List of vehicle inspection stations in Trinidad & Tobago

[*KRONIK*]

Am I correct in thinking that a car can be inspected at any time regardless of the current inspection status (expired or not) and if successful, the inspection is valid for 2 years from the date of inspection?
For example, if my car's inspection is expiring in June 2019, I can go for re-inspection in March 2019 and the new inspection if successful will expire in March 2021?

Yes
At any time

Inspection is 2 years from the date of the certificate whether you have a current valid one or expired

Thanks Kronik.

[Kronik]

My father inspect his car 3 months before I went, and it take 6 months after I inspect for them to get the actual sticker, and in that space of time my father sticker still was not ready, he got his about 2 months after I get mine, and it was done by the same garage, so time he get the sticker, half the time already passed for the inspection validation.

Yeah he would have had the inspection certificate if he was stopped about it, but not having the sticker makes you a target to be pulled aside and scrutinized

[rebound]

You can inspect every month for all they care.....its all about$$$$$

[j.o.e]

Never liked the sticker. So glad when they don’t have.

[hydroep]

Licensing inspection racket unearthed
Stickers 'selling' at $1,500
Khamal Georges

An on­go­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to mo­tor ve­hi­cle in­spec­tions at the Port-of-Spain Li­cens­ing Di­vi­sion has un­earthed a rack­et in­volv­ing se­nior li­cens­ing of­fi­cers, over­priced in­spec­tion stick­ers, and com­plic­it pri­vate garages.

The in­ves­ti­ga­tion re­vealed col­lu­sion be­tween some se­nior li­cens­ing of­fi­cers and op­er­a­tors of in­spec­tion sta­tions. Ac­cord­ing to in­sid­ers at the Min­istry of Trans­port, it be­came ev­i­dent that se­nior of­fi­cers sought to cre­ate pan­ic so that the de­mand for stick­ers would in­crease sig­nif­i­cant­ly and this drove the price up. Li­cens­ing of­fi­cers, Guardian Me­dia learned, were of­fer­ing them for sale at $1,500. The per­son will­ing to pay that amount would by­pass the long wait time and have the stick­ers con­ve­nient­ly de­liv­ered to their homes and work­places.

Guardian Me­dia al­so un­der­stands that a Min­istry of Works and Trans­port of­fi­cial vis­it­ed the Port-of-Spain Li­cens­ing Di­vi­sion of­fice and seized the in­spec­tion reg­is­ters af­ter get­ting wind of the cor­rupt prac­tice.

It was in there they got ad­di­tion­al ev­i­dence of the un­eth­i­cal be­hav­iour. It showed more than 300 in­spec­tion stick­ers be­ing dis­trib­uted in a sin­gle day. But, that par­tic­u­lar of­fice can on­ly in­spect be­tween 50-70 ve­hi­cles dai­ly.

When the Min­istry of Works and Trans­port got wind of the scheme, it at­tempt­ed to pre­vent the in­for­ma­tion from be­ing put in­to the pub­lic do­main, but it was too late. The news spread rapid­ly on so­cial me­dia and peo­ple will­ing­ly paid three times the ac­tu­al cost to have their ve­hi­cles in­spect­ed.

Guardian Me­dia was told that the Trans­port Min­istry rec­om­mend­ed a five-month mora­to­ri­um to put a spoke in the wheel of those cash­ing in on the rush and to pro­tect cit­i­zens from ex­ploita­tion.

Sinanan con­firmed that he was aware of the il­le­gal op­er­a­tions and planned to shut it down as soon as pos­si­ble.

He said it was clear that the num­ber of in­spec­tions be­ing done was sig­nif­i­cant­ly less than the num­ber of stick­ers be­ing dis­trib­uted. The mat­ter is still be­ing in­ves­ti­gat­ed.

He said the mora­to­ri­um was giv­en to en­sure cit­i­zens were "not tak­en ad­van­tage of". Un­for­tu­nate­ly, Sinanan said, peo­ple are will­ing to pay that mon­ey and he is urg­ing them against it.

He is al­so warn­ing pri­vate garages that their li­cences will be re­voked if caught in the act.

One garage own­er, Richie Sookhai of Sookhai's Diesel yes­ter­day con­firmed that peo­ple were of­fer­ing to pay ex­tra for the con­ve­nience.

"But that is not some­thing we would even en­ter­tain here," he said.

In a tele­phone in­ter­view yes­ter­day, Sookhai said that peo­ple slept in their cars out­side his in­spec­tion bay from 2 am.

