Sunday, May 19, 2013

By Janet Hefler
Published: June 25, 2009

Most Vineyard motorists probably noticed little difference when the state wheeled out a new vehicle inspection program last October. Several Island service stations continue to offer inspections as usual, and the $29 sticker fee remains the same.

MV Autoworks owner Louis Figueroa at his inspection workstation. Photo by Nelson Sigelman

What changed significantly, however, are new emissions testing and safety requirements. And although the process is still relatively quick and easy, a failed vehicle inspection may now require a trip off Island to a Motorist Assistance Center (MAC). For Islanders, the nearest one is located in Bourne.

Under the new program, named the Massachusetts Vehicle Check (MVC), all vehicles registered in the state must undergo and pass a safety inspection each year. Most vehicles also must undergo emissions testing annually, instead of every other year.

The Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) and Mass Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) now require model year 1996 and newer passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs to undergo annual on-board diagnostic (OBD) emissions testing. The same applies to 2008 and newer medium-duty vehicles.

In vehicles manufactured since 1995, an OBD computer monitors engine, transmission, fuel system, and emissions control performance. The new MVC program provides a combined safety and emissions inspection through a plug-in test using a vehicle's OBD system.

The same test has been used for the last four years. Under the new MVC program, however, licensed inspection stations are linked to the Registry online through computer workstations. The program is capped at 1,600 public inspection stations for inspecting non-commercial vehicles, based on the number of computer workstations available.

With the state's change to the new program, Will deBettencourt, owner of Bink's Auto in Oak Bluffs, and Louis Figueroa, owner of MV Autoworks in Vineyard Haven, are the most recent additions to the Island's licensed inspection stations.

Others include Buddy's Auto and Truck Repair Service and DeBettencourt's Service Station in Oak Bluffs, Preferred Tire and Auto of Martha's Vineyard in Vineyard Haven, and Pilgrim Road Auto Repair and Cars Unlimited in Edgartown.

Bink's Auto used to offer inspections up until a few years ago. MV Autoworks was certified as an inspection station in February.

Both Mr. deBettencourt and Mr. Figueroa said customer convenience was the main factor in their decision to add inspections to their services.

"I hate sending someone away when I could do your brakes, I could do your transmission, and then had to send you somewhere else for a sticker, where you don't know the people and don't normally deal with them," Mr. Figueroa said. "It's an added benefit to my customers, especially since there was only one station that was doing inspections in Vineyard Haven before."

In addition to the expense involved, Mr. Figueroa said the station licensing process was time-consuming. "It took me about eight months of legwork to get it finalized and actually put a sticker on a car," he said.

Although Mr. deBettencourt did inspections previously, he said the new program has involved more than just buying new equipment. "The whole inspection system has all changed now," he said. "The dynamometers, the drums you used to put a car on and run them, those are all gone. Now, you just plug the vehicle in, and it goes through the Registry's database. If the registration is invalid or anything like that, it's doing a pre-check on the vehicle while you're doing an inspection."

Model 1995 and older cars, trucks, and SUVs no longer receive tailpipe emissions tests but will continue to be checked for visible smoke. The RMV dropped the alternative dynamometer testing for the older vehicles because they either are not equipped with on-board computers or are not compatible with the OBD test.

Also, vehicles manufactured before 1996 now make up less than 15 percent of all vehicles registered in Massachusetts. The RMV decided the declining numbers of older vehicles did not justify an investment of up to $80,000 per inspection station on required equipment and maintenance for dynamometer testing.

That means only a safety inspection will be required for many Island cars. The average age of vehicles is 14.4 years in Aquinnah, 13.3 in Chilmark, 13.4 in Edgartown, 13.3 in Oak Bluffs, 12.8 in Tisbury, and 13.3 in West Tisbury, according to the state's Department of Revenue most recent data from January 2008.

"Fortunately, I think up to this point, a lot of the Vineyard cars had already been pulled from the road because they weren't making the grade with that older system - the dynamometer testing - so I think a lot of people have scrapped or gotten rid of their vehicles because of it," Mr. deBettencourt said. "And I think anything that's on the road now that's only going to go through a safety inspection has been kept up quite well. It's not likely a bucket that's been pulled out of a field and had tires put on it and been put out on the road. If they're out there, they've been maintained pretty well to still manage the roads."

