HCMC – Despite the high demand for their services, the auto inspection centers in HCMC are unable to operate at full capacity due to a critical staffing shortage.

Data from the HCMC Department of Transport showed that around 88,000 vehicles needed inspection in April, in addition to automobiles from other provinces flocking to the municipality for inspections and backlogs of unchecked cars from previous months.

However, the auto inspection centers could only run at 58% capacity as a result of an understaffed workforce, while hiring new inspectors remained challenging due to regulations on inspector employment and training.

It is estimated that some 65,000 vehicles will be due for inspections in May, yet the auto inspection centers can only inspect around 2,000 automobiles a day at best.

The lack of auto inspectors led to traffic bottlenecks around auto inspection centers and car owners waiting days to have their automobiles inspected.

Meanwhile, car owners voiced their concerns over difficulties in registering for auto inspections via mobile applications and the practice of people booking auto inspection slots and then transferring them to others for personal gains.

To prevent the situation from worsening, the department proposed the inspection centers only receive bookings made via mobile applications.

The city has 19 auto inspection centers, but only 15 are in service.

Since the end of 2022, the police have detected many irregularities at auto testing and inspection centers nationwide. More than 400 leaders and employees of 68 such centers have been charged with bribe brokering, giving and taking and falsifying documents. This led to 72 of 281 centers being suspended from operations.