Vehicle inspection from overload to excess capacity, private units struggle to retain staff

For the past few months, most inspection centers in Ho Chi Minh City have no longer had long lines of cars waiting for their turn to be inspected. After struggling with overload for many months, most inspection centers are now in a state of "slow business" and excess capacity.

At the 50-05V Inspection Center, Hong Ha Branch (Tan Binh), there was a period when the front yard of the inspection line was packed with vehicles, with hundreds of vehicles lining up in long lines to wait for inspection. However, that yard is now often empty, with only a few vehicles scattered about.

This inspection center has 6 inspectors, with a maximum inspection capacity of 120 vehicles per day, but in recent days, each day only inspects about 1/2 of the capacity. An inspector at the 50-05V Center expressed concern that there are many times during the day when inspectors have to wait for customers, but the emptiness of this time will lead to a large number of vehicles coming together for inspection during the period near Tet, then the center may be full again and overloaded.

Inspection Center 50-12D (Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) currently has 2 inspection lines in operation, with a maximum capacity of 90-100 vehicles per day. In July 2023, on average, this inspection station will receive about 80-90 vehicles per day for inspection, including family cars, commercial vehicles, trucks, etc.

However, these days, the number of vehicles coming in is "dripping", the atmosphere is quiet. Mr. Tran Mau Thanh Trung - Deputy Director of Inspection Center 50-12D, said that on average, only about 30-40 vehicles come for inspection, the situation of the number of vehicles coming for inspection gradually decreasing started after the automatic extension of the inspection cycle. In addition, currently, the first inspection is also exempted for new vehicles.

"We are a private enterprise, so we have to pay for ourselves. The decrease in the number of vehicles inspected directly affects the enterprise's revenue, and thus the income of the inspectors is also affected. We even have to cut down on some allowances such as food expenses to balance other expenses such as premises, electricity, water, and machine maintenance...", Mr. Trung said.

Last month, the average income of vehicle inspectors at this center was more than 7 million VND/person. Despite the decrease in revenue, the centers said they still had to try to maintain the number of employees even though some people wanted to quit because it is likely that at the end of this year, the number of vehicles will increase again when the inspection period ends. Especially when recruiting and training a vehicle inspector to be able to do the job well takes a lot of time and is not as easy as other jobs.

"I know that many inspectors have changed jobs because of the high pressure and low income. Right now, I have a few applications on my desk. I am also very concerned about how to balance and retain staff until inspection activities return to normal. Because it is very possible that there will be a shortage of staff at that time, and recruiting and training new people will take a whole year.

The centers are all waiting for the change in inspection service prices but have not yet made a decision. Increasing inspection service prices is a fundamental and important measure that will reduce pressure on inspection centers, especially private enterprises," said Mr. Trung.