"It was slow in the past five months, ten cars or so for the day and then the day af­ter Box­ing day...mad­ness," he said.

Sookhai ex­tend­ed busi­ness hours to keep up with the de­mand but was still turn­ing peo­ple away and telling them to come back an­oth­er day for in­spec­tion.

Back in Ju­ly, dri­vers faced much of the same sit­u­a­tion. Sinanan said then that there were 137,000 T-ve­hi­cles in the coun­try and on­ly the li­cens­ing of­fices in Port-of-Spain and San Fer­nan­do were equipped to in­spect those heavy ve­hi­cles. Even then, Sinanan said it was im­pos­si­ble for the two bays to have all those ve­hi­cles in­spect­ed in a time­ly man­ner. The Gov­ern­ment then al­lowed pri­vate garages to in­spect the heavy ve­hi­cles.

He hint­ed at the cor­rup­tion even then, say­ing that there was a lot of al­le­ga­tions about ve­hi­cles hav­ing in­spec­tion stick­ers with­out be­ing present for in­spec­tion.

The Port-of-Spain of­fice in­tro­duced a "ran­domi­sa­tion of li­cenc­ing ve­hi­cles". Sinanan ex­plained then that the li­cens­ing of­fice pre­vi­ous­ly went to a se­quence where the com­put­er gen­er­at­ed num­bers from two to 999 but there were al­le­ga­tions then that peo­ple were pay­ing for spe­cial favours to jump the queue.

The new sys­tem al­lowed the num­ber to be com­put­er gen­er­at­ed. He was con­fi­dent then that no one could ma­nip­u­late the sys­tem.

But it seems that se­nior of­fi­cials found a way around that, which prompt­ed an in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the num­ber of ve­hi­cles ac­tu­al­ly in­spect­ed com­pared to the num­ber of stick­ers hand­ed out.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/licensing-inspection-racket-unearthed-6.2.750196.5c9c40bb23

[pugboy]

What Rohani expected, white shirt boys gonna always eat ah food

Lic officers consistently up there with ttec inspectorate and prison officers for most corrupt in the Western Hemisphere

[airuma]

When people are given much more work than normal and no incentive, some will improvise and others will work at the usual rate.
I payed $300 to have my MGW painted, too much IMHO. I can only imagine that the painter must be paying some form of “tax”....

[Redman]

Since this inspection/sticker started this going on-pay a premium send some info and get the docs and sticker sent back.

No visit, no line ,no inspection.

Take a year- allocate months to letters XXA-F Jan, XXG-P Feb etc or age of car and scale into compliance over time.
The easier it is for me to get a sticker legally ..the less inclined I am to pay a bribe or take a shortcut



And stop frigging diluting the effort by extending the time for compliance.

[pugboy]

imagine in last few weeks if a lic officer handled 1000 cars at a profit of say 800
he good to go

[rebound]

Corruption engraved in the lic off..

[shake d livin wake d dead]

When people are given much more work than normal and no incentive, some will improvise and others will work at the usual rate.
I payed $300 to have my MGW painted, too much IMHO. I can only imagine that the painter must be paying some form of “tax”....

$300

D fck...I did mine for $40

[pete]

Another funny thing is the majority of mgw and tare that are painted on are the wrong size. The regulation states a minimum of 65mm in height or 2.5inches and most are under 2inches yet all are passing inspection.

[nervewrecker]

Mine is painted on my last ride. They kick a fuss when it went of inspection saying its a sticker. its stencil cut and painted on so they insist is a sticker.

[sMASH]

Has anyone experienced inspection garages asking for transfer slips? My father's vehicle next inspection is in July. He was turned away by Ramps last time he had it done, and had to return with it in order to be inspected, despite having his certified copy. He was looking for it tonight in light of all this inspection woes, thought I'd ask about it.

The one I went, did it on the last name on the cert.
.................................

The article about the corruption in Lo was saying that the officers conspired to create panic, thus causing people to take the under table route.

But, it was when they said that 5hey charging t fur no inspection that caused the rush. So not sure how telling thd people they enforcing the law was corruption.


The corrupt part is failing people for small ting. Things that may not be wholesome, but are not safety issues.

