According to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, fraud investigators from Texas believe that millions of vehicles currently on the road did not pass their state-required safety or emissions tests.
Small state-licensed car dealers were exposed by NBC5 reports more than a year ago for illegally selling temporary paper license plates, frequently to acquire vehicles that failed state inspections.
The issue now extends even further, as the news channel that dubbed Texas the "Paper Tag Nation" has revealed. Cars are routinely and fraudulently passed through inspections, despite the fact that the organizations that oversee the vehicle inspection program do little to address the issue. And people are sharing the roads with more than just dangerous cars with paper plates.
Safety Department of Texas, as stated by Sgt. The system "leaves the door totally open to fraud," according to Jose Escribano, an investigator with a Travis County Constables unit that specializes in inspection and license plate fraud. He estimates that up to five million vehicles have bypassed the system and are currently on the road, potentially causing a number of safety issues. There are no logical reasons to avoid the annual safety inspection in Texas, so that seems likely.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's data on emissions inspections, which measure the proportion of inspections in which the Travis County Constables unit finds red flags for fraud, provide the basis for the estimated number of automobiles.
NBC 5 filmed a small auto shop for over an hour without recording any cars entering or exiting, but inspection records show that the shop inspected 23 vehicles during that time. The shop is probably just plugging the emissions analyzer into a car that would pass over and over, but there is a device that can be plugged directly into the analyzer.
Obviously, the vehicle is not receiving the state-required safety inspection if it is not present. It's easy money for the stores, and insurance isn't even checked. However, the owner can obtain a regular metal plate, a temporary license plate, and annual registration stickers for the vehicle once it has been stopped.
Costs to "pass" the examinations range from $100 to $500, which is frequently going to be significantly less expensive than having a vehicle fixed appropriately. Particularly the 12-year-old white Nissan Versa base model with its dangling bumpers.
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