In Irkutsk and across Russia, vehicle inspection rules have changed. Now private licensed firms decide whether a car may be used, and fake certificates can get them banned. The report shows the new inspection process, from body and headlights to brakes, emissions and number checks, and why defects must now be fixed.

Car owners in Irkutsk, as indeed throughout Russia, will have to change the familiar scheme for obtaining the coveted certificate of technical inspection. Now the right to issue the verdict “fit or not fit” has been transferred to private companies. For this, they receive the appropriate license. Issuing a certificate “for pretty eyes” threatens such companies with a ban on further work.
The innovations in the process of vehicle technical inspection are intended to completely eliminate corruption in this area. That means defective vehicles should disappear entirely from the streets of the region’s cities. That is in theory. In practice, however, the result is still far off. The new rules have been in effect for less than a month. However, employees of inspection stations note that there are quite a lot of people who want to honestly go through all the stages of checking their car. The hero of our report, Irkutsk resident Sergei, is one of them. After registering and paying for the inspection service, Sergei heads to the bay. Here he will only observe what is happening from the side. The station inspectors take everything into their own hands. Stage one is the external inspection of the car. As a rule, it is here that it becomes clear whether the car will pass inspection or not. Our hero had quite a few violations of the GOST standard.
Konstantin Okishev, technical inspection inspector: “It is prohibited to install protective elements on the headlights. The owner of this car is obliged to replace the windshield, since the crack is within the wiper zone. The car is missing front and rear mud flaps. License plates must be fastened with screws.”
The presence of a fire extinguisher, specifically a powder one with a capacity of two liters, as well as a first-aid kit and an emergency stop sign, is another mandatory condition for passing the inspection. Stage two is the verification of numbers and assemblies. This is carried out by a traffic police officer. An important condition is that the car’s engine must be clean. On the diagnostic control line, station specialists check the headlights’ light intensity, the steering system, assess tinting, and measure harmful emissions from the exhaust pipe. After checking the braking system, station specialists inspect the car from underneath last. All data at each stage are entered into a special database. It is impossible to influence the verdict of the automated system. Any existing shortcomings, as in the case of our hero, will definitely have to be corrected.
Sergei Nitkin, car owner: “During the inspection it turned out that there were a number of shortcomings: no mud flaps, the windshield is cracked, and so on. I was given 20 days for a repeat free inspection so that I could fix this and come back.”
You can familiarize yourself with the rules for conducting the inspection right here at the station. On special stands, all the information is posted, including the list of faults and conditions under which the operation of vehicles is prohibited. In addition, the workers at the technical inspection station can provide car owners with this kind of memo.
The technical inspection inspectors and traffic police officers monitoring the process hardly interact in the station’s production area. The possibility of car owners obtaining fake documents confirming the inspection is eliminated. This is the main goal of creating such commercial enterprises. There are currently two of them in Irkutsk. The regional traffic police are also now considering proposals from entrepreneurs from different districts of the region.