GREENSBORO, N.C. — Changes are coming for car inspections, and it's a change you might think was already in place.
All state car inspection locations must switch from the old dial-up system to ethernet with VPN security by July 1.
There are about 6000 stations in the state that run inspections. According to NCDOT DMV Communications Manager Marty Homan, about a third of them are still running dial-up.
If these businesses don't make the switch, you might need to find a new place to get your car inspected because they will no longer be able to do it.
Homan said it's an important switch for the state.
"We've been running two systems for the last several years, a dial-up system, and then we use the ethernet with VPN security," said Homan. "It's beginning to be expensive for the department. Our costs have gone up 32% in the last two years to maintain both systems."
Homan said the old legacy system needs to be modernized. He said it's too much to manage, and it will be better for those businesses.
"I mean it's faster, more efficient, and a more reliable system," said Homan. "It makes sense to move everybody to that system. We did have quite a few of them still on dial-up. They have had plenty of notice that we will be moving. There will be an equipment upgrade on their part if they haven't already moved over, but again, most all of these places have the new sort of technology that they're running their credit card payments on, so they just need to move to the new system to transmit the inspections back to us."
Homan said thankfully, the number of businesses switching over is increasing.
Jeff's Golden Gate Tire and Service in Greensboro got a taste of the new system.
Owner Wes Ingle said while inspections still take about 20 minutes to ensure your car is safe, the process of working with the DMV to get the approval is much quicker.
"We were one of the test sites that the DMV had set up with," said Ingle. "They came in one morning and set it up and it was very simple."
Ingle said that since that switch, the business has been more efficient.
"It's half the time, maybe less than half the time," Ingle said. "It's super nice, and it seemed like with the dial-up, there was always a problem. With this wifi, it's just super quick, super easy, and man, it's just really nice."
Homan said it's time to say hello to the new and improved system.
"The days of dial-up should be behind us and we're looking forward to just moving into having just one up-to-date modern system to process these," said Homan.
If you're worried about where you get your car inspected, the advice is to remind your service provider about the change.
It goes into effect July 1st.