Despite criticism from all sides, Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder (N-VA) is pushing through her plans to reorganize the car inspection. The Minister wants to change and simplify the system because, in her eyes, it’s ‘gold-plated’ and asks too much of the common Flemish car owner.

The most important changes are the abolition of the obligation to have a second-hand car inspection and the option to have an inspection conducted by professionals other than the current inspection centers.

1.7 million fewer inspections

In her policy note, the Minister hopes to reduce the number of car inspections by 1.7 million by 2028 and estimates job losses at inspection centers at around 500.

121 employees are scheduled to disappear already this year, 323 will follow in 2027, and another 54 in 2028. In these estimates, the eventual shift in inspections from official inspection centers to independent car service providers (mostly garages) is not included.

Utterly deplorable

The sector federation for car inspection, GOCA, says the new plan is utterly deplorable. “There will be an impact on traffic safety, on the environment, and on consumer protection,” says GOCA spokesman Dirk Snauwaert.

In 2025, the inspection centers checked 482,000 second-hand cars before they were sold. 93,000, or one-fifth, were denied access to the road because of failures. Where’s the concern for road safety if you abolish this inspection?”

The concerned Christian Union, ACV Puls, points out that it will again be the common citizen who will pay the bill for the changes. “Politicians are evading their responsibilities. In times of severe budget problems, the citizen/consumer will pay twice: the safety on the road will decrease, and the second-hand transaction will  be less protected, and he will feel the societal and financial consequences of such a policy.”

Desperately needed

The Minister is not impressed. She thinks her changes are desperately needed. ” We make car inspection much more consumer-friendly for the Flemish citizen, make sure that inspection queues are disappearing, and we cancel superfluous regulations.”

“Of course, I feel concern for the employees of the inspection centers that will be affected, but we have been doing too many inspections, more than Europe asked for, and that’s what I wanted to change. Investments in road safety will stay a priority and will remain at the same level as before,” she added.

Our view

The Minister is absolutely right that it’s too hard for car owners to obtain a rendez-vous for car inspection right now. Things have to change, and the inspection centers have been neglecting the problem for too long. It’s their Achilles heel in their feud with the Minister.

Minister Annick De Ridder is one of the leading figures in the N-VA, the biggest party in Flanders. The electoral core of this party is the so-called ‘hard-working Fleming,’ and the party will do everything to suit its wishes and whims. So, he/she can’t be bothered too much with regulations and obligations. Hence, the Minister’s efforts to change and simplify the car inspection.

However, in her endeavour to please her voters, the Minister is seriously cutting into other parameters, such as safety and environmental concerns. A recent survey from CarVertical shows that almost half of the second-hand cars in Belgium come from abroad.

More than 20% of all second-hand cars came from France, more than 10% from Germany, and many also came from the Netherlands, Italy, and Sweden.

Mileage fraud

The problem is that in a lot of cases, mileage fraud is detected, and even worse, a lot of cars have been damaged before. In most cases, it’s minor damage, but many cars have suffered severe damage and have often been repaired with cheaper, sometimes non-conforming spare parts.

The brands where customers take the highest risks are, logically, the most popular brands, like BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Peugeot. If the obligatory technical inspection for second-hand cars is abolished, this will, for sure, create an additional safety problem on Flemish roads.

On the environmental side, fewer controls mean more and longer fraud regarding emissions, in an era where Flanders is already one of the lesser pupils in the European environmental class.

Last but not least, we’re not convinced that the new ministerial plans are that good for the public budget. Who will finally pay the restructuring costs of the plans is not very clear at the moment. A lot of people fear that, once again, it will be the common citizen/customer in the end.