Car owners in California are required to “SMOG” their cars at least once every two years. In some situations, they have to go to a STAR station. Check your notice from the Bureau of Automotive Repair. Then, you can literally Google “SMOG” shop near you and book your car in for an appointment.
However, when you have booked with a SMOG shop near you, please remember this: your car may pass, or it may fail, but if it fails it is not the fault of the SMOG shop or the technician. It is no good to shout and scream at the people in the SMOG shop because they are just doing what the state requires them to do. In fact, if it can be said to be anyone’s fault, it is more likely to be yours, because it’s your car!
So, yes, you want to book in with a SMOG shop near you because there is no point in driving for miles. Not only that but if your car should fail the test, at your local SMOG shop you can guarantee it would fail it at any other SMOG shop as well. SMOG shop owners and technicians are required to be absolutely accurate in the work that they do, and indeed they have the Bureau of Automotive Repair to look out for. If they make an error, the Bureau of Automotive Repair can take away their SMOG license, and in most cases that would put them out of business.
They Have To Be Spot On
So, they have to be absolutely spot on in what they do. In fact, the Bureau of Automotive Repair very often sends a SMOG shop owner or technician an Accusation, Citation, or STAR invalidation when there is actually no just cause, but the Bureau of Automotive Repair thinks that there is. Would you believe that they actually send out undercover vehicles with very minor and difficult-to-spot faults to SMOG stations that they think might be doing things incorrectly for the sole purpose of tricking them into making a mistake? It is unbelievable, but yet it does happen. Then if they do make a mistake and don’t spot the fault, the Bureau will put them out of business.
In fact, our lead attorney at Automotive Defense Specialists, William Ferreira, is a specialist in defending SMOG shop owners and auto repair shops in cases like this, when the Bureau of Automotive Repair is actually in the wrong. And yes, they do get it wrong quite often.
So, if your car fails the test, whatever else you do, don’t blame the SMOG shop. It’s not their fault.