In Costa Rica, vehicle inspection is handled by a government agency generally referred to as "Riteve". As it seems, the inspection procedure turns out to be far more rigorous than we ever encountered in Canada. I expect the same is true for the U.S. For older vehicles, inspection can be an annual event.
The procedure involves not only checking exhaust emissions, tire tread wear, break lining wear, headlight alignment, do the blinkers work, but also checking under the hood, under the body, can the horn actually "honk", etc. What was different, at least compared to our past experience in Canada, was a bone rattling dynamic testing of the brakes.
The procedure is a step by step drive through procedure and you do the driving. You are expected to follow instructions in a very noisy environment. Unless you are absolutely fluent in Spanish or luckily get a Riteve technician who is fluent in English then you could have a problem. Normally, the whole procedure should take about 15 to 20 minutes.
In the absence of fluency, then for a nominal fee you should consider hiring a local mechanic to take your vehicle to Riteve, do the drive through, and report back to you on any deficiencies found by Riteve. Riteve does provide a report card (in Spanish).
In December 2017, we purchased a used low mileage 2006 Subaru Forrester. Part of our due diligence dictated that we confirm it had passed on its last due date (and it had). The next due date was recent. We went online to Riteve and got an appointment. This was easily done (in English) HERE.
We FAILED! Riteve had four observations:
(1) Rear tires with mild tread wear but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).
(2) One clouded headlight cover burned by the sun but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).
(3) A "sunscreen adhesive" on the rear window but not requiring attention at the present time (not serious).
(4) One low beam headlight considered to be too low - a serious problem ("grave" in Spanish). FAILURE - NEEDS FIXING!
The "sunscreen adhesive" was actually a small "Baby On Board" sticker applied by the previous owner. We could easily scrape it off but decided to leave it in place. What bad guys would attack a vehicle if they thought a baby was on board? Possibly a naive thought - and not necessarily a good message for first responders.
We were given an initial three week deadline to return to Riteve and show that the low beam headlight problem had been fixed. We did so, but not before going through some hoops.
First, we unsuccessfully looked for any advertised local service which could provide headlight alignment. Second, we turned to Facebook only to be advised by many that any competent mechanic could do the job. Not knowing who "any competent mechanic" might be, we went to an auto repair shop which had previously fixed a problem we had with vehicle air conditioning. They were very competent but not in the business of aligning headlights. They directed us to a shop which specialized in automotive electrical systems. While busy with other work, one person in that shop stepped aside, quickly checked the alignment of both headlights, fixed the one which was misaligned - and declined to accept any payment for the service - Taller Electromecánico y Baterías Bull.
We returned to Riteve and were cleared almost immediately when we got to the headlight testing station. But our exit was delayed because there were vehicles in the line ahead of us which seemed to be having some issues.
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