What You Should Know About a Safety Inspection
For all the buyers out there, that think a Safety Certificate or a Roadworthy Certificate, is an in-depth check of the vehicle, need to understand what the safety certificate provides.
Safety Certificates are a basic check under the code of practice to ascertain if the vehicle meets safety standards as covered under the code of practise. It is not a detailed inspection of the vehicle taking into account the long-term sustainability of the vehicle.
Inspectors are only working their way through the inspection report supplied by Queensland Transport. They are not required to go beyond the guidelines of the report and the report is not to be used as a pre-purchase inspection.
East Coast Mobile Safety Certificates are experienced inspectors for Motorbikes, Caravans, Cars, Trucks and lite and Heavy Trailers. However, understanding the buyer and seller requirements and the inspections they require or must have is important.
The Seller
The seller has normally decided that they wish to upgrade or change their current vehicle and are motivated to make the change. Under these circumstances the seller has a price in mind which they need to achieve in order to purchase the next vehicle or pay a debt (as an example). At this stage the seller will ring a Queensland Safety Certificate Company to do the inspection. When the vehicle is inspected, the inspector completes the inspection report resulting in the vehicle passing or failing due to issues is detected under the inspection and code of practise. This should be straight forward, and repairs are required to be completed in 14 days to issue the final inspection report.
Whilst the process seems and is straight forward, there tends to be complications more often than not. Unfortunately, an increasing number of sellers leave the safety certificate inspection till after they have a serious buyer standing there with cash in their hand. The seller then needs a safety certificate urgently and rings at anytime of the day and night, weekdays, weekends, public holidays including Christmas to get their car inspected and passed through fear of missing the sale.
At this point the seller and inspection company are under unnecessary pressure to inspect the vehicle and hope that it passes. If the vehicle does not pass, the seller tends to blame the inspector for the lost sale and for just doing his/her job. All this could be avoided if the customer follows the law and has the vehicle inspected before advertising their motorbike, car, motorhome, trailer, or caravan. There are fines in place should you advertise the vehicle prior to having an inspection completed on your vehicle of $500 and whilst Queensland transport don’t police this very well, it is far more expensive than the inspection will cost you.
Get your Safety Certificate and have it ready when the buyer comes along so there is no delay in the sale.
We Do Not Want To Fail Your Vehicle
Despite what some people may think, that inspectors want to fail vehicles so they get more work, this is not the case. We would like nothing more than to inspect vehicles all day that pass first time. However, if there is an issue with your vehicle, we will offer advice and provide a quote to complete the repair if approved. Considering we have inspected the vehicle, it is easy for us to remedy any problems fast and to budget, then issue the safety certificate.
All our quotes must be competitive due to the competitive nature of the market or we would not stay in business for the 18 years that we have.
The Buyer
Most buyers are excited about their new purchase until there is an issue with the vehicle i.e., there are strange noises coming from the motor or gearbox. It won’t start due to a flat battery, a starter motor packs it in, an alternator stops charging, a warning light comes on the dash.
Inspectors are required to inspect vehicles and the safety issues as of the day and are not required to check the future performance of mechanical and electrical components.
When this happens, the buyer turns to the safety certificate company wanting us to fix the vehicle they have purchased. They are under the belief that the safety certificate is some sort of warranty that nothing will go wrong with their car, motorbike, truck or caravan. Unfortunately, we spend many hours explaining the code and the inspector’s requirements under that code.
We always recommend that purchasers of used vehicles have a pre-purchase inspection conducted on all vehicles, to ensure you are aware and advised by a trained professional about the vehicle they are looking at buying.
