What is an "auto inspection"?

What is an "auto inspection"?

James Bell (Publisher, Auto Reviewer) gives expert video advice on: What does "total" mean on the sticker price?; What is a "test drive"?; What is the difference between unleaded, regular, super and diesel? and more...

An auto inspection is a process where the vehicle is gone over with a fine-toothed comb, so to speak, where they'll look at the major functions, the brakes, the transmission, the engine, as well as some of the smaller things, the safety systems, the audio systems, etc. The mechanic will also do a complete diagnostic on the state of that vehicle at that particular time. Obviously, as the vehicle gets more mileage accrued, smaller things tend to break and those smaller things tend to turn into larger things and so an auto check is something it goes through and helps you identify things that might be causing a problem in the future. An auto inspection is something that you'd have to do on behalf of the DMV, so you take it out, have the inspection done, and take the report card into the DMV for processing.