NC Inspection Question

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Tue Jul 07, 2015 2:52 pm

I'm about to buy a car that will have issues passing inspection (20% tint, catless). The previous owner has been able to pass inspection in the past.

If he were to get it to pass inspection in a different county that also requires an emission test (or is this necessary?) right before he sold it to me, would I be able to go ahead and plate the car in Wake county without another inspection?

If this would work, that would give me a year to either make changes to the car or locate a visually impaired inspector.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:00 pm

Not sure about the cat, but if you need to remove the tint I have a steamer you can borrow that I bought to remove tint on my last Honduh. It worked really well but I'm sure every car's different depending on how long the tint's been on there.

BenjaminGuardiola · **Joined:** Wed May 14, 2014 8:31 am **Posts:** 84

From the NCDOT:

"A used vehicle must be inspected before it is offered for sale at retain in this state. Upon
purchase, you will be provided a receipt certifying compliance. The inspection
conducted prior to your purchase is valid until the license plate is due for renewal."

The fine print will tell you that your inspection is due one year from the last one completed, even if it was done by a previous owner. So having the seller inspect it right before you buy it is a good way to buy yourself a year. You can also buy a vehicle from a non-emissions county and have it registered anywhere until that one year is up on the inspection.

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:08 am

BenjaminGuardiola wrote:

From the NCDOT:

"A used vehicle must be inspected before it is offered for sale at retain in this state. Upon
purchase, you will be provided a receipt certifying compliance. The inspection
conducted prior to your purchase is valid until the license plate is due for renewal."

The fine print will tell you that your inspection is due one year from the last one completed, even if it was done by a previous owner. So having the seller inspect it right before you buy it is a good way to buy yourself a year. You can also buy a vehicle from a non-emissions county and have it registered anywhere until that one year is up on the inspection.

Excellent. That is exactly what I was looking for. So technically he has to get it inspected if I read that correctly. As of now the car's registration is out of date, so it has been longer than a year.

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:37 am

I'm not under the impression that it must be inspected prior to sale, that may only apply to dealers but pretty sure for an individual sale that isn't a requirement. If it doesn't have a current inspection/registration then I think it would just be on you to get it inspected before you can put a plate on it.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:56 am

Chad Culbertson wrote:

I'm not under the impression that it must be inspected prior to sale, that may only apply to dealers but pretty sure for an individual sale that isn't a requirement. If it doesn't have a current inspection/registration then I think it would just be on you to get it inspected before you can put a plate on it.

That's my understanding as well. If you buy from a dealer, it has to be inspected. If you buy from an individual, not required. If the tint is an issue, have him inspect it. Like Chad said, if the car is over a year old from it's last inspection, then you'll be on the hook to have it inspected before you can put plates on it. Been there, done that...

Best to have the car inspected before you buy. I got stuck where I bought a car and wanted to turn in a plate and transfer a plate. Turned in the good plate and then the DMV person said, "oh, we can't do this, needs to be inspected". Handed me a form where I could drive the car for 10 days sans plate. Driving a car with out a plate is a great big ol' shout out to the police that screams "pull me over". Needless to say I was in scramble mode to get it inspected.

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:34 pm

I just talked to the seller and he has agreed to get it inspected before the sale. This should hopefully make my life easier.

Now I need the buyer of my car to come up with the money so I can transfer my personalized plate when the time comes. Such is life when every highschool/college kid wants to buy 20yr old 240sx, but can't get a loan since the car is so old and no one pays KBB for these cars.

George Bright · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 2:24 pm

You have not said if the car you want to purchase is old enough that it is not OBDII. If it is old enough then the emissions equipment has to appear to function. You could have a cat housing with no guts in line. If it is OBDII then I would assume the car has a device to fool the brain into thinking a cat is there and functioning. Once again a fake cat could pass.

On the tint you have to find a crooked inspection station to pass it. However police are starting to carry tint checkers so illegal tint could still be an issue.

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 2:48 pm

It is an 03 WRX with a custom tune, so I think the issue is that it will not pass a visual, but would pass a scanner. The tint is 20% all around and it can't be less than 35% unless it is factor tint which it is not. One option would be to just to try to replace the front windows and see if I could get a way with everything else being 20% (similar to factory tint on many vehicles).

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 3:08 pm

Chris Halweg wrote:

It is an 03 WRX with a custom tune, so I think the issue is that it will not pass a visual, but would pass a scanner. The tint is 20% all around and it can't be less than 35% unless it is factor tint which it is not. One option would be to just to try to replace the front windows and see if I could get a way with everything else being 20% (similar to factory tint on many vehicles).

If it's a wagon, you could probably get by w/ the light tint on the fronts. If it's a sedan, then all windows need to be 35. They have such odd rules for tinting. Truck back windows can be obscured, and SUV's can run any tint except for the front side windows. Sedans have to be light tint all around. Not sure where a wagon fails...

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 3:22 pm

It is a wagon, so that is why I thought I might be able to get by, but by the letter of the law it is not factory tint, so it is not exempt.

George Bright · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:48 pm

Does the registration card show the vehicle as a SW? If so it is a wagon and the law allows the windows behind the driver and the back window to be anything up to black. The front windows have to be 32%.

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:27 pm

George Bright wrote:

Does the registration card show the vehicle as a SW? If so it is a wagon and the law allows the windows behind the driver and the back window to be anything up to black. The front windows have to be 35%.

I'm not sure. I would guess it does. It would be legal if it was factory tint behind the driver, but it is not. It would just depend on if the inspector cared enough to check more than the front windows and realize that it is aftermarket tint in the back.
This is were I'm getting my information: http://www.ncdot.gov/download/dmv/inspe ... inting.pdf

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:08 am

George Bright wrote:

Does the registration card show the vehicle as a SW? If so it is a wagon and the law allows the windows behind the driver and the back window to be anything up to black. The front windows have to be 35%.

Yet another law that makes no sense. It's also legal for the rear windows of an SUV to be black, but the rear doors of a 4-door mist be 35% like the fronts.

George Bright · **Posted:** Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:16 am

Here is the section that applies to vans, station wagons etc. The vehicle classifications are from the dark ages before mini vans and SUVs so they are lumped in with the SW classification.

However, they do not apply to any other window of the following vehicle types:

A window of a multipurpose vehicle that is behind the driver of the vehicle. A
multipurpose vehicle is a passenger vehicle that is designed to carry 10 or fewer
passengers and either is constructed on a truck chassis or has special features designed
for occasional off‐road operation. A minivan and a pickup truck are multipurpose vehicles.

Like I said the windows behind you can be anything up to painted black. In inspection school they teach that this includes station wagons. I know I was a state inspector.

I asked the classification question because my Focus ZX-3 hatchback is classed as 2S and I cannot have dark windows behind me. But there are 3 door wagons.

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