i get 15 bucks for a VA state inspection, as mandated by law. according to VASP, it is supposed to take 28 minutes to perform a state inspection. at that rate, if you are cookin ass writing the sticker (takes me five min. per to do one, and be legible) you can do two an hour.

going by that, i get 30 bucks an hour to do inspections. now...how many shops do you know of that are 30/hr on their labor rate? i am in BFE, and my shops rate is 40/hr going up soon. in central, i think the normal rate is 55-75/hr.

Not to mention the fact that every station is required to have about 2000 dollars worth of equipment to check cars appropriately (my headlight aligner was a 2500 dollar unit, not to mention the half hour a week i spend calibrating it)
as for the comment about VA generating revenue shittily, i think you need to do some research. the 15 bucks you pay to get an inspection is to the shop for compensation for doing it, of that, most shops have about a dollar in supplies (we have to buy the stickers, inserts, and rejection slips) all depending on the amount of volume they do. there are about 15 troopers in the state that do nothing but go to each and every station making sure EVERYthing is documented (every single sticker i get in has to be accounted for every quarter, i spend about two hours doing inventory every three months)

in all honesty, they should allow the fee to be increased, and the standards be stricter.


is one of the best ways of putting it, i think i have said it that way myself several times. go to TN, NC, SC and see some of the pieces of shit on the road there, it makes me want to get off the road sometimes.


its not a "sticker" like most people think, its there for a reason, and they are enforcing the shit out of it now.