Getting posted and out of province vehicle inspections

[Messerschmitt]

I would like to know how do you guys deal with the endless vehicle inspections required every time you get posted in a different province.

Every province has requirements for out of province vehicle registration (which IMO is retarded, it's Canada, I'm not importing a vehicle from outside), with Ontario now having the most ridiculous of all (fail inspection because of TMPS, wow).

So, sell the car everytime you move province like you do with the house? buy new car in the new province? Try to bring your car in but it could cost up to thousands of dollars in useless repairs just so it would pass the inspection on parper?

Obviously the forces doesn't help at all in this case other than the cost refunded for the initial inspection.

 

[SupersonicMax]

This is one of the many things the Government could do better with our postings: drivers license and registrations.  I would go for a system like the US where you can register your car in any province that you have been posted to.  Sort of a waiver allowing you to register your vehicle in a province you don't reside in.  It is upsetting having to either dump a significant amount of money into a car to make it pass the inspection or buy/lease a new one...

 

[dangerboy]

My advice is talk to people in your new unit and find out what garages are reputable.  I have had several out of province inspections done and never had any useless repairs needed. Maybe I have been lucky but they have all been fairly painless. 

 

[Messerschmitt]

This is one of the many things the Government could do better with our postings: drivers license and registrations.  I would go for a system like the US where you can register your car in any province that you have been posted to.  Sort of a waiver allowing you to register your vehicle in a province you don't reside in.  It is upsetting having to either dump a significant amount of money into a car to make it pass the inspection or buy/lease a new one...

That would be a perfect system. Isn't something we can push for? I mean if nobody says anything there will never be changes, but if the right people are informed about this maybe we can make such changes. Not to mention this wouldn't really cost anything the federal government or provincial (unless they get a kickback from shops). It will help the members making the transition easier and less costly while not filling the pockets of private firms for useless repairs

 

[Pusser]

This is one of the many things the Government could do better with our postings: drivers license and registrations.  I would go for a system like the US where you can register your car in any province that you have been posted to.  Sort of a waiver allowing you to register your vehicle in a province you don't reside in.  It is upsetting having to either dump a significant amount of money into a car to make it pass the inspection or buy/lease a new one...

From what I understand, from my American friends, all American service personnel have a home state.  As far as I know, their vehicle registration, driver's licence and insurance all have to be from the same state.  There are various qualifications that have to be met in order to determine which is your home state (everyone can't simply pick the ones without state income taxes), that seem similar in many ways to our declarations of ordinary residence.  Unfortunately, doing something similar for CAF personnel has a few constitutional issues that the federal government seems to have no desire to tackle (e.g. every province has a right to establish and collect taxes on its residents).  Nevertheless, I too would like to see something resembling the American situation for CAF members.

Having said that, I've never had any significant issues in registering a vehicle in a new province.  Frankly, I'm surprised that not all provinces require periodic safety inspections anyway.  The Maritime provinces all require an annual inspection, but Ontario only requires one at time of sale/import.  It would seem to me also that if your vehicle needs a lot of repairs in order to pass an inspection, you left things too late and should be thankful that the inspection discovered them before something tragic occurred.  The inspection standards are not so high that a properly maintained vehicle cannot pass them.  If you feel that the inspecting garage is being dishonest, report them.  It's not in their best interests to cheat you.  Ask if what they're recommending is an actual requirement to pass the inspection or just a recommendation.

My most recent experience involved an overseas posting and two vehicles:

1)  My car, which was built and purchased in Ontario and taken overseas with me:  Despite having been driven and safety inspected annually for the three years I was overseas, when I brought it back to Ontario, I had to go through the entire registration process, including a safety inspection and air emissions test.

2) My truck which was built in the US, purchased in BC and then stored for three years in Ontario:  All I needed was an air emissions test because the last one had expired.  I didn't even get new plates for it.  I would argue that the truck was in worse shape than the car and needed more work, but that's not how the province saw it.

