Inspectors must pass test before doing safety checks

Stories are going around about how difficult it is to get a safety check — particularly in the Kaimuki area.

John Kolivas’ teenage son went to four service stations in Kaimuki before he found one that does safety checks.

John Garcia had to try eight places before he got lucky. Not that lucky, though. He had to wait two hours.

Palolo Auto Service is still doing inspections, though only by appointment. Kaimuki Auto Repair also does inspections. But Midas near City Mill is not doing inspections. Neither is Kahala Shell nor Harding Service nor Goodyear on Waialae. The 76 Station by 12th Avenue is not, but plans to resume.

Jiffy Lube near University Avenue was the go-to for many people, but it is currently not doing safety checks and is instead referring people to their other locations.

The reasons vary from things like profit-margin concerns to the “one guy who was certified” doesn’t work there anymore. Some admit to failing the written test for inspectors. ‪

Auto shops that are doing safety checks are often so slammed that there are waiting lists and appointment books and still, they’re juggling between 40 and 50 safety checks a day. The inspection station gets only a portion of a $20 safety check, so it is much more profitable to use an auto shop’s time and space for actually repairing cars.‬

According to the city Department of Customer Services, the number of inspection stations has not changed since new safety check procedures were implemented in November 2013. The new program mandated iPad use for documenting inspections and electronic record keeping. “For the pre-implementation count, there were 302 participating inspection sites. The current count (as of Oct. 1) is being reported as 308. This is an increase of less than 2 percent as compared to the pre-implementation number,” said Christian Hellum, information officer for the Department of Consumer Services.

Station owners will talk your ear off about the new safety check program, but they’re pretty hesitant to speak on the record. The ones I talked to said they support the new program because the ability to document inspections with photos on iPads has weeded out the less-than-scrupulous guys who may have passed bald tires and busted blinkers in the past. The electronic records also protect honest inspectors from getting in trouble if a car they pass is later altered with bigger wheels or darker tint.

But they fret over the written test an inspector must pass to do safety checks. They say some of the questions don’t pertain to safety checks and that because of the tricky way the tests are worded, even people who really know their stuff are failing. There is a waiting period before an inspector can retake a failed test, and they’re not allowed to review their answers, which doesn’t help when planning study strategies for the next time.

Some stations are offering safety checks on Sundays so that they can help both their longtime customers and the desperate drop-ins. Best strategy: Don’t wait until the very last day, call to make an appointment, and keep it legal — if your car fails the safety check, you’ll have to fix the problem and then make another appointment.

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Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.