Title 46.2. Motor Vehicles
Chapter 10. Motor Vehicle and Equipment Safety
§ 46.2-1166. Minimum standards required for inspection stations; appointments. (2026 updated section)
A. The Superintendent shall not designate any person, firm, or corporation as an official inspection station unless and until such person, firm or corporation satisfies the Superintendent, under such regulations as the Superintendent shall prescribe, that such person, firm, or corporation has met and will continue to meet the following standards:
1. The station has sufficient mechanical equipment and certified safety inspectors to make a complete inspection in accordance with the provisions of this article;
2. Adequate means are provided by the station to test the brakes, headlights, and steering mechanism of motor vehicles and to ascertain that motor vehicles inspected by the station meet the safety standards prescribed by the Superintendent under the terms of this title;
3. The person making the actual inspection is certified as a safety inspector by the Superintendent of State Police;
4. No person shall be designated by such station to make such inspections unless the person has been approved for that purpose by the Department of State Police; and
5. The station has garage liability insurance in the amount of at least $500,000 with an approved surplus lines carrier or insurance company licensed to write such insurance in this Commonwealth, provided this requirement shall not apply to inspection stations that inspect only their company-owned or leased or government-owned or leased vehicles.
B. Any official inspection station may, at the discretion of the inspection station, accept vehicles on a first-come, first-served basis or by prescheduled appointments for the safety inspection of a motor vehicle pursuant to § 46.2-1157.
Code 1950, § 46-319; 1958, c. 541, § 46.1-320; 1962, c. 246; 1980, cc. 31, 168; 1989, c. 727; 2004, c. 383; 2005, c. 179; 2017, c. 525; 2018, c. 400; 2026, c. 743.
