WARWICK — People hate getting their cars fixed.

Steve Johnson learned that lesson long ago. A repair shop needs to make its customers happy and comfortable. It must be convenient.

In his Number One Tire & Service shop, on Miantonomo Drive, Johnson provides a neat waiting area with color television and wireless Internet. He set aside a play area for kids. And he offers vehicle safety and emissions testing.

So Johnson was greatly relieved last week that the state’s contentious effort to switch vendors that run its emissions program finally went through with so few problems that there probably wasn’t a motorist in Rhode Island who noticed the change.

Service station owners who are members of the Automotive Service Association of Rhode Island met last week to talk about the change from Applus Technologies Inc. to SysTech International LLC. Johnson, the head of a committee that monitors the inspection process, chaired the meeting. He said he heard very few complaints.

“A few stations had problems with passwords or the software, but it wasn’t bad,” said Johnson. “SysTech did a fantastic job of getting every station up and running.”

In fact, as a technician revved up the engine of a car to test its emissions on Friday in the Number One garage, there were only two visible differences from last month, when Applus ran the program: his computer dialed a different phone number to transmit the data, and the transmission was much faster and more reliable.

SysTech outbid Applus to supervise the state’s 294 private inspection stations for $4 per vehicle. Applus had been charging $13 per car for the last seven years. Its lowest bid for the next three years was $8.95.

When the state announced last fall that it was awarding the contract to SysTech, Applus sued the state purchasers, alleging widespread irregularities. But after two weeks of hearings, Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein ruled on Dec. 28 that he found “no evidence before the court that suggests bad faith, corruption, political or otherwise, of the purchasing agent.”

The decision triggered a frenzied several days of work for SysTech employees who had to visit all 294 inspection stations and make programming changes for their testing equipment.

“They had 150 stations on line by the end of the first day,” said SysTech lawyer Alan Gelfuso. “By the end of the second day, they were up to 250 or 260. It was absolutely amazing.”

SysTech president Lothar Geilen said in a telephone interview that “we were positively surprised ourselves.”

By Wednesday, he said, SysTech had 286 inspection stations online. He said he heard complaints from only one owner, a man who called back to apologize because he had a faulty telephone connection that was not SysTech’s fault.

During the next three months, SysTech plans to upgrade equipment in each inspection station.

During that same period, Governor Carcieri plans to keep his pledge of asking the General Assembly to lower the $47 inspection fee. Here’s why:

For seven years, the legislature-mandated fee has been split, with $13 going to the inspection overseer, $18 to the inspection station and $16 to the state to oversee the program. Because SysTech was taking $9 out of that cost, Carcieri proposed raising the pay to inspection stations to $19 and lowering the overall fee to $39.

Over five years, the fee cut would save motorists $15 million, Carcieri says.

Johnson said the inspection stations feel they deserve a bit more than a $1 raise after seven years. They make several arguments. First, they have been paying a $320 monthly maintenance fee to Applus for the seven years. Now they must pay $275 monthly to SysTech. If Applus had won the contract, it would have lowered the monthly fee to $150. So while motorists could win financially under SysTech, inspection stations lose financially.

Second, neither $18 nor $19 comes close to covering the actual cost of the inspection, Johnson said

The safety inspection alone takes 20 to 30 minutes and the emission test can take 15 to 30 minutes. A typical garage charges about $80 an hour for its work.

Inspections should not be “loss leaders” for garages whose biggest reason for taking part in the program is to provide convenience for the customers, says Johnson.

Johnson said his associates want to add $3 to $5 per vehicle for the inspection stations and they will soon look for support at the State House.

Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said the governor will propose changing the fee when he submits his budget to the legislature. Improvements for the inspection stations can be proposed and defended at legislative hearings, he said.

“The important thing is that because of competitive bidding, everyone will be doing better than they were,” Neal said.

It’s too soon to say what the legislature will do, according to Larry Berman, spokesman for House Speaker William J. Murphy. Berman said he checked with Steven M. Costantino, chairman of the House Finance Committee, and Costantino warned that the state is already facing a deficit and any decision on the inspection fee will have to be made in the context of the entire budget.

On Friday, Rep. Rene R. Menard, D-Cumberland, announced he will introduce a bill lowering the inspection fee to $39. He said he wants to put money back into the pockets of taxpayers.