Your car might not need a smog test, but the state still wants money

Q. What’s up with the smog abatement fee on my registration? Is this another way the Department of Motor Vehicles makes money, when your vehicle doesn’t need a smog check?

  – Brent Deshotels, Anaheim

A. Not the DMV, Brent, but the state.

Yes, the DMV is a state agency. However, it is the California Legislature that creates laws and vehicle fees – and the DMV just does what the elected officials tell it to do.

Over the years, the Legislature has decided that cars and trucks that are eight years old or younger, purchased in California and remaining with the original owner, are unlikely excessive polluters and don’t need smog checks.

Older, gas-powered vehicles need a smog check every two years, generally, and the state gets $8.25 for the required certificate, which is in addition to the fee charged by the business for the test.

That eight bucks and change pays for the Smog Check Program and also covers watchdogging the smog-check and automotive-repair fields.

So, no smog test for the younger vehicles, no state fee, right?

That last sentence gave Honk a good belly laugh.

Owners of cars and trucks six years old or younger are charged $20 a year for the smog abatement fee, while those who have vehicles seven and eight years old must pay $25 annually.

“Please note that in return for the smog abatement fees, car owners are exempted from smog check (and the up-to-$50 fee they would need to pay the smog-check stations) for eight years; thus, the fee payer gets a direct benefit,” Karen Caesar, a spokeswoman for the state’s Air Resources Board, told Honk in an email.

“These fees support programs that successfully help consumers and businesses to acquire newer, cleaner technology, and they accelerate the deployment of zero-emission vehicles, thus helping to improve air quality throughout the state,” she said.

Each year, scores of millions of dollars from this fee go to various strategies, including providing grants so construction and agricultural equipment, semi-trucks, locomotives, buses, fire trucks and polluters get cleaner engines.

“These programs incentivize the turnover of older, higher-polluting vehicles and equipment for newer, cleaner technology,” Caesar said. “Collectively, these programs have reduced over 200,000 tons of the smog-forming pollutants, which cause asthma and other health impacts.”

Q. Dear Honk: A year ago I visited my local DMV office to get my Real ID. I brought all of my paperwork, paid the fee and was told that I would have my Real ID in a few weeks. It never came. I’m guessing I’m not alone. A few months later, my wife was at the DMV and inquired about the status of my license. She was told it had been mailed. Because I never got it, will I have to start the Real ID process all over, or can I simply get a replacement license online with the Real ID seal? I had already renewed my driver’s license, so that isn’t an issue.

– Michael Robbins, Bell Canyon

A. Good news.

The DMV asked Honk for Michael’s contact info, and Honk passed that along with his permission.

“(The) DMV contacted the customer directly and the issue has been resolved,” Nicholas Filipas, an agency spokesman in Sacramento, told Honk by email. “Customers not receiving their REAL ID in the mail is not a common problem.”

Filipas did figure Michael’s Real ID likely got lost in the mail. A new one will be sent.

If any of you in Honkland have waited too long for a license or state-issued ID, Filipas said to contact the Issuance Unit at 916-657-8545 or at LODIssCustResolution@dmv.ca.gov.

Honkin’ fact: The last time a gallon of regular gas averaged less than $3 in California was the week of July 6, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That week, it came in at $2.98. This week? $3.73.

To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk

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