I've heard of crane outfits doing their own in house annual inspections, and have talked over the possibility of doing so myself with a buddy also in the business in another state. I understand the third party requirement in some cases, I am free of that as far as I know. No specific request from my insurance company anyway. My buddy and I have considered splitting the cost of having some official looking stickers printed up, with an official sounding company name, "INTERMOUNTAIN CRANE INSPECTION", is one I came up with, and of course printing out the proper forms for a thorough "in house" inspection paper trail. He insists he know his 3 boom trucks better then anyone else, so is eminently qualified. I have done my own FAA annual inspections on my experimental category airplanes for 30+ years, so this would not be new territory for me. I take it seriously, and it would not be a scam. The type of work I do, I get asked for an annual paperwork maybe once or twice a year, some years not at all. It is a cursory request, and I'm sure my INTERMOUNTAIN CRANE INSPECTION logo would pass the test. My National manual spells out the procedure for checking the play, a certain allowable amount, measured with X amount of boom extended horizontal, and rotated 190 degrees and measured again.
It's not the money for the inspection for me, it's the hassle and time of driving it 150 miles to Salt Lake, (no one closer, in the boonies here) leaving it there while driving back in my TOAD, and then a couple days later repeating the process. I was charged a bit over $600.00 last year. Then, worst of all, a day later I get a call from the shop that carried out the inspection, asking me to look for a Dewalt cordless impact tool, left somewhere on my crane. I found it, it had been left on top my hydraulic tank, and luckily it had jostled down into a secure location, it could just have easily jostled the other direction and gone through someone's windshield going the interstate. I sent it back to them as requested, it cost me $10.00 postage, a week later I got a letter from them. It was a copy (another) of my inspection, no check for $10.00. I didn't bother to ask them to be reimbursed when I mailed it back, just kind of figured, assumed, I would be, nope! I am currently almost out of inspection, but am not going back there, screw 'em.
Of course any kind of accident ending in a lawsuit, ending with a lawyer standing up in court and tearing into INTERMOUNTAIN CRANE INSPECTION could get ugly, but then again, a good blood sucker can always find something to hang their hat on.