On Cyril Favier’s diary, meeting requests are rather at half mast this month. “The calm before the storm”, sums up this technical controller from Val-d’Oise, who, like most of his colleagues, expects a real “tsunami” of reservations within a few weeks. “Due to the 1st confinement (from March 17 to May 11, 2020during which most centers were closed)1.5 million additional motorists will be called upon to renew their technical inspection in May, June and July next,” explains Sébastien Danvel, president of Auto Sécurité, which manages 931 centers in France.
At the time, the government granted motorists an additional period of several months to comply, while the centers reopened after the confinement period. But due to the closure of the centers, the profession had to deal with numerous postponements of appointments to the months of May, June and July 2020. This resulted in a traffic jam of cars to be checked.
“Knowing that the technical controls are carried out every two years, we therefore expect to have to control next May 500,000 to 600,000 cars more than normal”, deciphers Sébastien Danvel. “We expect a big heat stroke, because a controller must necessarily spend forty-five minutes checking a car and this time is incompressible”, explains Hervé Martel, who manages three centers in Amiens (Somme). Impossible, therefore, to put more cars on the bench each day to absorb the overflow, especially since the new rules for vehicle examination, imposed by Europe, are more meticulous and now involve checking more checkpoints.
Beware of the fine of 135 euros
The only solution for professionals: ask their customers to anticipate the deadline for the technical inspection (the date is displayed on the sticker affixed to your windshield). “We invite motorists not to wait until May and to bring their appointment forward by six to eight weeks”, specifies Sébastien Danvel. “Failing to have been able to carry out their control in time, many French people could find themselves unable to take the road for the summer holidays”, warns the SGS group which manages the Securitest, Auto Sécurité and Verif brands. ‘Cars.
Driving without an up-to-date technical inspection would then expose you to a fine of 135 euros, even if you have proof that you have made an appointment at an approved centre. Faced with the problem, Cyril Favier is currently splitting 750 SMS per month to his customers, sometimes doubled by a letter, to encourage them to anticipate. “We are currently sending no less than 55,000 text messages across France and thousands of follow-up letters to tell our customers to come earlier,” confirms the president of the Auto Sécurité network. “The problem is that with the rise in fuel prices, which is already having a strong impact on their budget, many customers do not want or have the means to anticipate the date of their technical inspection,” notes Hervé Martel. Having paid for two years of validity, they want to go to the end of these twenty-four months.