Want to get out of SMOG testing your car in CA, use this DMV form!
 

Here's the link, click on "Statement of Facts" (REG 256) it's a PDF. I'd print it out as a double sided form, which is what you get at DMV/AAA.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/formsmost.htm

You complete it and send in with your renewal and you check that the car is out of state. A friend turned me on to this it seems, at least with him, they never sent him another renewal requiring a future smog check.

I would not suggest all of you trying to do this at once. They would probably catch on!

a bit late for that!

I also would suggest that no one here commit perjury, which is a felony.

Seems there's the potential to cause problems with your insurer if there's an accident since you're saying the car is in state to them, out of state with the DMV. Oh, that and it's fraud. :-)

Unfortunately, most registrations of cars originally sold in CA state that right on the title and registration. "Date first sold" So, unless your car was in fact brought into CA after first being sold in another state, fagetaboutit. Cars that left the state and came back, I have one of those, may not say "date first sold" but the DMV will ask if the car was ever registered here, IIRC. An, they have records, whether they will bother is another matter. Also, beginning in say around '96, cars were being sold as "50 state cars."

I can't be 100 % certain of any or all of this, just the better part of my recollection. MikeZ knows this stuff forwards and backwards.

This form is intended for use if say your working, and/or your car is residing in Colorado during the time it is supposed to be smogged.

There's lots of ways to get out of lots of things . . . if one is willing to lie and perjure themselves.

Well, that little difference that I missed might make a difference. I guess what people are saying here is one better be "working" out of state when the registration comes due. Now that brings up another issue. If I go to NV to live and work temporarily, they will give me about 30 days (legally) to register my truck there. If I come back here every 30 days, and retain a residence here, I suppose I can avoid this. But, if I'm here every 30 days, can't I just make it over to smog check? Especially in the DMV's eyes.

Sure, everyone that goes out of state to work can't get back in 30 days to avoid a new registration. But, if you get a ticket, they now know where you are. When the sniffers start to take pics and the airports are taking pics of every car, they know where you are. It just takes a snag to get caught.

I just don't see how this is gonna work.

Above the signature line on this form:

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.

I don't often give legal advice on the internet, but I will here. DO NOT COMMIT PERJURY. If your car is in the state, DO NOT use this form. Do you really want to be subjected to a perjury charge to save the hassle of a smog test? Likely not. People with cars located in California who submit this form do so at your peril.

Me? I'll get my car smogged every two years.

Scott

dude, seriously come on. how many 'rules' is it gonna take to establish the liberal utopia in California? oh and did I mention the state is going bankrupt!

if they were smart they'd offer a one time fee for a car to never need to be smog'd. that way they get the money, those who have performance cars pay and both parties are happy. They way they do it forces people to act silly.

silly laws = silly consequences

smog checks are not for money

they are to keep the air at least somewhat clean and to keep the feds from taking over the state program

a reasonable smog check is one thing. running people with old cars out of the state is another. in my view keeping a car on the road for many many years is much more eco friendly than having a car be 'end of life' in ten years.

sorry, back to the point of this thread.

no, that is not correct. Besides, the cars are not even made in Calif.

people are dying from air pollution in parts of Calif.

some cities in Ca. don't require smogging....

buy a vacation home there, register your cars there...

I grew up in Cali, spent many years there, never met someone or knew of anyone who died from a car that was not required to pass draconian smog tests.

I did this once for a jeep I left in Lake Havasu City, Az.
The lady at AAA said it depends on what state the vehicle is in.
AZ was ok but NV was not.
Didn't ask about other states

It takes awhile, but many of us will die from auto pollution. However, that being said, the % of cars that are collector and special interest cars are not numerous nor driven often. But, a stock '57 Chevy 265 puts out the equivalent pollution of something like 100 cars per mile.

Good thing they are not driven that much. Now, to put the whole thing in perspective, the lawn care industry is one of the biggest private pollution sources we have. We are we attacking a 30 YO Porsche while Jose' is blowing my way with a 2-cycle motor?

Will you be saying the same thing when you can't get a rebuilt DME for your car?

If you're worried about the perjury thing, drive the car to Phoenix and mail the renewal in from there. It doesn't say the car is never in CA, just that it's not here now, as in the day I signed the form.

- yes, compared to an unmolested late 1980s or newer car. Once you mess with it, the pollution goes way up.

