Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 20:10:12 -0800
Reply-To: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: California standards question
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Test only stations
They could provide up to 400 dollars of assistance if
you know the ropes.
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 16:38:18 EST
From: Jeff Oxroad <Oxroad@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: California standards question
On my first quick read I thought you wrote your nephew
was soon to be
your
niece. I thought, "hmmm, he's handling that pretty
well." And why not?
I moved to CA with an 83.5 Westy that was not a CA
certified vehcile at
manufacture. There is a contingent that believes all
Vanagon were 50
state
certified. But in 83 at least there were 49 state
certified Vanagons
and a CA
certified vehicle. I've seen the sticker. It's the
truth.
The short of it is I was able to register the vehicle
in CA no problem.
As
in recent posts, the DMV conducts a visual check to
make sure you have
the
correct engine in the rig and that all the pollution
equipment is
installed and
properly hooked up.
I pretty sure the smog levels the bus has to meet are
the same whether
it's
49 state of 50 state certified. I suppose it changes
by model year, but
my bus
has always passed for the past 5 years however the
stats are set.
On the older vehicles in CA you are sometimes required
to go a
"test-only"
smog station. Apparently older vehicles are picked at
random for this
Test
Only status. Every time I come up for smog--once every
two years--I
get the Test
Only registration. It's the only thing I've ever won.
Test Only stations do no repiars and no diagnostics.
They merely do the
smog
test. If you don't pass you're on your own. The idea I
suppose is
there's no
room for graft at a test only station. (?) (The
subtext is graft runs
rampant
at regular service stations that do repiars and smog
tests.)
A few years back CA used to charge new residents $300
to register a car
that
was not CA certified at the time of manufacture. This
was found
unconstitutional or at least illegal and CA had to
refund the money. As
a result there is
no "import tax" when coming from another state.
Best,
Jeff
83.5 Westy
LA,CA
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