Do I Have to Smog Car Again
- The smog test is the buyer's responsibility,
- The vehicle passed smog "half dozen months ago", or
- The vehicle is "smog ready"
I've always causeless that "smog ready" means the vehicle tin can pass a smog examination which, if you remember about it, could have two possible meanings: (i) the vehicle volition pass smog and the seller agrees to do that equally a condition of the sale, or (2) the vehicle will allegedly pass smog, but the buyer has to purchase the automobile first and bear the risk of information technology non actually passing smog.
So the question for this blog mail service is this: what is the rule most smog tests when you're buying a new car in California?
Two things before nosotros swoop in to the answer:
- Kickoff, if you're not in California and don't know what a smog exam is, information technology's an emissions examination that your car has to pass in club to go registered in California. Smog tests are, thus, an air pollution control measure out. If your car can't laissez passer a smog test and you can't fix it, then you lot cannot register information technology in California. Depending on your situation, you lot may exist able to sell your car to your local air quality direction district. The rules for what vehicles accept to be smogged are very involved and so there'southward no way for me to get over all of them in this post. To whet your appetite, though, two very common rules are: (one) motorcycles are exempt from smog testing, and (b) vehicles from before 1975 are also exempt from smog testing. If yous buy a new vehicle in California, it is mostly exempt from a smog exam for the first vi years of ownership, although it may be four years in some cases. Over again, in that location are many dissimilar possible permutations for when a smog test is and is not required so you'll need to check what item rules employ to your state of affairs.
- Second, buying and selling vehicles falls in to many different categories that, over again, I cannot possibly become over in this post. Some examples are: (1) vehicles that are sold for scrap or dismantling, (2) machine dealers selling to one some other, (3) vehicles beingness sold between family members, (4) vehicles that were leased, and (5) vehicles meant for off-road utilize. Special rules may apply in those situations every bit to whether a smog test is required when those vehicles are sold as used.
In my opinion — which, as always, is not comprehensive or necessarily representative of your life — the most common "used car purchasing" situation is where a individual private buys a used automobile (e.g. off their local Craigslist) from some other individual private for the buyer'south own personal use. This post will answer the question: is the seller in such a situation required to do a smog check prior to finalizing the sale? Phrased alternatively, is the heir-apparent in such a situation entitled to a passing smog examination as office of the sale?
The Respond:
To both questions: Aye, assuming that a passing smog test was non performed in the xc calendar days earlier the auction.
The Caption:
I read statutes all the fourth dimension and even I admit that California could make the police here less confusing. To understand where the full general rule of "seller of a used car must provide a passing smog test result as role of the sale" comes from, a practiced identify to kickoff would be California Vehicle Code section 24007(b)(1) and (b)(ii) which land:
(b)(1) Except equally provided inSection 24007.v, no person shall sell, or offer or evangelize for sale, to the ultimate purchaser, or to whatever subsequent purchaser a new or used motor vehicle, as those terms are divers in Chapter 2 (commencing withDepartment 39010) ofPart 1 of Segmentation 26 of the Health and Safety Lawmaking, bailiwick to Role 5 (commencing with Section 43000) of that Division 26 which is non in compliance with that role and the rules and regulations of the Country Air Resource Board, unless the vehicle is sold to a dealer or sold for the purpose of beingness legally wrecked or dismantled.
(ii) Prior to or at the fourth dimension of delivery for sale, the seller shall provide the purchaser a valid certificate of compliance or document of noncompliance, as appropriate, issued in accord withDepartment 44015 of the Health and Safety Code.
The role I've bolded and underlined above nearly certificates of compliance and noncompliance basically refer to smog tests. If you lot want to delve in to that, yous can look upward California Health and Safe Code section 44015. If y'all do, the rule that smog tests on used cars are merely good for 90 days is in department 44015(eastward). You can also have a expect at California Vehicle Lawmaking department 4000.1(d)(1) to run across that a passing smog document is just proficient for 90 days.
If you're looking for the constabulary that says you accept to take a passing smog test in order to register your auto in California, that'south also in Vehicle Code section 4000.1, although this time it'southward subsection (a).
What Does All of This Mean?
The confusing aspect I described earlier is that you have to read all three of these statutes together. If yous do, y'all become:
- Vehicle Code 24007(b) for the requirement that, in most cases, the seller has to provide a passing smog test with the sale,
- Wellness and Safety Code section 44015 for the requirement of how the smog exam has to be done and that information technology has to be from within the 90 days preceding the sale, and
- Vehicle Code section 4000.1(a) for the requirement that a passing smog test within the last 90 days is required in guild to annals the vehicle in California.
As yous can probably judge, the thought behind requiring the seller to produce a valid smog test is then that the buyer isn't stuck in the state of affairs of having paid a bunch of money for a car that they tin can't register.
If you're in a situation where you lot bought a car in California and can't register it, at that place are a few things y'all could do:
- Obviously, if you lot bought the auto and knowingly waived the right to receive a smog test from the seller, then I would say it's your own fault that you lot tin't register the car at present. You took the chance and y'all lost.
- If you had no idea information technology was your right to get the seller to provide a smog test, yous accept at least two paths I can call back of: (i) sue the seller and demand he or she refund your money and accept the car back, or (two) deem it a lesson learned and simply permit it become. (2) is probably not real palatable for most people. (one), however, may non be realistic for most people either.
The best way, I retrieve, to avoid this dilemma is to nip information technology in the proverbial bud earlier it ever arises: if you're buying a used automobile from an individual, check to see if the seller is required to provide you a valid smog test and, if then, then insist on getting it. If you purchase the automobile without the smog examination, and so yous run the run a risk of not existence able to register the automobile in California.
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Andy I. Chen is a lawyer licensed to practice law in California and New York. Andy maintains offices in Los Altos, California and Modesto, California. Under the New York Courtroom of Appeals' 2015 decision in Schoenefeld v. Country of New York, Andy does not have cases from those in New York state. He does, notwithstanding, know many lawyers in New York state and would be happy to make a referral.
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