The global number one in vehicle inspections, international expert organization DEKRA, has opened its first periodical technical inspection (PTI) station in Chile. Four more stations in the metropolitan region of the capital Santiago and another five in other regions are to follow later this year.
- Four more stations in the region to be opened later in the year
- Further stations in other regions are being built
- Annual safety and emission inspections are mandatory in Chile
The newly opened station serves the community of La Reina in the eastern part of the metropolitan region. 16 DEKRA employees inspect light vehicles there for technical safety as well as emissions, according to procedures regulated by the Ministry of Transport.
“For almost a century, from the start in Germany in 1925 to our global presence today, vehicle inspection as a means to improve road safety has been at the core of DEKRA’s mission”, explains Stan Zurkiewicz, Member of the Board at DEKRA SE. “Taking road safety as seriously as we do, Chile requires high vehicle inspection standards that are comparable to those in many European countries. We are pleased to be able to make our decades of expertise in terms of road safety beneficial for road users in Chile as well.”
In addition to five stations in the Santiago metropolitan area, DEKRA is building another five stations in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío, planning to open all of them before the end of the year. “Our goal is to obtain a leading position in Chile in the coming years – in the interest of further advancing road safety in the country”, says Bert Zoetbrood, Executive Vice President of the DEKRA Group and Head of DEKRA Americas region. Together, the three Chilean regions Metropolitana, Ñuble and Biobío account for 2.8 million vehicles, about half of the total number in Chile. In the ten inspection stations, 180 new jobs are being created. DEKRA is projecting around 27,000 vehicle inspections per month once the ten stations are in operation.
“With 27 million per year worldwide, DEKRA inspects more vehicles than any other organization”, says Christoph Nolte, Head of the DEKRA Service Division Vehicle Inspection. “Today, we are active in the field in 22 countries across the globe, from Sweden to South Africa, from the U.S. to China.” The latest addition to the list was Mexico, where the first DEKRA emission check station opened in late January 2021.
