When does WA ask for an inspection?
The department is now the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure (DTMI), though plenty of people still say a DoT inspection. All interstate vehicles must be inspected at an AIS and issued a certificate of inspection before they can be licensed in WA. Licensing is WA's word for rego.
DTMI also asks for one after a defect notice, a change to the body, engine or dimensions, for a repairable written-off vehicle, and when an inspection certificate has expired. Annual inspections apply to vehicles such as those with more than 12 seats, tow trucks, driving instructor cars and Passenger Transport Vehicles.
Do you need a roadworthy certificate to sell a car in WA?
The department's steps for selling a WA-licensed vehicle don't include an inspection. They ask you to tell DTMI within 7 days that you've stopped being the owner, with the buyer's name and address, and to give the buyer the current licence paper.
Those steps give a buyer no safety check, so a pre-purchase inspection is worth having before you pay for a WA car.
Got a yellow sticker? Do this
Read the expiry date
A defect notice (a yellow sticker or work order) means the car can't be driven on WA roads after the expiry date on the notice.
Fix the defect
Get the repair done first. Every motor repair business in WA needs a licence, and Consumer Protection WA says to do an online licence check.
Get it to an AIS
After the expiry date, a licensed car with its defects fixed can go by the shortest practical route directly to the nearest AIS. If the defect isn't fixed, it goes by tow truck or trailer to a repairer or an AIS.
Have it inspected within 14 days
The inspection is due within 14 days of the expiry date. The whole car gets inspected, not just the defects on the notice, and a new work order may be issued.
Don't let it drift
At 28 days after expiry a notice to return the plates is issued, and the licence can't be renewed until the car's been inspected and the notice cleared.
Where does the inspection happen?
The Welshpool Vehicle Examination Centre has closed, and inspections now go through AIS businesses across metro and regional WA. Because they're private businesses, you book and pay the station directly, and booking, payment and hours differ from one to the next.
The Kelmscott Vehicle Inspection Centre only takes customers DTMI has instructed, such as high-risk, highly modified and oversized vehicles.
What the department's own upkeep list covers
- Tyres: tread depth of 1.5 mm or more, the right pressure and no damage to the tyre body.
- Lights: all working, no cracked lenses, correctly aligned.
- Brakes: the fluid level, and any spongy feel or pulling to one side.
- Steering: wandering, excess play or needing constant correction.
- Engine oil and coolant at the maker's levels. Check them cold, and never open a hot radiator cap.
- Windscreen washer bottle topped up.
What can hold the inspection up?
Check first for a compulsory Takata airbag recall notice, because vehicles with defective Takata air bags can't be inspected until that's resolved. An unlicensed car needs a temporary movement permit to reach the station.
Once you have a Certificate of Inspection, it's valid for 3 months from the date you receive it, and it has to reach a DTMI service centre or regional agent in that time. The department's contact centre can answer questions.
What the inspection won't tell you
DTMI says the inspection is solely about whether the vehicle meets vehicle standards and statutory requirements for licensing. It isn't a full assessment of the car's overall condition, and it shouldn't be used to value a car.
What you can do before it goes in
You can
- Read the notice and put the expiry date in your phone.
- Work through the department's upkeep list above on a cold car.
- Look up whether your car has a compulsory Takata recall.
Leave to the mechanic
- Repairing the defects on the notice.
- Anything to do with brakes, steering or suspension.
- The inspection itself: that's for an AIS.
What we'd do
We'd treat the expiry date on a yellow sticker as the real deadline and work backwards from it: repair first, then ring around AIS stations early, because hours vary from one to the next. For a car you're buying privately, we wouldn't assume anyone has checked it. We'd get a mechanic who knows the make to look it over before any money changes hands.