North Carolina Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association (NCTDRA) Executive Director Reece Hester reports that proposed North Carolina Senate Bill 849, which would have done away with vehicle safety inspections and cut emission testing fees almost in half, has been defeated. "There were a lot more compelling reasons to keep the program in place than not,” he says.
Fifty counties out of 100 in North Carolina charge $30 for emission testing. The bill would have reduced the fee to $16.40, says Hester, who notes that the bill was proposed following "a poor report on the DMV Inspection program" by an evaluation oversight committee.
Hester spoke on behalf of the NCTDRA at the Senate Commerce Committee meeting representing the inspection station owners of the state, including a large number of tire dealers.
“Had this bill passed, we, and the state, would have seen a mass exodus of dealers getting out of the inspection business. No business people just want to do emissions that are required by the federal government. Customers with bald tires, improper tail lights, windshield wipers, tinting, etc, would just pass right though our shops creating unsafe road travel for the motoring public.
"Associations play a vital part in ‘watch-dogging’ these types of proposals that come along," says Hester. "Regardless of whether they are your members or not, they certainly benefit from the sssociation’s pro-active approach for the best interest of our industry.”
Hester also wanted to thank the Independent Garage Owners Association for their "included allegiance" on working to maintain the inspection program.
“Numbers speak in volume when you are working at the legislative level. Associations need members, not ‘by-standers,’ when working with legislative issues. This is one of the areas of membership that is crucial to it’s members, but yet, over-looked the most. Thousands of dollars were saved for businesses by these contributing industry associations. Help your business by becoming a member to support those that support you,” Hester says.
