A half century of vehicle inspections

A traffic safety initiative that gave immediate results.

Getting your car inspected seems perfectly natural today, but this was not always the case. In the beginning of the 1960s, the authorities realized that something had to be done to rid our roads of the dangerous vehicles that were causing accidents. As a result of this, in 1963 the Swedish parliament and government founded the Swedish Motor Vehicle Inspection Company, and in June the following year test operations began in seven towns; Stockholm, Helsingborg, Kalmar, Västervik, Söderhamn, Arvika and Oskarshamn.

Immediate drop in accidents
During that year, the number of inspection stations rose to 108, and official, obligatory vehicle inspections were under way by the beginning of 1965. A marked improvement in accident statistics could be noted that very same year.

The beginning of the 1970s saw the introduction of environmental vehicle checks and in 1976 exhaust emission control was made obligatory. Catalytic converters became compulsory on new vehicles as of 1989, and since then great strides have been made in respect of cleaner emissions and more efficient engines. Road safety and exhaust emission checks at the obligatory vehicle inspections have indisputably improved road safety and reduced environmental impact.

Deregulation of the vehicle inspection market
The Swedish Motor Vehicle Inspection Company had a monopoly in Sweden up until 2010. Even though the market was officially opened up for new operators during the summer of that year, it was difficult for new companies to enter the market, as the Swedish inspection company continued to own all of the existing inspection stations. A decision was taken in 2012 to split the inspection company into three parts, and Opus Bilprovning was one of the operators who purchased some of the inspection stations that the Swedish Motor Vehicle Inspection Company was obliged to sell in order to break its monopoly. Since then, we have gradually extended our operation to become Sweden’s biggest vehicle inspection company.

Thanks to the deregulation of the market, the number of inspection stations in Sweden has increased significantly, and there are more every year. Opus Bilprovning is always looking for new places to set up operations so that our customers do not have far to go to their nearest station. It’s better for them, and better for the environment.