As Juliette said - you were slapped with a VASS so that you were forced to either get it fixed, or pull everything off and have it taken back to a factory state.
Hence the time and money thing. If you were able to just get a dodgy RWC, you'd never learn.
They are trying to make you understand the law, but it seems like it's not going to work either
So expect to get reported and sent for another VASS if you put all the mods back on again.
$1200+ = expensive lesson not to learn for a car worth probably 8-12k
Either get legal, or enjoy being reamed i guess...