Stations must update inspection equipment
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
By: Fit Staff
mcampbell@whyy.org
By: Phil Gregory
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There may soon be fewer private inspection stations in New Jersey. Tuesday is the deadline for gas station and body shop owners who perform vehicle inspections to buy updated emissions testing equipment, or be forced to end that part of their business.
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The new emissions equipment costs $8,000. The New Jersey Gasoline Convenience Store and Automotive Association' s Executive Director Sal Risalvato says the state wants the payment now even tough the equipment won't be delivered until October or November. He says some shop owners can't afford it.
Risalvalto: We expect there's going to be a few hundred out of the fourteen hundred that will not be able to make the purchases so we're expecting a few hundred of the private inspection facilities will have to end inspections.
That may result in a drop in profit for shop owners who rely on servicing vehicles that fail inspection. And drivers may have to search for another private operator or travel to a state run inspection facility.