Who’s on the hook when you buy a used vehicle that has passed a previous safety inspection, but you find out later the vehicle isn't considered roadworthy at all?

Gary Hanna got a surprise after he purchased a1995 Jeep last month. A few weeks before the purchase, it had passed a safety inspection. But when police pulled Hanna over on Portage Avenue, they told him it was unsafe to drive.

"It was extremely illegal, apparently," he said.

Officers found illegal modifications made to the vehicle-- tires that were too large and a body lift that was four inches too high. It all added up to a $171 ticket.

"I was shocked, because I thought I bought a safe vehicle, Hanna said.  "I wasn't trying to hide anything. I don't understand it."

Hanna paid $500 dollars to get the Jeep up to code. But he said the licensed garage that did the original inspection wasn’t thorough enough.

"It shouldn't have been safetied, shouldn't have been put on the road if it's an unsafe vehicle and they sign their name to it saying it is safe, he said. “I believe they're responsible."

The owner of Motown Motors in Morris admits his shop made a mistake, and offered to make it up to Hanna at a discounted rate, but he wouldn't do the work for free. 

So what do you do if this happens to you?

Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) said vehicle owners can file a complaint against a garage if they feel the inspection was faulty. It said it receives an average of 200 complaints a year, out of about 100,000 inspections.

"If we believe that the vehicle wasn't inspected properly or wasn't inspected at all, we can take action, but the action is against the permit that was issued, so we can suspend the permit or permanently pull the permit so they can't do inspections again," said Ward Keith of MPI.

Hanna is considering submitting a complaint to MPI. In the meantime, he said he won't buy a vehicle that's already undergone a safety inspection, and will instead take it to get it done on his own.

MPI said there are about 2,000 garages licensed to perform inspections in the province. MPI also has a list of garages on its website that have received sanctions against them.

-- with files from CTV’s Karen Rocznik