My brother says the NJ inspection is a joke, line up and pay your money and you get your sticker. If you can stop the car when you pull into the bay, your brakes pass, you don't even have to get out of the car. I guess its not that easy.
Maryland is whole different PITA. You just have to get the vehicle inspected within 30 days of purchase, new or used, new of course the dealer does the inspection. No other provision in the law for an extension, you have to have the car pass inspection within 30 days, thats it. The inspection is extensive, checking everything, it takes the mechanice more than an hour and includes a road test.
So a lot of people basically ignore their car for years, and then sell it, which the buyer has to fix everything that was unsafe on the vehicle. The Prevous Owner of my XJ told me the brake light had been on for the last 50k miles, he didn't bother trying to fix it, the brake reservouir was dry, the rear brakes had leaked and was total dry and unused, the Master Cylinder stage for the rear brakes was empty, you had to push the brakes to the floor to get any braking force out of it. He had been driving it like that for probably 2 or 3 years. You see people with burnout headlamps all the time, even worse, all sorts of illegal lamps or improperly aimed lamps that blind everyone while driving. Thats what happens when people never have to have their vehicle inspected again, they'll go ten years with just changing the oil.
Since there's no way I'll be able to pass inspection within 30 days on my XJ, unless I take out a loan, which I'm not going to do, so I called the cops. They say just don't drive the vehicle on the road, until I pass the inspection and get my permenant registration, that when I'm ready to take it to the mechanic for the inspection any cop that pulls me over will probably just give me a warning if I explain the situation, the worse they can do is fine me for driving with an expired registration. I just have to keep the insurance on the car, that a big big no no in MD, driving without insurance is a huge fine.