmond, Va. The inspectors failed my car because of no front license plate bracket and wanted me to shell out the cash for them to install the license plate bracket. It is illegal not to have a front license plate in Va, but not part of the inspection. So I called the state troopers and told them how the shop was inspecting things that weren't on the list. A trooper came to the shop and wasn't happy with them at all and made a bad day for the shop. The shop finally passed my car, but they were kicking and screaming the whole time.

 

Just put new brake pads on.

that is the easiest, lest expensive and quickest way though this mess

 

That's a tough spot. I feel better about living in Illinois now. Our inspections are a cake walk compared to other states. (Smog only and no visual inspection of any kind, just a check of the computer.)

 

Get a written quote from the shop, then replace the front pads - taking a time/date-stamped pics of the existing pads. In the end, this is about getting your car back on the road and changing the pads is quick and cheap.

Afterwards you can decide what to do with the written quote and pics.

 

^^Not a good idea. How are you going to legally drive the car with no inspection sticker?