Technical inspection tariffs have been increased nationwide by 55% in the current Iranian year (started March 21) after three years of remaining unchanged, Tehran’s Vehicle Technical Inspection Bureau announced.
Seyyed Navab Hosseini, the bureau chief, said technical inspection tests used to cost 220,000 rials ($1.6) since 2015. But after a 55% rise in prices, car owners now have to pay 370,000 rials ($2.7) for having their vehicles tested, ISNA reported.
The mandatory inspections check vehicles' conformity with emission standards and are conducted in two ways: normal and premium.
The premium certificate has higher standards than those set for the normal technical inspection certificates. While in the normal tests, vehicles’ emissions are monitored in a low-speed performance, for receiving the premium certificate, the carbon monoxide emission of cars is assessed at 2,500 rpm.
Hosseini said that an average of 45-50% of the vehicles fails to receive the certificate due to their high emission rates and 20-25% are rejected since they do not meet safety standards.
To ease the growing air pollution in the Iranian capital widely contributed by dilapidated vehicles plying the streets, the premium technical inspection certificate was made mandatory in 2018 for vehicles seeking permits to enter the "restricted zones" of Tehran.
The municipality has demarcated restricted zones to limit the number of cars plying in Tehran’s central business district to prevent traffic and pollution.
Since the Air Pollution Reduction scheme launched in Tehran in November 2018, all two- and four-wheelers are required to undergo mandatory inspections and receive technical papers that confirm the vehicle is roadworthy. Violators are fined.
The bureau reports that over four million smog-inducing vehicles and dilapidated two-wheelers were fined in the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2019) in Tehran for violating the APR scheme.
