PSA: VPD Handing Out VIs Like Candy

[320icar]

Your response should be “can you even describe the difference between camber, caster and toe sir?”

[white rocket]

Originally Posted by 320icar

Your response should be “can you even describe the difference between camber, caster and toe sir?”

And then the officer takes your car off the road for being cheeky

I hate this shit

[nexusxv]

Originally Posted by white rocket

In terms of that officers reasoning, being too low is obvious from the above pic but factory performance exhaust and camber?

I think this is what triggered the cop, however, if the body of the car is higher then the lowest point of the rim, he is legal. Yes he is clearly on the edge, but to tell exactly we need to look from the side.

[68style]

What a Dick... you even hint at starting to want to discuss some of this and he throws out the threat that he could have your vehicle towed.

Fuck these guys and their intimidation tactics.

And what’s with the “Hope the rest of your night goes a bit better” ya sure clown, he wasn’t doing anything wrong you were in control of that actually, randomly ruining people’s nights for no reason and the wishing them a good one... thanks for keeping Vancouver safe officer. I’m sure nobody was accosted anywhere in the 20 minutes you spent pretending to know something about the mechanics of a vehicle and contact patches.

[white rocket]

Originally Posted by nexusxv

I think this is what triggered the cop, however, if the body of the car is higher then the lowest point of the rim, he is legal. Yes he is clearly on the edge, but to tell exactly we need to look from the side.

Maybe that's why he moved over to camber and exhaust talk since he couldn't accurately assess the low-ness.

[mj_39]

Originally Posted by white rocket

And then the officer takes your car off the road for being cheeky

I hate this shit

He does threaten just that. Video gives me no confidence that these officers actually know what they are looking for... What a waste of time. Good on you Peter for keeping your composure, can’t say I would have been able to stay that calm.

[Lancouver]

So what is the metric for camber when dealing with inspection? I know the MVA dictates:

"The caster, camber or toe-in of a vehicle shall not be out of adjustment to the extent that it is apparent visually."

This is very subjective as factory settings vary from car to car. I know you're SOL at this point when dealing with the officer, but I'm assuming the allowed specs will be all up to the shop doing the inspection?

[nexusxv]

Originally Posted by Lancouver

"The caster, camber or toe-in of a vehicle shall not be out of adjustment to the extent that it is apparent visually."

This is a good question, as is i have an MR2 with "visible camber", which i can't even change (it does not have caber bolts). So it is factory and unchangeable, but i can see it.

[!Aznboi128]

Stock Smartcars have visible camber out back for stability

[RevYouUp]

So if you pass the VI with zero changes to your car, and the same cop sees you again; he'll be able to VI you again??

[!Aznboi128]

Originally Posted by RevYouUp

So if you pass the VI with zero changes to your car, and the same cop sees you again; he'll be able to VI you again??

Technically yea, he can rip off your VI sticker and get you to do it all over again

[SkunkWorks]

Originally Posted by RevYouUp

So if you pass the VI with zero changes to your car, and the same cop sees you again; he'll be able to VI you again??

He has the authority to do that, yes. Likely he'll say one of these two:

- you must have modified your car after the inspection cause there's 'no way' it should have passed in the current state
- the shop you took it to 'must be' shady or passing cars illegally

Can't win.

[68style]

Originally Posted by nexusxv

This is a good question, as is i have an MR2 with "visible camber", which i can't even change (it does not have caber bolts). So it is factory and unchangeable, but i can see it.

Same, MR2 owner here too... our cars have a very noticeable camber on the back wheels form factory and it can’t be adjusted. I go through rear tires twice as fast as fronts because of it lol...

But it’s clearly visible form the rear of the car.

[SMZ]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

Well according to my lawyer buddy the most I can sue for is the vi inspection fee and time wasted. So basically restricted to small claims court. Since you cannot do a class action suit (I asked him about this and he said each case is a bit different so a class action would be thrown out) and you're restricted to 5k ceiling, it's a waste of time to take these guys to court.
Granted you'll probably win. It's just the time and effort required.

