The German Car Blog

Think You Are Ready for Your Rego Inspection? Why You Should Think Again

1 July 2019 by Yvonne Carter

If you buy a secondhand car in another state and take it home, one of the first things you need to do is handle the paperwork. You need to schedule a roadworthy test before you can be fully legal, however, and will need to take the vehicle to a certified inspector for their attention. You will want to make sure that it passes the first time, of course, and will need to look carefully at all the mechanical components. The car needs to be safe, fitted with good tyres and free from rust in any load-bearing areas, so you will need to check carefully over the exterior. However, you may also need to open the doors and look inside, as the inspector certainly will. But what will they be looking for?

Opening the Door

You have already identified that safety is paramount and will have looked carefully at your brakes, suspension, lighting systems and windscreen. Yet while these can help you avoid an accident in the first place, the interior of your car must be designed to protect you in the event of one. This is why you have to pay attention to seats, seat mountings and belts, as if they are not in good condition, your car will undoubtedly fail.

Stability

Begin by looking at the seats. Are they mounted in the original location, and if not, why not? The manufacturer will have designed the interior of the car very carefully and will have placed each seat in the most appropriate position. If someone has modified this for whatever reason, then you may not be as safe as you would otherwise be. Further, the seat mounting has to be in good condition and should not be attached to an area that is badly corroded.

Safety

While the seats will provide you with some stability, the seat belts will hold you in place, but only if they are correctly mounted and adjusted. To begin with, check the latching mechanism to make sure that you can easily attach or remove and see that the webbing structure is in good condition. The belts must be attached to a load-bearing part of the car and, once again, an area that is free of corrosion.

Functionality

The seat belt mechanism itself is designed to activate in a split second and to hold the belt in place during a collision. You need to check that it is functioning correctly and that it allows free movement until you pull it sharply. The inspector will do so and will expect it to work perfectly; if it does not, your car will fail.

Being Prepared

So remember, there's more to a rego inspection than an external check. If you need to, get some help in fixing your interior problems before you present the vehicle to an inspector with confidence.

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