 

[Lumber]

Horror story here: Anyone ever heard of vehicle branding?

Branding happens when a car has an accident. If a car is unfixable, it's brander Scrap. If it need repairs before it can be driven on the road, it's branded Salvage, and if it has been repaired and can be driven again, then it is upgrade from Salvage to Rebuilt.

Here's where the BS comes in. If you import a vehicle to Ontario from another province, and that vehicle is branded as "Rebuilt", then it is automatically downgraded back to "Salvage" until it received a "Structural Inspection" to make sure that it really has been repaired to safe standards. It doesn't matter that the vehicle passed it's safety, and it doesn't matter that it's been driving legally in Nova Scotia for years. It must be re-inspected.

So, my gf moves to Ontario from NS. We get the vehicle an E-test and a Safety, as is required for all out of province vehciles. Total cost around $180 I think. We go to register it at Service Ontario and BAM! Turns out the car was in an accident in Nova Scotia, and is no considered "Salvage" in Ontario until we can provide them with a Structural Inspection Certificate.

It's hard to find a place that does those inspections, and they cost up $600. And since it's hard to find a place that will do one, they have long wait times. So that E-Test that we got expired, because it's only good for 30 days (which makes no f*cking sense to me).

We ended up just getting her Nova Scotia plates renewed over the internet and stickers mailed to us since she still owns property in Nova Scotia, and her NS safety is valid for another year or so.

I have more angry stories about transferring things to Ontario, but that has to do with driver's licences if anyone is interested.

Cheers

 

[Pusser]

Lumber, I'm not sure if this would apply in your case (not sure if your GF is a dependant or not), but the CFIRP Manual says:

9.4.03 PMV including motorcycle and drivers licences

CF members and their dependants shall be reimbursed the following mandatory expenses:

Core benefit

•Costs associated with driver's license for a maximum of 12 months (pro-rated if required).
•Driver's driving record (when required prior to obtaining driver's license).
•International drivers license when posted outside Canada.
•Costs associated with registration of primary PMV at destination for a maximum of 12 months.
•Safety certificate for primary PMV (excluding cost of necessary repairs) when mandatory by provincial legislation before license plates can be obtained.
•License plate fees for primary PMV to a maximum of 12 months.
•Letter of compliance for primary PMV.
•Necessary to gain legal entry and to drive primary PMV within the destination city/country, excluding importation fees for new vehicles.
•Registration and plate fee for one trailer when there is a legal requirement to have it registered.

Custom benefit

•Costs associated with registration of secondary PMV at destination for a maximum of 12 months.
•Safety certificate for secondary PMV (excluding cost of necessary repairs) when mandatory by provincial legislation before license plates can be obtained.
•License plate fees for secondary PMV to a maximum of 12 months.
•Letter of compliance for secondary PMV.
•Necessary to gain legal entry and to drive secondary PMV within the destination city/country, excluding importation fees for new vehicles.
•Registration and plate fee for second trailer when there is a legal requirement to have it registered.


At the very least, those charges should be tax-deductible as a moving expense.  However, yes, moving to Ontario can be a bit of a bureaucratic pain on a number of points.

 

[Lumber]

Lumber, I'm not sure if this would apply in your case (not sure if your GF is a dependant or not), but the CFIRP Manual says:
....[snipped]
At the very least, those charges should be tax-deductible as a moving expense.  However, yes, moving to Ontario can be a bit of a bureaucratic pain on a number of points.

Thanks, Pusser. Unfortunately she wasn't ay dependant at the time of her move, and we didn't move her at the same time.

I don't think they the IRP had the Structural Inspection in mind when they used the term "safety certificate" (since it's such a rare thing), but I will definitely try and claim this if they post us to BC and I can't renew her NS plates again.

Cheers

 

[my72jeep]

Try this back in 87 I attempted to bring a 1980 sab back from Germany was told on pick up in Montreal it did not meet California emissions standard. OK I said I don't plan to drive it in California. I've never been sworn at in French to that degree till then.

