Annual car test / pregled updates

EVTRA wrote:

J
Oh, my motor scored a perfect test!!!

There's your problem then, if i take a car to a test, i make sure the car is filthy dirty, mouldy pizza on the dash, can't see the floor for empty take-away wrappers and drinks cans, my paperwork smells of cat pee. 
The car is mechanically sound by the way....  but with a lose tail lamp or under inflated tyre...   something simple like that....   but to the untrained eye, it looks like a shed, however, under the hood, it's well kept and well maintained.

If you rock up in a well kept vehicle, smelling of nice deodorant, a clean shirt and a pair of trainers that would cost them more than a weeks wages...   they think you'er loaded....   and to be frank...  by their standards....  you are!   
My neighbours lives on 112 leva a week.  If i chip my fag but outside my house, she comes and collects them.

Also, i don't take any cash with me....   after the test i say, i want to pay with card.   That way you have a record of what you paid.   They have to put something in writing.
Also, don't go early, go just before lunch or just before they close.

Maybe they saw you coming?

Also, i don't know if it just because i'm female or it's the way i carry myself....   but Bulgarians don't like confrontation. They are not violent.  They shy away from trouble.  I don't think they like it...    it's not in their culture....   well not like it is with the Brits and Americans.   

You just have to come across as troublesome, smelly, dirty and strapped for cash....   just enough for them to want shot of you....  as you are taking up their time....   time that could be occupied by a wealthy foreigner.   

But i do know exactly where you are coming from....  Can't you find a Bulgarian to take with you?  Then maybe buy them a lunch in a local restaurant/bar as repayment?

But look on the bright side....   you're helping the poorest country in Europe get up off it's knees.
Try taking a vehicle for a test in Monte Carlo, Monaco and see what you pay...  Last time i was there i paid 25 euro for a BigMac and 330ml of local beer.  God only knows what they want for an MOT

I went to my local place in Kazanlak this year for my car and motorcycle, and they were as nice as can be, and charged me 25 leva (each). The language gap was no problem, as they only needed "dokumenti" and "dvaiset i pet leva" and a bit of pointing at the inspection bay.

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Hay, EVTRA....   are you American?  or maybe German?  You must come from somewhere with high engineering  prowess.  No offence intended.  I like people of every flavour,
It's just you have quite hi expectations of people being professional.  You kinda expect people to "do their job".  My other half spent some time in New York....   they get up early to work there.  And they are proud of it too.  Crazy!

i don't advocate violence...   that said, if you have ever been to Glasgow or Liverpool, you feel like everyone want's to kill you....     verbally anyway,  but it's just their way...  put them behind the wheel and they are among the most polite and courteous drivers in the world.
On the other hand....  Bulgarian's are real aggressive when driving....   far more aggressive than they are in person, i.e. one to one. I find that fascinating.

Hostility can be done a bit tongue and cheek and still get results. But you have to be good at reading the situation. I feel the Bulgarian women often sound more aggressive than the men.
And we have to remember, we are in a different culture.  (She says shaking her head)
And "i" do have to remember to wind my own neck in from time to time. Cos it can come across as bullying and that's not my intention.

Yer, gwynj...   i think it's cheaper for bikes anyhow....  cos they pollute less..?  maybe? 

But have you lot noticed ?....   2.27 lev for benzene now.  That's about a 15% rise in the last 3 months. 
I know the car test includes this new city pollution tax.  And someone has to pay for the chip that goes on the widescreen. London is about 20 pounds a day now.

Maybe that's why you were hit up EVTRA?  Or...   do you really think it was discrimination cos your not Bulgarian?  It would be good to know what others pay when having this new windscreen sticker fitted.  It is new.

Anyhow, have you notice how hot it is at the mo?
You see, the climate's turning, and we're not learning. 
The ozone layer has no ozone anymore, so in a desperate plan to save the planet... i think the're gonna try price us of the road.

The only thing that can save us now is either:
1) Bezos, Musk and Branson take us to Jupiter, so we can be stupider
or
2) Massive depopulation.     viruses targeted at those that don't believe in evidence based medicine....   

