Marc

So I needed an MOT, I have a few friends who have been through the process so sought reassurance.

No problem my mate said, go past the Soke Outlets and its after the lights on the left hand side. Take your Rusat (registration), Sigorta (Insurance), and Current Tax document, oh yes get there early, 'some bloke will look at your car make sure the numbers on the Rusat are correct drive it up the road a little and that's your lot' . They do MOT's every Wed/Thu in Soke and once a month in Didim (which can be busy by all accounts).

So this morning 8am I left home, "I'll be back for lunch dear" I said optimistically. I had the required documents in hand. I passed the Outlets and knew where the Test station was as I had passed it many times before going to the Market.

Today it was not there! I drove up the ramp to its normal location and asked one of the locals 'nope they have stopped doing it here now, not since the New Test station opened' so being the kind gent he was he gave me directions to the new Location.

Continue through Soke and 50meters before the Railway crossing on the Right hand side you will see and enormous TUV sign or one of the 3 flags the Test Station (Arac Muayenesi) is a huge building reminiscent of an aircraft hanger.

So a little later than the anticipated arrival time of 8:30 I turned up at about 8:50 it was quite busy, I parked up and sought help from the Security who assisted with which Ticket I needed for the test (it was the first one, 2nd one is for buses and trucks, 3rd is for car, bike re-tests - oh yes they do retests now, 4th is for truck, bus retests).

So ticket in hand (Number 39) I hoped it hadnt started at 00....... yep it had, I looked around and was slightly confused as there were not 39 cars or even people waiting and quite a few of those would have fallen into the other 3 categories (more on this later).

So I waited around for an hour trying to gauge timescales and on my rough calculation it would be my turn by about 8pm that night. Whilst sitting there I learned that this station was part of Turkey's progress to regulate the untested and un-roadworthy and untaxed vehicles. You will now have to display a Disk on your car showing when your test is due.

Apparently the police have embarked on a massive check to ensure that all vehicles are within the limits of the test period if you are not then you would get a 55YTL Fine, cynically some thought the fine was going toward this fantastic test facility.

My basic understanding of the test periods are;

1 Year for Trucks, Buses, Commercial Vehicles (Which most Doblo's are, including mine)
2 Years for personal cars
3 Years for Motorbikes (yep they also need tests)

To check yours, to make sure your not going to get in to trouble, look on the "traffic form of motor vehicles" (its written in English in the Rusats - registration book) then check the date under the works ILK MUAYENE GECERLILIK SURESI, or if you have already had a test then it will be on the back of this page.

So I managed to speak to the administrator of the system who told me that I indeed had all my documents required, and enquired if I also had my Fire Extinguisher, 2 Traffic triangles (yes 2, not 1 which seems standard in every car pack) and also a Drivers First Aid Kit! I had a first aid kit but it seemed mine was substandard as it didn't have a Neck Brace - No i'm not kidding and yes I'm sure they were not taking the mick as there was a fella on the gate making a pretty packet selling all these items and as each car was checked any deficiencies were rectified buy purchasing the items from the man at the gate.

Feeling happy inside that I had covered all the bases I went for some food, and returned an hour later(11am), my calculations modified a little I should now be seen by 5pm, the security guard reassured me that they do not close until everyone is finished, this is managed due to the fact that when the numbers reach a certain level the switch the ticket machine off.......

This leads me on nicely to the ticketing opportunists, it appears that there are a number of opportunists that get there early in the morning and take multiple tickets, during the day you can see these people swapping tickets and when they find someone who is unhappy with the amount of time they may need to wait, an offer is made to purchase an earlier ticket, the going rate seemed to be between 10-20ytl. Most of these people seemed to be Local dealers as they were pushing through multiple vehicles and I'd guess there were about 5 of them, there was one guy who didnt even have a Car, he just had tickets, he was selling them to people who arrived after the ticket machine had turned off. Please try to refrain from Hi-Jacking the thread in moaning and groaning about this practice its safe to say no one likes it but unfortunately it happens here my point here is to explain why there didnt seem to be 39 people there when I turned up at 8:50 and to let you know that the way to beat it is to get there at 8am before these people so that you will only have an hour wait before being served.

Anyway back to the day, which basically meant waiting until about 3:30pm when my number was up!! whey hey!! so I passed over my documents and waited for him to allocate me a slot (even though my number was up so to say this was just the paper work, you then went into the line for the inspection which was by then 14 vehicles behind the paperwork - which meant another 2 hours wait) For me I didnt need to wait the Admin guy told me, Why? because I pay my TAX at Ziraat Bank which is a Government bank, the paperwork had not been registered at the Tax Office and so on his computer I had an outstanding debt, they dont process vehicles with outstanding debts. I tried explaining that how could I have the Tax document if I hadnt paid, The manager, who is the only person that spoke english along with my Turkish explained that the system could not be changed, He could see I had paid but the system would not let them proceed to inspection until the Tax office had a record of this payment (made 3 weeks previous).

Whilst I had his ear I thought I would let him in on the Ticketing Opportunists, He assured me that he did not know that this was going on, He asked me to point them out so he could deal with it. Me being a man who values his life decided that going up to 'used car salesmen' and accusing them of dubious activities would be a way of quickly making enemies, but whist I was talking to him a couple of other Turks who spoke english approach us and told him they had not only witnessed it but had actually been offered tickets. The manager told us the ticket machine had only just been installed and as of tomorrow he would ensure that only the security guard gave the tickets.

So for me I have to go to Didim Tax office and register my Tax that I have already paid, then go back and try again.

Morale of my long story,
So for those with vehicles, check your dates make sure your in date as they seem to be clamping down, If you do need to get an inspection my recommendation would be go to the Tax office with your Rusat and confirm that there is no Debt on your vehicle. Then with the Rusat, Insurance and Tax form go there early 8am or so (as they have now cancelled Didim and Soke road inspections this one is open through out the week, im not sure about Saturday i'll check when I go again on Friday)

Sorry its been so long, but its still nowhere near as long as the day I've just had and writing it down has been quiet therapeutic. The new proceedure is here this, I believe, is a great thing as it will make vehicles on the road safer .

I'll hopefully report back when I have had an inspection, and let you know how smooth the second day went.


Take care

Marc