[quote=flu][quote=bearishgurl]flu, I know LOTS of people who have applied for and qualified for assistance in the last few years to get older vehicles smogged. The assistance is good to use at any CA Test and Repair stations.
It’s totally worth it to do this application. If you have to register your vehicle non-op while you wait for approval, then so be it. Don’t pay a penny until its fixed.
However, I AM pissed at Arnold for raising the “baseline” DMV registration fee from $39 to $64 to (now) $87.
This is highway robbery for an annual registration sticker for a 20+ year-old vehicle.[/quote]
first of all, I wouldn’t qualify for the financial hardship assistance. second, when one sells the car in CA, the burden of getting it smoged and passed is usually for the seller.
The seller didn’t want to deal with getting it smogged since the car wasn’t used often, so they offered me a very low selling price..I agreed on condition that it passed smog…Didn’t think it would fail. But it did…
It really wouldn’t matter if I was going to use the car for “track purposes only” because in that case I could keep the car as non-operating and not need to register it…BUT, then I wouldn’t be able to park the car in public roads…which sucks…So……too much hassle…
At any case, it’s not really my issue. The person that ends up suffering is this person who needs to sell the car. The person doesn’t want to keep the car, but wants to sell it because they say they need the money…But since it failed smog, they aren’t going to be able to sell it to normal buyers without getting it fixed first..And no way a normal buyer, upon seeing it has emissions issues, is gonna want to deal with it unless cat is replaced. Person is screwed…[/quote]
I understand this assistance won’t help a buyer. But it helps an owner whose vehicle can’t pass a biennial smog inspection. If your seller wants assistance and can qualify for it, they will have to wait to sell it until AFTER it’s next biennial smog inspection is due. They COULD get it inspected a few months ahead of when their registration expires (but after they receive the renewal in the mail requiring a smog check). Then, when it fails, put in the application. Hopefully they would be able to get it approved and fixed BEFORE the current sticker expires.
But yes, your seller is “stuck” with not being able to sell the vehicle right now without paying themselves for the smog repair.
