Inspected or Not?

I live in a state which requires vehicle owners to get an annual comprehensive safety inspection. For instance, the certified inspector checks your headlights, blinkers, wipers, horn, brakes, mirrors, etc. If your vehicle is between two and twenty-four years old then you must also have an emissions test which has different testing methods depending on the county your vehicle is registered in. If you fail the inspection for any reason, you are still required by law to pay the inspecting station the fee, and then have fifteen days to repair the problem(s) and return to the original inspection station for one free reinspection.

If you have concluded that I need to get my vehicle inspected then you win the kewpie doll. I went to a local shop this evening that does inspections and they had me park my vehicle outside the service bay behind a truck getting an oil change. My wife gets out and I'm taking Baby out of her car seat and a service person asks me for my proof of insurance and the keys, which I give him. I put Baby in her stroller and we're standing outside the door to the waiting area when the person returns and says he is ready to ring me up. My wife takes the stroller while I go inside and pay the inspection fee. He says I'm ready to go and I take a look at my vehicle and another person is already applying the new inspection sticker. I walk outside, tell my wife to get in, and I proceed to put Baby back into her car seat. The inspection took all of ten minutes.

I have been driving in this state for many, many, years, and I've *never* had an inspection that only took ten minutes. This station did not inspect anything nor did they perform the emissions test. Yet they passed my vehicle and I'm good for another year. Come on, the least they could have done was toot my horn.