Mr. Figueroa said the new inspection program has tightened up regulations for the better. "They have started inspecting trailers now, which I think is very good, because some of the ones that I've seen don't belong out there, and now it's safer for everyone," he said.

New safety inspection requirements regarding license plates and brackets have raised the biggest complaints from customers, Mr. Figueroa said. License plates must be readable from 60 feet away, and if damaged or worn, or obscured by a specialty bracket, the vehicle will fail inspection "Some people have had those old green license plates for 20 years," he said, "and the paint is faded and they're falling off the cars. The state wants those plates off the vehicles."

Mr. Figueroa said another helpful benefit the program offers is a vehicle identification number (VIN) match. "The computer that's in the car stores the VIN number, the year, the make, the model, and all of the information about emissions," he explained, "and if it doesn't match your registration, it gets a red flag and you have to go over to a motorist assistance center. It prevents parts from being stolen or not installed correctly. Someone can't do a sticker on one car and paste it on another."

Depending on emission test results, the RMV computer may send a message to the inspection station referring a vehicle to a MAC for further evaluation.

Such a message caught Mr. deBettencourt by surprise a few months ago when he inspected a 2002 Ford Ranger owned by Rhonda Conley of Vineyard Haven. When he plugged the truck in for testing, a message came up on his workstation computer referring her truck to a MAC and the RMV system automatically shut him out.

The RMV website says a vehicle may be referred to a MAC if it "has been selected for a program evaluation inspection." Mr. deBettencourt said at first he thought Ms. Conley's truck had been randomly selected.

Ms. Conley was understandably dismayed by the news she might have to take her truck off-Island. "It's all the way to Bourne, so I'd have to pay for the boat fare and time off," she said in a phone interview. "Plus, what if it didn't pass? I'd have to go back to that station."

That's no easy task for Ms. Conley, who juggles several jobs, as an administrative assistant for the Affordable Housing Committee in West Tisbury, a crossing-guard, gardener, and pet-sitter.

Sympathetic to her plight, Mr. deBettencourt called the RMV and MAC to try to resolve the problem. "As I explained, for someone on Martha's Vineyard, it's not as easy as driving down the street to one of these centers," he said.

The RMV corrected the problem, which was a computer error in reading the data from Ms. Conley's truck. That allowed Mr. deBettencourt to re-do the inspection test at his station, saving her a trip off-Island.

RMV Communications Director Anne DeFresne said she was unfamiliar with the website reference to program evaluation inspections. After checking with several Registry employees, she said, "The answer I've gotten is we don't do any random program evaluation inspections. We do, however, perform some covert inspections where we sent a rigged vehicle in for inspection and make sure the inspectors find the defects, and then follow up administratively if they do not."

Parsons Commercial Technology Group, the contractor that manages the state inspection program's day-to-day operations, opened up a network of 11 MACs across the state. The centers help diagnose emissions problems in vehicles referred to them that fail their initial inspections.

Mr. Figueroa considers the new centers a big plus. "Before you had nowhere to go - all you had was a telephone number and it was someone in Arizona or wherever the assistance center was," he said. "It wasn't even in-state. Now, you can actually get help close by."

A new economic hardship failure extension is available for a motorist with a private passenger vehicle that fails its emissions test and requires major repairs, such as a transmission replacement or engine overhaul. The extension gives a vehicle owner a one-time, one-year sticker to continue operating the car, truck or SUV while deciding whether or not to fix or replace it.

An emissions waiver is available to a motorist whose private passenger vehicle fails both its initial emissions test and a re-test. Waivers may be granted if repair costs exceed $750, $650 or $550, depending on the age of the vehicle. The expense thresholds will be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index.

To apply for either an extension or a waiver, motorists must have their vehicles evaluated at an MAC. And as Mr. Figueroa pointed out, going to Bourne is a lot closer than having to go to the RMV in Boston.

Other MACs are located in Beverly, Braintree, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Hyde Park,

Pittsfield, Shrewsbury, Tewksbury, and West Springfield. For more information or to make an appointment at an MAC, call 1-866-941-6277.

The state continues to streamline the program, according to Mr. deBettencourt. "I think once we get past this 'work the bugs out' stage," he said. "I do believe it is a good system and it will benefit the motorist."

"For the most part, it's going smoothly," Mr. Figueroa said. "We just want vehicles to be safe."

For more information about the inspection program, as well as local stations and the type of inspections they offer, visit the website mass.org /vehiclecheck.