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 vehicles 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 waiting to be inspected. 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/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 of 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, 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 "drop by drop", 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 exempted for new vehicles.

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

Last month, the average income of inspectors at this center was over 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 wanted to quit because it is likely that by the end of this year, the number of vehicles will skyrocket again when the inspection period ends. Especially when recruiting and training an inspector to be proficient in the job 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 by then, and recruiting and training new people will take a whole year.

The centers are all waiting for changes 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.