LEWISBURG W.Va. (WVDN) – On Jan. 1, 2024, it became official that vehicle owners now only must have their vehicle inspected every two years, which changed from the annual inspection that was required before.
West Virginia is one of only 11 states that required an annual inspection of passenger vehicles.
The question now is, is this a positive thing, or is it looked at as a negative?
The West Virginia State Police posted a statement to their social media page last week to try and explain the validity of the sticker based on the date the vehicle was inspected and explained the total cost which is $19.78.
Ivan Holliday, owner of Ivan’s Auto Repair and Towing, does not feel the new law is a huge deal and with him being slammed from morning until night, it may give him a little more extra time to get other things completed.
“I think it’s a good thing for the customer saving money and for me, not much difference for the first year. It will be busy doing them but for the year after, we will be slow on doing them,” Holliday said.
Another local business, which chose to not be named directly, but performs a lot of inspections per year, isn’t as high on the situation as they feel safety will become a major issue.
“I think there will be more vehicles on the road with more safety issues only doing it every two years. More tires will be worn out and in our roads. I just don’t understand their thinking on how this is safer for West Virginia and better for small businesses in our state,” they said.
The same source also feels like small businesses are getting the short end of the stick, so to speak.
“I also don’t understand why the state of West Virginia would cut profits of small businesses. Before, the state would charge us $3 per sticker per year, now it’s $6 per sticker for every two years. They still get the same money every two years. We used to sell yearly stickers at the regulated state price of $14 per year, leaving roughly an $11 profit per sticker before expenses. Now two-year stickers are regulated to be sold at $19, leaving roughly a profit of $13 per sticker, which equals only $6.50 per year instead of $11 per year the old way. We do a lot of inspections and they do help payroll at the end of the year. From what I figure it will cost us roughly $16,000 per year with the change by the state, which is a ton of money,” they said.
“The state doubled their price to $6 for every two years, but only raised the cost of a sticker $5 overall to $19 for two years,” they added.
At the end of the day, they doubled down on their state of the small businesses from the decision.
“The state should be looking out for small businesses,” they stated.
“They should have been raised to $28 (double the amount of a yearly sticker). Once again, the state makes their normal profit, but yanks thousands of dollars out of small businesses’ pockets per year. Someone did not look out for the businesses at all and totally dropped the ball in my opinion,” that same source concluded.
How do you feel about the stickers being good for two years? Is it a good thing, or will it cause some issues?
Let us know in the comments below.
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