QCOSTARICA – Here’s a shocker, well maybe not so much given its history of corruption and inefficiency, the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) – Road Safety Council – says it has no records of vehicles that need the vehicle inspection or re-inspection.
This was the word from the executive director of the government agency, Cindy Coto, in an interview with El Observador.
“We do not have a database that tells us which plates have a technical inspection during the year. Another was an issue of data updating, of those who paid RTV must register in the public registry and the information was not available,” she said.
This implies, a vehicle was in a period close to the departure of the Riteve company (on July 15) and only needs reinspection, it cannot be verified.
“By not having that database we cannot tell the user, for certainty they only need re-inspection, thus we have to do the inspection again.
“The purpose of the inspection is road safety, how the country’s fleet is doing, and there is no record of serious vehicle defects and road hazards,” Coto acknowledged.
According to the Cosevi director, the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) – Ministry of Public Works and Transportation – the institution that signed a contract with the previous permit holder, will be taking legal action with the objective of not affecting the user.
Read more: INS confirms that vehicles with RTV amnesty can pay 2023 Marchamo and will be given the ‘sticker’
New inspection service
Officially the company that will take over the technical inspection is the German company Dekra. At the end of August, MOPT Minister, Luis Amador, announced the selection of the DEKRA company and that the vehicular inspection would resume by mid-October.
Given the appeals to the awarding of the contract, that timetable was pushed back.
Since there are no further appeals left, Dekra is expected to be starting the inspection service, using the previous operator’s stations and equipment that passed to the State in July, and should be starting “soon”.
“We are working on communication protocols, where all the information of the service offered by Dekra is replicated on the Cosevi servers,” the director clarified, to ensure that the Cosevi is not left empty-handed, database-wise.
According to Coto, they are finishing the transition stage, then a protocol of actions will be signed that derives “the rules of the game”, on the duties and rights of the parties.
Work is also being done on a start-up schedule that must be presented to Cosevi’s Board of Directors for approval.
“This is in the final stage, we do not have the exact date, because the schedule was not approved, I would expect the Dekra vehicle inspection to begin in the coming weeks,” she said.
Coto added that the different stations will be opened gradually, that is not all at once, as the permits advance, and an extended schedule will be offered to cover the demand.
For now, owners of vehicles with license plates ending in 1, 2, 3 and 4 and that did not have their vehicles inspected, that is not have the Riteve sticker and certificate, face fines for driving without the respective vehicular inspection.
For vehicles ending in plates 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0, there is a programmed extension to have the vehicle inspected once Dekra begins operations. The extension is as follows:
- Plates ending in 5 and 6: one month
- Plates ending in 7 and 8: two months
- Plates ending in 9 and 0: three months
