We finally make our way into the office where they tell me I have to have an inspection first (I believe that's what she called it). They told me any gas station could do it. I asked her if she could tell me where one was close by. She informed me that she couldn't because it was a conflict of interest. Seriously! I hate government workers, no offence if you are one.
I head out to the car but both kids back in. Then I proceed to drive around in circles looking for a gas station. I finally find one that has a banner saying they do inspections. Again I pull both kids out of the car. The woman informs me that I need to leave my car with them for SIX hours, and then I can come back and pick it up. She says that really they aren't even supposed to be doing them because it's raining outside. What!?!
At this point we have been at it for three hours and still no closer to getting our new tags. I finally decide to give up and head back home. I stop at one more gas station close to our house. They also say it is going to take all day, and they want to charge us $80.00 Is that normal?!? 80.00 bucks and that's not even what the state is going to charge us.
I guess my question is what do people do here? Is $80.00 a reasonable fee for an inspection? Do they really need to keep your car all day? Is Maryland really that incompetent of a state? Aha!!!!
8 comments:
My sister lived in PA for a few years...things out that direction are just not the same as they are here on the good ol' West Coast where they don't care what kind of beater car you drive or what kind of shape it's in. Just pay your $60 (or whatever it is) registration fee and here's your tags. My sister said it was ridiculously expensive to register her car there as well...is it the same in Maryland?
Do you remember Emily Bezayiff from H.S.? She lives in Maryland. Perhaps you need to get in contact with her. She's been there for a few years now and probably has a pretty good handle on that sort of thing by now.
If it makes you feel better Oregon is doubling the price of their tags! Kirsy
Shauna, of course it gets expensive here in CA too! However, it sounds like the inspection is like a smog check, something we have get here every 2 years. It runs up to 60 bucks if I can remember correctly (may be closer to $50).
Good luck sweetie! Get a hold of Emily, she is so great... I haven't seen her since after highschool when she was at the same college as me for a brief moment!
Shauna, I don't remember what the price is, but $80 doesn't surprise me. Luckily, you don't have to do it often. I think you may only have to do that check once, and then you have to do a regular emissions test (but it's pretty quick--no 6 hour waits!) every 2 years, I think.
If you come to my house, I can drive with you to the gas station and then bring you back home or to my house in my van. Call me! Oh--and I don't have your e-mail. I wanted to respond about the resource center. Let's go together!
Sounds like an adventure(!) In Portland we have to have emissions tests done but I think it was more along the lines of $20 and it was really quick--maybe 5-10 minutes. Good luck!! Oh, and I'm wondering why they can't do the inspections in the rain? If that was a rule in Oregon nothing would ever get done :)
Oh MAN!!! That stinks that you had to go through all that work for NOTHING!!! I hate car stuff!!! I wish I could help you. I don't remember what we did when we moved here. I DO remember that it was a PAIN and I DO remember driving around looking for a place to do inspections. However, we kept our California plates (since we're only her for school and can use that as our excuse). SO, I actually don't think we ended up needing a MD inspection. California just mailed us our stickers. I can ask Spencer more about what we did. He might remember. If it's useful info I'll get back to you. Sorry I'm not much help!
OKAY this was my exact adventure VERBATIM 2 years ago. Except I only had one kid at the time. The rest is the same. Yes, to all of your questions, especially Maryland being incompetent. The cheapest state inspection I've found is $69, and it is false that "any" gas station does them. It's actually kind of hard to find them. I got on the phone and called around. Also I found an ad for Midas saying they now do MD state inspections, for $65! We were so excited and ran to the nearest Midas, but they said they did not do inspections and had no idea what I was talking about. Even when I showed them the ad. Anyway. It takes a ridiculous amount of time. They are 100% thorough and will invariably find something "wrong" with your car which they will offer to fix for a hefty fee. Actual examples of ours: 1- first car failed because of wiper blades, which they would replace for $40. 2- second car failed because it was a little hard to close the driver door (it DID close though). 3- same car failed again because the headlights were foggy, which they would replace for $500. I went and bought a $4 plastic cleaner, polished them up, took the car back the next day and it passed. This registration process is just a ridiculous ongoing joke that has Maryland MVA folks chuckling.
Wait. There's more. After you do make it through all the hoops and pay an arm and a leg and perhaps your firstborn child (look out Logan!) and get the car registered, a month or two later you will get an order in the mail to get an emissions inspection. Now I don't know about Oregon, but in Utah they do emissions and safety together and both are required for registration. But not in the great state of Maryland. You will have to drive to the shady outskirts of town and have emissions inspected through a drive-through station. The good news - it's pretty fast and not nearly as expensive (like $14). Weird weird state. I'm pretty sure that was the longest comment ever.
Oh yeah. But the registration here lasts 2 years! Another good thing.
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