Curious Why Car Inspection Stickers Are Fading

WBZ

It's a yearly ritual, drive in and get your car inspected. Twenty-nine dollars please.

Well this year a lot of you are telling us you didn't get your money's worth, and you're more than a little Curious about a problem with your inspection stickers.

Jerry from Tewksbury asks: "Why are inspection stickers fading from red to white?"

And Tom from Shrewsbury says: "This hasn't happened in years past, so what gives?"

"It looks like something I made at home and stuck on the car," says Jerry Carrigg.

His number 3 inspection sticker has turned white. "You could do it with a magic marker," he adds.

Jerry is not at all happy about that, or with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. In all his years of driving he's never seen anything like it.

"I couldn't figure out what was wrong," he says.

It's very odd, and once you begin looking around, you see the faded inspection stickers everywhere.

"It's just aggravating. One more thing that you figure isn't being done the right way," says Carrigg.

We were baffled as well.

So we went to the Registry to find out what went wrong.

"There was an additive dye that was not added by the vendor," says Rachel Kaprielian, the state's Registrar. She's in charge of the inspection program and blames a new company that is now making the stickers.

"As soon as we discovered the problem we held the vendor to the contract and the problem has since been rectified," she says.

But if your car was inspected in the first 4 or 5 months of the year you've probably watched a sticker that is supposed to be red, turn to a ghostly white. And chances are you've got a lot of questions, like, do I need to replace my faded sticker?

"You don't need to, it is not necessary," says Kaprielian.

If you want to replace your faded sticker call the Motorist Hotline at 866-941-6277 and people there will set you up to get a new sticker.

Jerry Carrig has another question: "My concern would be getting pulled over by the police," he says.

"You will not be in trouble simply for a faded sticker," says Registrar Kaprielian.

"Law enforcement and the Registry of Motor Vehicles will be able to read the information on the bar code," she adds.

What about cost? Is the taxpayer losing out here?

"It is not costing the taxpayer anything," says Kaprielian.

And that solves the mystery.

Remember, you can join the conversation. Go to www.wbztv.com/curious and tell us what you want to know.

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