Pre-inspection checklist: pass your roadworthy on the first attempt
A practical checklist of every item a mobile inspector will look at, with the fixes you can do at home in under an hour to avoid a re-inspection fee.
Why a checklist matters
Roughly seven in ten cars fail their first roadworthy inspection on at least one item. Most of those fails are trivial, a blown number-plate bulb, a torn wiper blade, a smear of brake fluid on a caliper. The cost of a fail is two-fold: the re-inspection fee (typically $30–$60) and the lost time, since most states only allow 14 days to rectify before a fresh inspection is required from scratch.
Running through this list the morning of your booking will catch the common, cheap fixes. None of it requires tools beyond a torch, a tyre gauge, and a helper to press the brake.
Lights, the single biggest cause of fails
Get a helper to stand behind the car while you operate every lamp in turn: park, low beam, high beam, indicators (left, right, hazards), brake pedal pressed, reverse selected. Walk around to the front and repeat. Do the same with parkers and indicators visible from the side.
A single blown tail light or brake bulb is the most common single-item fail in Australia. Bulbs are $5 at any auto store; the fail will cost you $50 plus a return trip. Replace anything dim, flickering or out before the inspector arrives.
Don't forget the number-plate light. It is on a separate circuit and easy to miss.
Tyres, measure, do not eyeball
Australian law requires a minimum tread of 1.5 mm across the centre three-quarters of the tyre. A 20-cent coin in the deepest groove gives you a quick check: if more than half the coin is visible, the tyre is on the limit and an inspector may fail it for uneven wear.
Inspect the sidewalls in good light. Bulges, cuts, exposed cords or aging cracks are an automatic fail and a genuine safety concern. Set the pressure cold to the placard value (driver's door jamb, not the tyre sidewall, the sidewall figure is the maximum, not the recommended).
Brakes, suspension and steering
Press the brake pedal hard and hold. It should stop within the first third of travel and not creep further toward the floor. A spongy or sinking pedal indicates air in the lines or a leaking master cylinder, both fail, both need a workshop.
The parking brake should hold the car on a moderate slope without rolling and without needing to be at the very top of its lever travel. Bounce each corner of the car: it should rebound and settle within one or two oscillations. Continued bounce indicates worn shock absorbers.
Steering should turn lock to lock with no notchy spots, no clunks, and no audible groans from the power-steering pump.
Windscreen, wipers and washers
Cracks longer than 30 mm fail. Cracks of any length within the driver's wiper sweep fail. A small bullseye chip can usually be repaired in 20 minutes for under $40, much cheaper than a windscreen replacement.
Wiper blades should clear the windscreen without juddering or smearing. Blade rubber that is split or hardened is a five-minute fix.
Both washer jets must spray cleanly onto the glass. A blocked jet often clears with a sewing pin; a torn hose under the bonnet is the usual cause of an empty bottle.
Body, rust and seatbelts
Surface rust on a panel is fine. Structural rust, sills, jacking points, suspension tower mounts, chassis rails, is an automatic fail. Look underneath with a torch and run a screwdriver along anything that looks suspect: if it crunches through, that is structural.
Every fitted seatbelt must extend, retract under tension, and lock the moment it is jerked. Sluggish retractors are a common fail on older cars; they cannot be repaired, only replaced.
Sharp panel edges, hanging plastic, or a bumper held on with cable ties will all fail. Tidy these up before the inspector arrives.
What an inspector cannot overlook
Inspectors operate under the regulator's checklist, not personal judgement. If a checked item does not meet the standard, they must record it as a fail, even if it is trivial. There is no benefit to "having a chat" with the inspector about a borderline tyre.
What you can do is make sure every cheap, fixable item is sorted before they arrive, so the only fails (if any) are genuine workshop jobs. That is the difference between a 30-minute pass and a $90 re-inspection two weeks later.