These air quality letters are funny

"415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)" (415s30) 05/25/2020 at 13:40 • Filed to: Governmenting

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They want me to send my 240Z to the parts yard haha, um no I think I’ll pass on that. Oh it does mention classics can disreguard.

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 13:47

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My reply would be to straight-pipe it.

facw > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 13:48

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The requirement to pass a smog check is an odd one. I mean I get that they don’t want to pay for a car that isn’t going to be able to be registered again anyway, but you’d think they’d be eager to get the worst offenders off the roads, and worried that you might find a way to get it smoged without fixing the problems if you were actually planning on keeping it.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: 05/25/2020 at 13:48

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I do have a minimal muffler, resonator is gone.

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 13:49

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Can you mail them a hollowed out cat by any chance? 

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > facw 05/25/2020 at 13:52

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I don’t see too many old guzzling shitboxes anymore, most people have moved on to an old Honda or Toyota beater in the Bay Area from what I see. Since the new Rav4 came out I see a lot of two gens old around and the 2009 Civic body style is all around with pretty rough examples. I used to see a lot more old American malaise beaters. 

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 13:58

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This is silly. What fool would sell anything older than 1976 for $1000? The VIN on a pile of rust from 1975 or earlier is worth more than that in CA... Anything after that is almost impossible to get upgraded to a newer engine, so they’re likely polluting more at this point than the pre-1976 cars.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 05/25/2020 at 14:00

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Well we have really learned how many dumb people are out there since 2016! 

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 14:19

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Hold on. To qualify for a program billed as a way of getting polluting vehicles off the road, you have to PASS a smog check?

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 14:23

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They can straight up get fucked. Also my Z still has an operating smog pump. I know I should remove it but there are so many tubes and things associated with it.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 05/25/2020 at 14:42

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Really? Nothing like that was on my car when I got it. I did delete the EGR on the Mercedes with a kit though. 

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 05/25/2020 at 14:43

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That does seem odd, maybe it’s for the people donating cars to be used by others? I’m not sure.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 14:46

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It’s an EGR I think a 1/2" bolt with some JB weld is all it needs. 

Chariotoflove > facw 05/25/2020 at 14:47

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Say “His Stigness” three times while looking into the mirror and maybe we’ll get an answer. 

CompactLuxuryFan > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 05/25/2020 at 14:55

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The idea of the program is to get cars that otherwise wouldn’t be taken off the road off. To renew the fleet a bit . If a car fails smog it’s going to be out of circulation most likely  anyway so why bother covering it. The idea isn’t to just make anything suddenly worth $1,000. 

CompactLuxuryFan > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 05/25/2020 at 14:56

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The program is for *1996* and older. 

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 05/25/2020 at 14:58

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Extra extraction of your money to the state as a final sendoff!

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > CompactLuxuryFan 05/25/2020 at 15:29

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Yes, so there is about a 20 year span of worthless cars that you could sell to them for more than their resale value. It just doesn’t make much sense to send those to owners of pre-1976 cars, since they don’t need to be smogged and are worth more than $1000, regardless of condition.

jimz > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 05/25/2020 at 15:36

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IIRC their standards depend on the age of the vehicle; they don’t mean it has to be as clean as something newer. I think it has to pass the standards of its model year, with an offset accounting for age and degradation.

basically they’re just making sure people don’t turn in non- or barely-running junk just to get $1,000.  if you come in with a 1975 Malibu which is running on all cylinders and has the catalyst present, they’ll probably “pass” it. 

Roadkilled > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 15:44

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I believe the smog check is to reduce fraud. Without it, somebody with a bunch yard full of junk cars could get $1000 each. They are trying to get existing old cars off the road, not out of junk yards. If your car can’t pass the smog check, you aren’t allowed to drive it anyway, so the state already has a way of keeping it off the road.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > CompactLuxuryFan 05/25/2020 at 15:47

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Those people are probably just going to go to a guy who’ll pass it anyway though, so why not buy those cars too? *shrug emoji*

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 05/25/2020 at 15:47

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how very californian

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > jimz 05/25/2020 at 15:50

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I can kinda see that, however if I had a total beater like that I’d probably just go to the shadier side of the smogging tracks and get someone who would just pass it regardless. And then keep driving. Seems like they’d do better just to open it up, to me... Doubt they’re on the hook for the whole $1000, either. The scrap yard probably would have to kick in almost half.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Roadkilled 05/25/2020 at 15:53

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“If your car can’t pass the smog check, you aren’t allowed to drive it anyway, so the state already has a way of keeping it off the road.”

Gotta a be pretty easy to find someone willing to bent the rules though does it? Would make a lot more sense to me to make smog results irrelevant and instead make a requirement where the vehicle had to have a valid registration within the last 6 months or something.  

Roadkilled > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 05/25/2020 at 16:18

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They realized that “Cash for Clunkers” was a disaster, and they don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. This is their chance to make all-new mistakes. 

His Stigness > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 05/25/2020 at 16:24

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I’m not surprised this is from the Bay Area Air District and not the BAR. It’s asinine they’re sending this out just because, and the PASSING smog check is the most ridiculous requirement ever. I’m sure you’re aware (as an educated California resident) of the BAR’s vehicle retirement program. If your vehicle fails a smog check you can retire it and get up to $1,500. I’ve had customers do this every once in a while on cars not worth that and it’s a good way of properly disposing of cars that aren’t able to be fixed, or they just can’t afford it.

But many more people don’t do this and just sell their cars illegally .

But yeah, let’s get working cars off the road and produce more cars. That will help the environment.... Or not!

CompactLuxuryFan > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 05/25/2020 at 16:48

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Oh I see. I didn’t realize anything < 1976 was automatically worth that much. Really the only cars this makes sense for are really plain *high* mileage ( like 300k+) cars that can still run but aren’t worth much just because they aren’t. They should put out stats. 

CompactLuxuryFan > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 05/25/2020 at 17:57

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I don’t think smog delinquency is really all that high, especially in the cities. $1,000 really isn’t all that as far as daily drivers go nowadays, either. Most cars getting down there are close to catastrophic failure. I would guess participation in the program is minimal now but it  would become a de facto scrapper if that rule didn’t exist.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > CompactLuxuryFan 05/25/2020 at 20:34

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What’s weird is that it only applies to cars that pass smog (this is doubly weird when you consider CA laws surrounding it) . That’s the thing - anything 1975 or older doesn’t need to pass a smog check, so they all “pass smog”, but because they don’t need it and you can do essentially anything you want with them in CA, they possess value well in excess of their actual market value (let alone $1000) . The VIN itself is what has the value (like you might get a random car, do a massive rebuild/whatever until it’s not even apparently that car anymore, but it can still be under that VIN and considered that car for registration purposes ).

If you’ve ever watched Roadkill, that’s one of the reasons they obsess over old cars and buy what they do for builds in the California-based episodes (note that almost everything they buy/ build is pre-1976 if it needs to be street legal), while all the ones with newer cars are done out of Finnegan’s place in Georgia or entirely in another state.