 

[Messerschmitt]

From what I understand, from my American friends, all American service personnel have a home state.  As far as I know, their vehicle registration, driver's licence and insurance all have to be from the same state.  There are various qualifications that have to be met in order to determine which is your home state (everyone can't simply pick the ones without state income taxes), that seem similar in many ways to our declarations of ordinary residence.  Unfortunately, doing something similar for CAF personnel has a few constitutional issues that the federal government seems to have no desire to tackle (e.g. every province has a right to establish and collect taxes on its residents).  Nevertheless, I too would like to see something resembling the American situation for CAF members.

Having said that, I've never had any significant issues in registering a vehicle in a new province.  Frankly, I'm surprised that not all provinces require periodic safety inspections anyway.  The Maritime provinces all require an annual inspection, but Ontario only requires one at time of sale/import.  It would seem to me also that if your vehicle needs a lot of repairs in order to pass an inspection, you left things too late and should be thankful that the inspection discovered them before something tragic occurred.  The inspection standards are not so high that a properly maintained vehicle cannot pass them.  If you feel that the inspecting garage is being dishonest, report them.  It's not in their best interests to cheat you.  Ask if what they're recommending is an actual requirement to pass the inspection or just a recommendation.

My most recent experience involved an overseas posting and two vehicles:

1)  My car, which was built and purchased in Ontario and taken overseas with me:  Despite having been driven and safety inspected annually for the three years I was overseas, when I brought it back to Ontario, I had to go through the entire registration process, including a safety inspection and air emissions test.

2) My truck which was built in the US, purchased in BC and then stored for three years in Ontario:  All I needed was an air emissions test because the last one had expired.  I didn't even get new plates for it.  I would argue that the truck was in worse shape than the car and needed more work, but that's not how the province saw it.

Probably you talk from personal experience, but in 2015 (so just over a year ago), they introduced a new test in Ontario. They will fail your car for TMPS! WTF? (in case you are not familiar with the acronym, those are tire pressure sensors). How is that a safety issue when TMPS only come in luxury packages and probably over half of brand new cars don't even come with them.

And you say they have no interest in finding problems? I beg to differ. I think they will try to find the smallest thing. Money in their pocket for every single repair you need. So why you would even say that I'm not sure.

Personal experience: They tried to squeeze me for alignment. Their own program tool was saying that my alignment is off. They claimed it uses OEM standards for my car. Had to go to Honda to print out the OEM alignment numbers, and bring it in for comparison, to show them their tool was off than what Honda Canada was saying it's OEM standard.

That's another thing. These inspections are done by private companies/entities that have all the interest to find problems and charge you. More money in their pocket.

Bottom line is, these are expenses that we would normally not have (most provinces don't have annual inspections - they should) if we weren't getting posted. Ordinary people who live in the same province for 50 years, drive 30 year old rust buckets, but I had to do an inspection on a 2015 vehicle because it was out of province.

In order to be fair, we should either get fully reimbursed for the repairs needed for the province to register the vehicle (not very fair, since some will take advantage of this and won't repair their vehicles, waiting to get posted again), or the most fair, should be as it was suggested: CAF members should get an excemption from doing inspections for out of province vehicles if the vehicle was already registered and driven in the province it comes from.

 

[kratz]

I know your pain.

Moving to Borden, I had my 1at inspection at a major brand name shop in Angus, "Owned by an ec-MSE" Same as you, my car had passed NS two months ago....but not up to his standards.

I took his red sticker...and went down the road to an "old fashion" garage. Passed me same day for less than $200 and the work I needed to improve the car.

Don't always take the 1st price offered.

 

[Ostrozac]

Stories like this is the reason why I take the bus to work.

Of course, that means my next posting will be to somewhere absolutely inaccessible by public transport. The career manager knows -- he can sense your weakness, your fears, your deepest hatreds, and exploit them in his posting plot.