Harrassment charges would also be easily defeated. By law the officer is allowed to cite you if they suspect anything is contravening the mva.

Don't know... I'm feeling pretty helpless here. Only thing I can think of is making a big stink and going to the media with a mass protest.

Edit: now that I think of it, the general corolla/camry/cuv public ain't going to really be on our side when we start protesting that our sports cars/ performance cars are being targeted by the cops. Most likely backfire so hard that you'll get fast and furois exhaust.


Especially if we do a rally. It'll be full of BMW's , Mercedes , exotics, etc , etc

I hear you on all points. The case for harassment might be viable only if your the car in question is stock. The officer must have "reasonable" suspicion to pull someone over, and clearly there is either targeting going on, or they need to be trained. It seems that their suspicions are unfounded, which might give one a case. This would be more apparent if other people with stock cars bring this up.

On the note of not doing anything about it, this is continuing because people are not making a stink about it. I'm not sure how many cases are from cars that actually are within the MVA, but even if enough people that got VI'd have cars that can pass even with mods take the VPD to court and win, I'm willing to bet that the VPD changes their policy.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[bigzz786786]

Camber is such bullshit, what about high performance cars? I have an xfr-s and the oem spec for camber is between -.75 and -1.4 degrees, half of my stock wheels poke out of the fender. So do i now have to cary a copy of my wheel alignment with me, and have a picture of the camber with stock wheels as well as a video for my exhaust!? I bet even if i did they still wouldn't care. Their minds are hell bent on giving the modified community the hardest time possible.

[nexusxv]

So my personal solution, just not to visit Vancouver, do not support its local business and etc. I even would not drive 100% stock toyota chaser there (most people think it is camry, lol), because f*** it. Fortunately have a luxury to do it.

[JD¹³]

Originally Posted by cho

Driving normally down Broadway after work anddddd

What a muppet. I couldn't imagine going through the selection and training to become a police officer to enforce petty garbage like this. [Which is why I turned down the RCMP three times]. This is not what the police are there for, and they have plenty of real work to do in the city of Vancouver. This blatant targeting of a specific group/citizens is wrong. Any officer participating in this kind of behaviour is an embarrassment to the badge.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by coupelove

3) change my cars title to "modified" with ICBC. By modified I do not mean "collector" "modified collector" or "vintage" as these are all different distinctions. See: https://www.icbc.com/vehicle-registr...-vehicles.aspx I have yet to read anything about someone who has done this, someone here must have though. Basically you give a passed inspection, easy paperwork and some photos to ICBC and they review your car on a case by case basis. If you have any modifications that improve the performance of your vehicle beyond factory specs in any way, you most likely will qualify.

Would be interested in what this process is like, how easy / difficult is it to pass the inspection, what are the implications of the vehicle being registered as "modified" compared to regular status, etc.

I'd suspect a higher insurance premium gets charged because of the "modified" category. But other than that, I have no idea what other potential implications there might be.

[Tr1ll]

Originally Posted by JD¹³

What a muppet. I couldn't imagine going through the selection and training to become a police officer to enforce petty garbage like this. [Which is why I turned down the RCMP three times]. This is not what the police are there for, and they have plenty of real work to do in the city of Vancouver. This blatant targeting of a specific group/citizens is wrong. Any officer participating in this kind of behaviour is an embarrassment to the badge.

From what it sounds like it's not a city wide initiative and more so the traffic unit being triggered over some dumb kid's actions/comments over IG or something and taking it out on everyone.

[68style]

Originally Posted by Traum

Would be interested in what this process is like, how easy / difficult is it to pass the inspection, what are the implications of the vehicle being registered as "modified" compared to regular status, etc.

I'd suspect a higher insurance premium gets charged because of the "modified" category. But other than that, I have no idea what other potential implications there might be.

