By Our Partners At Vitu
The California Bureau of Automotive Repair reported that many title and registration applications they come across are improperly keying in a “Y” to bypass the smog requirement. Please note that the BAR receives a report of each vehicle that has cleared DMV without a smog test certification and are taking action.
We understand that sometimes a smog certification has been completed within the last 90 days, but does not appear in the system. However, if a “Y” keying is necessary, you must include a smog test certification with the title and registration application paperwork, as the DMV requires for even its own technicians.
A quick review of smog certification: Vehicles with model years of 1976 or later are required to have a smog certification on original registration or transfer of ownership transactions. This is not required if the vehicle’s model year is within the last four years. Dealers must ensure that the smog requirements are satisfied before delivering a used vehicle to retail sale. As long as a vehicle remains in a dealership’s inventory the smog certification is valid for two years.
For more information on smog requirements, click here.
Questions? If you have any questions regarding the BAR or any other situation that may arise in your sales or service departments, hotline clients are invited to contact us at (800) 785-2880 (then press “4” for hotline) or [email protected].