BTW - a '57 and everything before ~~1973 has NO vapor emissions system. That means they pollute just sitting there. Yes, a '57 or a '67 will pollute more than a new Boxster even when the old car is not being driven! [not considering CO2, a greenhouse gas; just regular air pollutants and hazardous things like Benzene; called "HAPS"]

Yes it is - now that vehicles have been cleaned up. New regs. for 2 stroke pollution (which is egregious per unit) have already been established and will take effect soon - Bush delayed them for a while...

There is no attack against a SINGLE 30 year old 911. The problem is that hundreds on this very BBS have done that. I'm sure thousands in the whole state have done it. That makes it a big problem and is the reason for the rules.

Finally, a [minor] mea culpa. I got nuthin' 'gainst emitting a bit in areas where there are no air quality problems. In fact, I have PMOs on my car. But here, we never have CO, NOx, etc. problems except on very hot summer days, which happen only every few years. I don't drive then. We have nasty particulate problems - mostly from wood stoves.

Lastly, I will echo scottb re being very very careful on the perjury thing.

Calif. is putting mobile sniffer units all over the place - if they sniff your car, they are going to take a very sudden interest in you and it could get very ugly real fast.

Finally, a [minor] mea culpa. I got nuthin' 'gainst emitting a bit in areas where there are no air quality problems. In fact, I have PMOs on my car. But here, we never have CO, NOx, etc. problems except on very hot summer days, which happen only every few years. I don't drive then. We have nasty particulate problems - mostly from wood stoves.

That is probably the most patently absurd thing I have ever read on this board.

what makes you think that?

My '84 certainly puts out more emissions than an '08 Prius. It probably isn't going to be out polluting save on early weekend mornings when traffic is next to nil.

But, as noted above, the thing that gets lost is the whole carbon footprint thing. Keeping an '84 911 in relatively good working order should have some merit compared to what it takes to build that Prius. The heavy equipment to mine the ores used for the metals, the taxing on already stretched natural resources, the plant's operating to make the metals, the manufacture of the car in the plant where it's built, the petroleum in the plastics. Then there are the batteries and the unknown problems they may cause in the future. I think in excess of 50% of our electrical power generation in this country is still from coal burning plants, so don't even mention electric cars to me, I'll blow a gasket.

The bottom line is that there is no free lunch in all of this. Too bad it wasn't really that easy to save the planet; we could all swoon when we hear the words hybrid and electric car.

Air pollution is not a local phenom. You don't think you are contributing to the cumulative on a "good day"? All pollution goes somewhere, usually downwind, so unless you don't drive on those days because the pollution burns your eyes, the statement is absurd. BTW, I have a carbon footprint of a Yeti with a broken ankle.

Thank god the previously "patently absurd" was over taken by a new amazingly patently absurd in record time...

I didn't realize that a Yeti could use a computers or live in a modern technological society where they could possibly create an equivalent impact on the biosphere to one modern North American resident.
(Unless Yetis off gas an amazing quantity of methane... But I don't think the Yeti have proclaimed that their $h!t don't stink!)


Back on course here.
Does anyone seriously think that there are enough miles driven by 20+ year old cars to even be detectable against the millions of cars driven daily on California roads? (or in any other state in the union?)
That being said... Committing perjury to register your car should make a pretty clear statement to yourself and others about your personal priorities.
Besides, most of the smog technologies don't impact performance so why not put in a little extra effort?

Well, crustychef needs to learn what the concept of "air shed" means...

For CO2 emissions, it is a global problem, not limited to just an air shed...
- EDF or NRDC has stated that over the entire life cycle of a car, the mfg. polluion in toto is ~~ 1/3 of the total. So, yes, electric cars or hybrids are not pollution free (also they can drip lubricants, still make some noise, cause congestion, hit bike riders, etc.) but buying one to add to your 911 collection is a good idea if you need > 1 car anyway.

CARB thinks that older cars are a fairly big problem.

My view is that if you want to change the rules, then work for that. But back to the original rules/forms issue.... perjury is real serious.

There's the "black letter" of the law and the intent of the law. The intent, no doubt, is that cars that no longer reside in California don't have to be smogged here. I suspect that you'd still be subjecting yourself to potential trouble if you went out of state for a day and sent the form to the DMV.

Geez, it's just a freakin' smog test. If your car is running properly and kept in tune (and still has its 0-2 sensor, isn't heavily modded, etc.) it should pass smog with no problem. Besides, it's the "green" thing to do.