I just hope there are enough anti-vaxxers to tip the balance and halt the population explosion.  Then i can go back to being a petrol head and import my classic V8 range-rover from UK,

Anyway, i did my bit this week....   i had a bag of coal in the basement....   rather than burn it this winter, i dug a hole in the garden and put it back in the ground where it belongs.  After all, it was the Brits that started all this industrial revolution stuff with the invention of the steam train.  All this climate change...   you can see why people blame westerners.  It's all out fault we robed the young from their future....   we pulled the ladder up behind us.

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EVTRA wrote:

You will have to dig that coal in the middle of the winter to warm up.

Hopefully the ground will be too frozen by then.

@EVTRA, can you post links to the the costings you have found?
i have tried to do some digging myself......   that's for ANNUAL VEHICLE INSPECTION as well as my coal burring antics.

According to http://kantora.eu/registratsii-firmi-ch … fines.html

Quote: "every vehicle inspection station determines its inspection fee, which is usually about BGN 40. The price includes the cost of the inspection, the certificate and the pass inspection sticker.

The duration of the vehicle inspection is at least 20 minutes, during which it is advisable to stay away."

Also, "Keep in mind that if there ever was a possibility for a vehicle to pass the AVI based only on the documents presented (without actual inspection of the vehicle), this practice stopped since the beginning of 2012 because of the placement of cameras at the inspection stations which are connected directly to the office of the Executive Agency "Automobile Administration".  - end Quote.

If you carry an Android device and have a google account (like almost everyone these days) you can check if you were at the test station longer than the minimum 20min. 
Go to your google account and turn on "timeline".  It's on anyway, by default.....   but by turning it on "timeline" lets you (as a civilian) get an email each month outlining your exact movements,.... how long you stayed at each way-point, whether you were walking, running, driving, how many steps that you took, etc. and, if you have an up to date iphone with healthcare apps installed, your pulse rate....  during the whole month.

See if you were at the test center longer than 20min. If they shuffled you through within a shorter time period...   you have leverage over them, However, what you choose to do with that leverage is up to you.

You could (if you where that way inclined) call it to the attention of the  Executive Agency for "Automobile Administration" and they could cross reference your claims with their surveillance equipment in the test centre. But you are kicking the hornets nest.....   and you are gonna need good command presence to carry it off.

You gotta fight back man!

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Thanks for the link.  I was aware it was in the news but i tend to not follow the Bulgarian news as
Bulgaria was ranked as high as 112th in media watchdog "Reporters Without Borders"' latest Press Freedom Index.

So all this came into effect 12th July?  That was a bit sudden.  What's the urgency?
But you are right....   it is a licence to print money.    And money matters most
That said, how else do we control pollution and climate change?

Moreover, it's important that we have these public conversations as if effects us all.

My own mother lives very close to a busy road in UK and recently recovered from an aggressive cancer she attributes to air pollution.

Policies like these are designed as disincentives in us using vehicles that burn hydrocarbons. But you are correct.....  it does disproportionately effect the non-ruling class.

I'm with you....   lets keep the costs down and let the planet burn.  The wealthy are planning to evacuate earth and colonise space anyhow.   Let um go i say...   It don't matter to us right?  We don't need um.
The young can just suck it up right?  They don't hold older generations responsible in any way...  If you are only 20 something you are with us on this,  Yes?

I don't know the answers my friend but what i do know is it's not gonna get any better. It will never be this cheap ever again.  Prices will only go up. FOR EVERYTHING!

The only thing we can hope for is this virus killing at least 50% of the population...   that will reduce the surplice population thus reducing pollution.....  we used to use war to reduce the surplice population but most that is all automated now .
I'm surprised that Mother Nature came up with the solution all by itself!.
One would have thought mankind should have dreamed up its own AGENDA for the 21st Century and called it something like AGENDA 21.   But they didn't.  Right?  That would just be for tin foil hat  conspiracy theorists...   and we have no time for the crazy conspiracy theorists...   right?

Like that lefty loony....  nice Mr Tony Blair.  He had some crazy idea that Sadam had weapons of mass destruction that could kill everyone in 45min. Him and Bush lead us into an endless war in the middle east where most my mates got killed.
But i'm not bitter.   I just don't like conspiracy theorists.

All we need to do is pay out taxes, take our vaccine, and be good law abiding citizens and we will be well looked after.  Right?