The Feb. 17 story “Lawmaker proposes bill to close ‘classic’ car loophole on smog checks” failed to mention one main reason that owners of older cars register them as classic vehicles: because it is extremely difficult to find a location to do a smog check.
As the owner of a 1994 vehicle, I have had to visit as many as five smog check stations to try to find one that stocks the specialized testing equipment needed for older vehicles. Each year, the location that worked the year before has gotten rid of the equipment and the search starts anew.
Because Nevada’s system relies on private businesses for smog checks, they can choose not to stock the equipment when it is not cost effective. I have been told that they have stopped keeping it because it was too expensive and very few cars need it. The reporter failed to talk to classic car owners to determine how difficult it is to do this testing.
If Assemblyman Howard Watts wants to require all older vehicles to be smog checked, he also needs to mandate that smog check stations have available all the equipment needed to test these vehicles. Or he should create low-cost, state-controlled testing locations that keep this equipment.
Letter to the editor:
Smog check can be tough to get
Fri, Feb 26, 2021 (2 a.m.)