[DreamWeaver]

I used to always get horrors to get my van inspected in LO Sando. Every time is: "yuh handbrakes not workin correct, sir. Get it fix and come back." .. Pretty sure they expected me to pass money to pass but I leave and gone by d firm to do the handbrake adjust. The firm does say it cyah adjust anymore or it will bind. So they does write me a note to give d licensing officers. I doing that for a few years and each year is d same thing: LO does fail me for handbrake, I go by d firm and get a note saying it cant adjust like how they want, then the officers does pass me. Because of that, I stop doing inspections a while back. It was a waste of an entire day, sometimes 2, having to wait LO, then wait by the firm, then wait by LO again. I start breaking d law BECAUSE of the LO.
Interestingly enough, the handbrake test is what these officers enjoyed failing vans for. It is not an easy test for any driver to do how they want it, especially how a lot of the newer vans can't do it easily. I suspect that might be doing more damage to the handbrake system too but what do I know, licensing officers know all.

[SLVR1]

Handbrake test is waste. Modern cars don't even have a handbrake anymore since it is now a switch and it is really a parking brake.

[greggle71]

Has anyone actually been charged yet for no inspection?

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Has anyone actually been charged yet for no inspection?

Still waiting to see that 5k ticket...because there is no such thing

[hindian]

Another funny thing is the majority of mgw and tare that are painted on are the wrong size. The regulation states a minimum of 65mm in height or 2.5inches and most are under 2inches yet all are passing inspection.

Added to that, I've see a lot of MGW and TARE weights painted on with the weights reversed eg. 3100kg is the tare weight and 1660 is the MGW. Dunno if men doing that to drive class 4 vehicles with class 3 licence...

[nervewrecker]

Has anyone actually been charged yet for no inspection?

Still waiting to see that 5k ticket...because there is no such thing

From what I understand its not a ticketable offence.
Its the max fine if bought before the megistrate.

[airuma]

Since this inspection/sticker started this going on-pay a premium send some info and get the docs and sticker sent back.

No visit, no line ,no inspection.

Take a year- allocate months to letters XXA-F Jan, XXG-P Feb etc or age of car and scale into compliance over time.
The easier it is for me to get a sticker legally ..the less inclined I am to pay a bribe or take a shortcut



And stop frigging diluting the effort by extending the time for compliance.

Exactly! I payed for my inspection 2017 April at Caroni LO, they made an appointment. When I went on the day of the appointment, they told me I need to go to either POS or Sando. Circumstances did not permit that until October 2018 when I went Sando. They told me that the receipt is valid for one year so I need to pay again. I payed again then could not do the inspection because the vehicle was too dirty. Couldn't get time off from but then it became critical. Washed my vehicle and went back new year's eve, told to come back since they were closing 12:00pm. Went back on 2nd Jan. 2019, went over the pit, told I need to underwash and paint on MGW. Did both and went back, was told to join the line which was too long.
I payed $300 for the inspection fee, $130 to underwash and engine wash, $300 for the MGW and visited Sando LO 4 times with no success so far. $730 and 4+ visits to LO vs $1000 and have it delivered......

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Has anyone actually been charged yet for no inspection?

Still waiting to see that 5k ticket...because there is no such thing

From what I understand its not a ticketable offence.
Its the max fine if bought before the megistrate.

According to the 2017 amendments, it is a ticketable offence...the fine is 1k...read that entire pdf on friday

[nervewrecker]

Yes, ticketable in the form of not having your vehicle inspected. Fixed fine of 1k

[Dave]

If before the courts, it has a maximum fine of 5k.

[sMASH]

Has anyone actually been charged yet for no inspection?

Still waiting to see that 5k ticket...because there is no such thing

From what I understand its not a ticketable offence.
Its the max fine if bought before the megistrate.

According to the 2017 amendments, it is a ticketable offence...the fine is 1k...read that entire pdf on friday

Lol. I read 3/4 of if myself last night..


Saw about the exception for windscreens imported for vehicles before 1937 or sumting.

And conductors supposed to wear a hat and khaki pants.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Has anyone actually been charged yet for no inspection?

Still waiting to see that 5k ticket...because there is no such thing

haven't seen anyone post an actual ticket they got for non-inspection either, anywhere.

[hydroep]

The authorities are being 'smart' about how they're managing the situation, they have to be because part of the chaos is of their own making.

Fear mongering is being used to motivate the people but I suspect they will wait until things settle down before they start charging anyone.

[bluefete]

If they actually arrest the people who are PAYING the bribes to Lic, the corruption will swiftly diminish.

[sMASH]

^^ woah there buddy. the idea is to APPEAR to be straightening out teh system, not to bite the hand that feeds u the fast tracking bonuses....

[ADONI]

I just saw about 80 cars line up by the inspection station on Wrightson road...