It’s a fact that the Bureau of Automotive Repair here in California sends many citations to SMOG owners and other test stations, and many of these people believe that they have done no wrong and therefore try to deal with it themselves. There may actually be one or two who succeed in getting a Citation overturned, but in most cases the BAR is likely to win.
This is vitally important. At the end of the day, your business is on the line. The BAR can put you out of business. And if they do that, no matter how many years you have been in business, you can suddenly find yourself without one. So if you find yourself on the wrong end of a Citation, don’t think that you can do it yourself. Too many people do, and then find themselves in the position of having to appeal a Bureau of Automotive Repair decision. No doubt they do this in order to “save money”, but then find that they are going to have to spend a lot more money in order to appeal a Bureau of Automotive Repair decision after it has been made!
You Wouldn’t Try to Rewire Your Own Home
Think about it this way: if your home needs rewiring you wouldn’t for an instant consider trying to do it yourself unless you were a qualified electrician. You would just hire an electrician. If you didn’t, and you weren’t qualified, you would make an almighty mess of it and then have to spend more money to get an electrician to sort out the problem.
Yet some people think that they can take on the BAR all by themselves. The Bureau of Automotive Repair – which uses undercover vehicles in order to try and catch you out! Your chances of success on your own are really not very good!
This is why you need a qualified attorney such as William Ferreira, in the first place. Yes, he can try to appeal a negative Bureau of Automotive Repair decision on your behalf, but you would be far better off having him on your side in the first instance and getting the right result rather than having to appeal the wrong one afterwards.
No, attorney’s fees are not what you would describe as “cheap”. But would you rather spend $1,000 today – or whatever the fee comes to – or spend $5,000 trying to restore your business after a negative decision?
Certainly, at Automotive Defense Specialists you could say that we are biased, but that is what we do. We know the law inside and out. In fact, it is ALL we do. We don’t do divorce. We don’t do burglary cases. We just defend SMOG station owners and others on the wrong side of a BAR Citation. Preferably BEFORE it goes against them. And we have an incredible record of success.