RICO’s Q. I was prepared. As I have done for years, I look over my vehicle to make sure all is working as it should be, and make sure that I have all the right documents at hand, including vehicle ownership, marchamo, last year’s inspection report, cedula and driver’s license.
I was ready. I made my appointment weeks ago. I was early. Nervous really, didn’t know what to expect.
Can’t be worse than under the rule of Riteve, where you start with the line at the office, where you were interrogated like no one knew why we’re here, and hand over the documents, to which the person behind the glass would read back to me the particulars of my vehicle.
I would be asked for my phone number, which was on file, the same number I have had for more than 20 years, and asked it if would be cash or plastic, then move over to the other line, to wait for the receipt by the bank teller.
After one final check that all is cool with the vehicle, I head to the lines. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that I realized that my line was preordained, it said so on the receipt. I had never bothered to check until a few years back I was told I was in the wrong line. “We’ll let it go this time, but next time (…),” I was lectured.
At the line, pull out the receipt and driver’s license. No inspection would take place without the two. Remember I already had them in hand at the office. But anything can happen in between, I suppose.
At the end of the inspection, it would be sometimes an eternal wait for the report card and sticker. More than once I had to park, and head to the inspection station or station center to get my report and sticker.
But yesterday it was all different.
After the gate person checked my plate number against her list on a tablet, I was waved through to the canopy, where, ready to hand over my documents (registration, ownership, marchamo, driver’s license and cedula), I was told it wasn’t necessary, only my card to make the payment.
Do you want your printed receipt? Head to line 5.
Whoa, can it be that simple? There’s got to be a catch.
Nope.
Yesterday, like every day, at the Alajuela Coyol and other stations across the country, the lines where long, but moving.
At the first stop, I didn’t have to show my license, there was no receipt (it would come at the end), just down to the business of checking over the vehicle.
Once done, I was handed my report card, the sticker and receipt and a thank you.
‘Holy Batman’ what a CF we’ve gotten from Riteve over the years.
As I said in the beginning, the vehicle was ready, and so was I for the stress involved from the start at the front office to the attendants on the line, right down to, did my vehicle pass or not?
I admit there may have been one or two years where the vehicular inspection was painless. However, for the rest of the years, the Riteve experience was at the same, if not higher, stress level than crossing the border into Nicaragua the last several years.
My experience with DEKRA on Tuesday was totally different, like stepping into another dimension. The company and staff were, in my opinion, interested in only two things: payment for their service and that the vehicle met the regulations stipulated by the Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT). None of the BS that was the rule of the day by the Riteve.
I will be back on Monday with my other vehicle. Can’t wait.
