Do you have an MOT or MOT equivalent?

37 comments

1. [deleted]

2. It’s all done at the state level, and not all states do them.

3. Not in my state. 

   If you have a VIN, clean title, and insurance, you can get it plated. 

4. Not federally. My state has them though.

5. That’s a state government responsibility, not the federal government. Some states do, some don’t. Some are strict, some aren’t. In some counties within a state, a vehicle has to get an emissions check while in other counties they don’t.

6. California has a smog test, but not a mechanical test.

7. Minnesota had an emissions/exhaust test, but got rid of it 20+ years ago.

8. Not in Michigan. I’m sure some states do, but there is no federal regulation.

9. These types of things are done at the state level, so there’s no one answer. Arizona has it, yes. Michigan does not. The Arizona test is basically just plugging into the OBD port for a self-diagnostic and then an emissions test. They don’t go under the hood or inspect for rust (not that vehicles here have rust) or anything like that. It takes about 2 minutes to complete.

10. Once a year in Massachusetts we bring our car and get it inspected. Lights, body, tires, etc. [This breaks it down](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_United_States)

11. We have that in Illinois, but many other states don’t. Every other year we have to take our cars to a center that does an emissions test and OBD error reading,but it’s not a comprehensive mechanical inspection

12. I’ve lived in states that require an annual inspection and states that don’t. The county I live in in Georgia currently does not require them, however 13 nearby counties require both annual inspections and emissions tests.

13. Alabama doesn’t have any inspection requirements. As long as it’s title hasn’t been stripped due to being an insurance claim buyout or natural disaster, it’s typically legal to drive.

    Same for Georgia, although some parts of metro Atlanta do have annual emissions requirements if the vehicle is registered there.

14. I have to do a state inspection in Texas to update my vehicle registration (required annually). I didn’t know until this thread that some states don’t require that.

15. A handful of states do safety inspections. A bigger handful do emissions testing.

16. Inspections and then emissions testing used to be required in some Florida counties, but that all ended before I had a car.

17. Oklahoma hasn’t had inspections since the 90s and even then all they checked was that the lights and horn worked.

18. Yeah we have applesauce

19. Here in Missouri, if the vehicle is newer than so many years, you don’t have to have an inspection done. But after that you have to get it re-inspected.

20. NC does, KY does not, which is weird to me. Quite frankly, if your vehicle wouldn’t pass NC’s inspection, you shouldn’t be driving it.

21. As others have said, it depends on the state. Where I live, in Washington State, we don’t. Certain areas near higher population metro areas (like Seattle and Tacoma) used to have emissions testing requirements. Basically just to check the levels of pollutants coming from the car. If your car failed the emissions test, then you wouldn’t be allowed to renew your registration on the car until the problem was fixed…but they never checked anything else on the car.

    Washington got rid of the emissions testing program a few years ago.

    To be clear, you can still be pulled over by police if your car is obviously not roadworthy and creates a safety hazard. But if your car has a slow oil leak or something else that’s not so obvious, the driver can still drive until their car completely breaks down.

22. At the federal level only emissions testing is required but those target specific metropolitan areas and not really states. Plus, there are waivers that can be issued to avoid the emissions testing. Outside of that, as others have said, it differs from state to state.

23. We have similar in my state. You have to get vehicle inspections every year and they just do a basic safety check.

    But every state has different rules.

24. In my state, it’s emissions only.

25. We do but it’s on the county level and it’s more of an emissions test. Only the heavily populated counties require it I believe. You also can’t pass if you have a check engine light showing. If you fail then you can’t renew your vehicle registration.

26. We have one of the state level in my state of Maine.

27. It depends on the state. Some states require an inspection every year, some every x years, and I think some not at all.

28. Florida did away with vehicle safety inspections in the early 80s. Most times, they were conducted by privately owned garages and gas stations, and it turns out slipping the owner an extra $10 would get you an inspection sticker, whether or not your vehicle was road worthy. That’s one reason it was stopped. Today, state or local police will occasionally have safety checkpoints and cite drivers who are not in compliance (i.e. dead turn signals, burned out headlights, horn not working, etc.) Personally, I haven’t encountered one in years.

29. In Oregon you have to go to DEQ to get your vehicle’s emissions tested every couple years, but that’s the Department of Environmental Quality so it’s not as though they’re checking your brakes and whatnot. I think that’s somewhat comparable to what you guys have but idk. I never drove when I lived in the UK, so I didn’t bother learning anything about your system over there.

30. It is handled at the state level. Each state has their own standards.

    When I lived in NC, they had an emissions test and checked the usual basics like lights.

    In LA, it’s called a brake tag – they verify your insurance, lights, turn signals, horn, and the inspector drives it around the lot to make sure it can stop safely.

31. Like everybody else is saying, different states have different laws.

    Some states have annual or biannual safety inspections. Some states or counties also have emissions inspections. It can be pretty annoying if you have a car registered in a state that requires a test but you live in another state. That’s a common problem for college students.

32. Depends on the state, some do some don’t. In NJ all you have to do is pass emissions to get a sticker, although cops really don’t care if you do or don’t have the sticker.

33. We have some Jewish people.

34. That’s a state level thing. Most states have some sort of similar government body that’s in charge of regulating drivers, who can drive, and issuing licenses to those people, what vehicles can be on the road, wether or not they test for emissions etc. They’re also usually in charge of what training or steps you have to take to be able to drive. While a drivers license from any state is valid in every U.S. state to be used, the steps people have to go through to get them are super different depending on which state you’re from because there isn’t a uniform system between them.

    They’re usually called either the DOT (department of transportation) or DMV (department of motor vehicles). There is a U.S. DOT that sets the ground rules for vehicle registration and interstate traffic laws, but it’s up to the states to interpret them and create their own laws past that. Some states require two plates, some states require one, some states let you put your old license plate on a newer vehicle you own then register it that way, others don’t, etc.

35. We typically just have emissions tests, on a state level and sometimes only required in densely populated metro areas but not rural.

36. Pennsylvania has a yearly state inspection and emissions test. Usually this means that I end up buying new wipers because the old ones “were streaking” according to the inspection shop.

37. In Pennsylvania I have to undergo a yearly inspection and it is fairly rigorous.
    My small, rural county does not do emissions testing for the inspection but other larger counties do.