The Flemish government has approved the reinspection of cars by certified garage owners in principle. Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) launched the idea because the official inspection centers cannot tackle the bottlenecks, and there is a need for additional capacity.

“The technical inspection remains important from a road safety point of view, but this measure can provide citizens with a faster and more efficient service,” Minister Peeters explains.

Persistent problems

For some time now, there have been persistent problems with car inspections in Flanders. Waiting times at car inspections are not a new phenomenon. On the contrary, they are getting longer and longer, which means that people who receive an invitation for inspection sometimes cannot make an appointment before their inspection certificate expires. This, in turn, results in untested vehicles and a possible safety problem on the road.

People have to be able to have their cars inspected fast and customer-friendly, and today, this is impossible because the inspection centers are overloaded with reinspections: the number of second checks has increased by 10,5% compared to 2019.

Simple flaws

In 2022, the centers registered 770 000 reinspections. Most common reinspections are related to lights, tires, and emissions, three problems garages can perfectly solve.

Allowing recognized garages to take over several specific reinspections will relieve the centers. With the measure, about 300 000 reinspections could be moved from inspection centers to authorized repairers, reducing the stress for inspection centers and – above all –  helping car drivers, who will no longer be forced to show up for the reinspection of superficial flaws.

Complete reform

Minister Peeters will now work on an implementation decree with further details: the deficiencies that qualify, the recognition conditions, and the concrete details of the supervision. In the autumn, she intends to submit a concept proposal for a complete reform to the Flemish government.

Earlier, Minister Peeters took several steps to tackle the problem within the sector by giving drivers time until the next inspection to repair minor defects that had no impact on road safety or by no longer issuing fines to those being too late for an appointment due to the long waiting times. She also ordered an audit of the operation of the car inspection centers after several complaints.