I went through it recently for modified collector plates, it's a full provincial inspection including a road test. They're extremely picky... and to be honest, it's hard to find a shop that will do it, they all want to know the reason and if you say it's because it's modified they'll basically tell you to fuck off... that was my experience anyway. None of the shops want to take a risk in any grey areas because licensing is so monitored now.

I eventually found a place, but even when it came to the day of the inspection when I went there they really didn't want to do it.

ICBC also wants to see receipts for the work performed on the car and/or a list of the modifications... after obtaining that inspection pass, I continued with a collectors plate application as normal submitting photos and everything to ICBC along with the inspection pass and some receipts from engine mods I had done like 15 years ago.

I do not believe it has any effect on your insurance rates (mine will because of the collector part)...

Somehow I have a feeling even if you did all this, potentially at great personal cost, the officer will not know what you're talking about because it's so obscure and think you're talking back to him/being a cheeky monkey and send you for an inspection (or worse) anyway.

[ilvtofu]

Originally Posted by RevYouUp

So if you pass the VI with zero changes to your car, and the same cop sees you again; he'll be able to VI you again??

As covered in this thread, the scenario could even be:
1. Cop VI's stock car
2. Bring said stock car in for inspection, pass with no changes (BECAUSE STOCK)
3. Cop VI's you as you leave inspection facility in your stock car

The system is broken. Virtually no checks and balances. No consequences for incompetent and dishonest policing.

[JD¹³]

Originally Posted by Tr1ll

From what it sounds like it's not a city wide initiative and more so the traffic unit being triggered over some dumb kid's actions/comments over IG or something and taking it out on everyone.

You're right, and that's even worse. As officers they are held to a higher standard of morality and ethics just like I was in the military. They are in place to serve citizens and enforce fair, intelligent, and consistent justice. They are failing to uphold that standard.

[gilly]

Originally Posted by nexusxv

So my personal solution, just not to visit Vancouver, do not support its local business and etc. I even would not drive 100% stock toyota chaser there (most people think it is camry, lol), because f*** it. Fortunately have a luxury to do it.

Yah ive been trying my best to avoid driving in vancouver. I feel bad for the people that live in Vancouver though. Always scared when driving their cars.

[CorneringArtist]

Originally Posted by bigzz786786

Camber is such bullshit, what about high performance cars? I have an xfr-s and the oem spec for camber is between -.75 and -1.4 degrees, half of my stock wheels poke out of the fender. So do i now have to cary a copy of my wheel alignment with me, and have a picture of the camber with stock wheels as well as a video for my exhaust!? I bet even if i did they still wouldn't care. Their minds are hell bent on giving the modified community the hardest time possible.

Any camber above -2.0 you're breaking out the protractor to see. I'm currently running -2.7 and it looks like I have groceries in the trunk. I'm pulling back to -0.5 when I throw snow tires on just to be safe.

[coupelove]

Originally Posted by Traum

Would be interested in what this process is like, how easy / difficult is it to pass the inspection, what are the implications of the vehicle being registered as "modified" compared to regular status, etc.

I'd suspect a higher insurance premium gets charged because of the "modified" category. But other than that, I have no idea what other potential implications there might be.

The inspection is the same as a VI. Any DIF would be able to do it. As far as I know, the only implication is that you have proved you have legally modified your car. This absolutley would hold wieght with a judge, and I hope this will hold some with VPD but not likely. This modified title wont effect you in any negative way, its the only thing I can think of that would actual reduce harrassment.

As far as insurance is concerned, your liability price stays the same. When you change your title you have to self declare the value, so your comprehensive insurance price is effected by this.

I really think this is the only way, there isnt any other steps to take beyond having a passed inspection. This wont stop a cop giving wrong tickets and unjustified VIs, but its pretty damn good proof in court. Also gives your formal complaint more substance, since your car is proved legal yet you get VI anyway