 

[kev994]

TPMS is a safety concern, it was mandated in the USA after the firestone fiasco; the tires would not have had catastrophic failures if they had been properly inflated. Afaik it's not mandatory in Canada, but we tend to share models.

 

[CountDC]

will in that case maint should do a better job on our vehicles as everyone I drive has the sensor triggered.  Reporting it only gets the answer of "we know, it's defective but nothing to worry about".

 

[kev994]

It's only an issue if you don't check the tire pressure.

 

[Pusser]

Thanks, Pusser. Unfortunately she wasn't ay dependant at the time of her move, and we didn't move her at the same time.

I don't think they the IRP had the Structural Inspection in mind when they used the term "safety certificate" (since it's such a rare thing), but I will definitely try and claim this if they post us to BC and I can't renew her NS plates again.

Cheers

I would advise caution when living in Ontario with NS plates on your car.  The law actually says that you need to register your car in Ontario within a certain time of moving here (I think it might be six months, but don't quote me on that).  That lady "from Newfoundland" who recently tried to run a motorcyclist of the road in Ottawa was also charged for not registering her car in Ontario after she had moved here.  Your insurance company may also have issues in covering you if you're not living where you say you are.

 

[Halifax Tar]

I would advise caution when living in Ontario with NS plates on your car.  The law actually says that you need to register your car in Ontario within a certain time of moving here (I think it might be six months, but don't quote me on that).  That lady "from Newfoundland" who recently tried to run a motorcyclist of the road in Ottawa was also charged for not registering her car in Ontario after she had moved here.  Your insurance company may also have issues in covering you if you're not living where you say you are.

The caveat to this is pers on IR.  I was told my plates stayed NS as that was my residence.  And then I contacted my insurance company to make sure I was covered.  All was good and they appreciated that I informed them of my "unique" living situation.  I also confirm this with the OPP. 

 

[Pusser]

Probably you talk from personal experience, but in 2015 (so just over a year ago), they introduced a new test in Ontario. They will fail your car for TMPS! WTF? (in case you are not familiar with the acronym, those are tire pressure sensors). How is that a safety issue when TMPS only come in luxury packages and probably over half of brand new cars don't even come with them.

And you say they have no interest in finding problems? I beg to differ. I think they will try to find the smallest thing. Money in their pocket for every single repair you need. So why you would even say that I'm not sure.

Personal experience: They tried to squeeze me for alignment. Their own program tool was saying that my alignment is off. They claimed it uses OEM standards for my car. Had to go to Honda to print out the OEM alignment numbers, and bring it in for comparison, to show them their tool was off than what Honda Canada was saying it's OEM standard.

That's another thing. These inspections are done by private companies/entities that have all the interest to find problems and charge you. More money in their pocket.

Bottom line is, these are expenses that we would normally not have (most provinces don't have annual inspections - they should) if we weren't getting posted. Ordinary people who live in the same province for 50 years, drive 30 year old rust buckets, but I had to do an inspection on a 2015 vehicle because it was out of province.

In order to be fair, we should either get fully reimbursed for the repairs needed for the province to register the vehicle (not very fair, since some will take advantage of this and won't repair their vehicles, waiting to get posted again), or the most fair, should be as it was suggested: CAF members should get an excemption from doing inspections for out of province vehicles if the vehicle was already registered and driven in the province it comes from.

I've done this several times (BC to NS, NS to UK, UK to BC, BC to ON, ON to UK, UK to ON) and my latest experience was six weeks ago.  It's worth noting that if you don't think the repair recommendations are valid, there's very little stopping you from leaving without a valid inspection certificate and taking your car elsewhere and getting another inspection.  Remember that your car is still legally registered in another province and you are allowed to drive it in your new province for at least a few months before registering it there (don't wait until the last minute though).  For the most part, the garage does not have the authority to impound your car and refuse to let you leave with it.

 

[kratz]

A google search is useful:

Ontario - 30 days to register your vehicle

Nova Scotia - 90 days to register your vehicle