Does anyone here live in a smog exempt zip code in California? I have been reading that a few zip codes in California are exempt and I would like to take advantage of this with a PO box. Thanks for your help.

As far as I know, California has no “smog exempt” zip codes. The smog inspection requirements for registration vary from zip code to zip code. But does not mean the same thing as exempt…

This is easy in Calif if your car is 1975 or older then you don't have to smog it. Zip code has nothing to do with.

oh no. Now what are you up to?

I have heard that Lake Tahoe is a smog exempt zip. Heard of people opening a PO box there to get around the smog laws.
Bruce

Read a 2009 article on this. If still true sounds like a pain in the rear end. This stopped me from looking at 1976 914s.

Its my understanding that there are areas that are so remote, the smog laws do not apply. I think one area is like Mammoth Lakes area / Inyokern. I have a friend that was thinking of getting away from all the craziness Santa Barbara to move out there. If this happens...my cars will follow . I was thinking of Las Vegas...but to my knowledge, the cars there has smog checks too.

There are 58 counties in California. 34 counties fully require biennial smog inspections.

18 counties are not part of the biennial smog inspection program:
Alpine
Amador
Calaveras
Del Norte
Humboldt
Imperial
Inyo
Lake
Lassen
Mariposa
Mendocino
Modoc
Mono
Plumas
Sierra
Siskiyou
Trinity
Tuolumne

Six counties have certain (remote) zip codes that do not require biennial smog inspections
El Dorado
Placer
Riverside
San Bernardino
San Diego
Sonoma

Use the link below to see if your zip code requires biennial smog inspections. If it says Enhanced or Basic then it's part of the program. If it returns Change of Ownership it means it's not. For example, try zip code 92222:

http://smogcheck.ca.gov/pubwebquery/Ziparea/ZipLookup.aspx

Also worth mentioning, you're only exempt from smog testing(!), but *NOT* from complying with the smog laws of the year of the engine(!) in your car.

Meaning, if you happen to have a '70 914 and you put in a '95 3.6L engine, you still have to keep all the smog equipment for that '95 engine.

You are still exempt from the testing, but if you ever piss off the wrong cop they can ticket you if your car doesn't comply with the rules of the engine year.

.
i meet guys at EuroSunday Sac'to with outrageous modifieds - registered in Change Only zips -

all ya gotta do is have it legal before you change the address

and don't ever think you can re-sell it in CA later

There is no nothing where I live, 98382 Sequim Wa
Maybe a PO box service may be in order to help a fellow teener???

All the areas in gray below don't require a biennial smog inspection.
Click to view attachment

Click the map below to see a full size image ...
Click to view attachment

I "think" you have to get your car inspected one time if registering your vehicle to that smog exempt address.

California folk:

SB-1239 (Gaines) raises smog-exempt date to pre1981 is in committee, I understand it's 6 to 5 pro, opposition is strong from Bay Area Air Quality District - SMOG officers - GET A HOLD OF YOUR REPRESENTATIVE to support this lejjy. PLEASE!

Ca Gov

If I am reading this correctly, your parade has just been rained on…


© All motor vehicles excepted by this paragraph shall be subject to testing and to certification requirements as determined by the department, if any of the following apply:
(i) The department determines through remote sensing activities or other means that there is a substantial probability that the vehicle has a tampered emission emissions control system or would fail for other cause a smog check test as specified in Section 44012.

They have been using remote sensing equipment for some time now and have been able to force anyone to get their vehicle checked for smog compliance (any year vehicle). If a cop pulls you over and thinks your exhaust smells too rich or sees black smoke or what ever, they can issue a fix-it ticket for a smog check, no matter what year your car.

The exemption from biennial inspections has never meant your did not need to meet the smog requirement or that you would never have to get a smog check. it just means you don't have to get a smog check every two years to get your registration.

IMHO We should all still support this bill, moving the year to 1981 is an improvement and if the modification done to the car keep it running pretty clean you will likely never have a smog check problem.
Oh and don't piss off a cop if you get pulled over.


Jim

Yeah, that link showed the proposed edits to the existing law, and the only substantive change was from the 1976 cutoff to 1981. Everything else would stay unchanged, exactly as it is today.

Silly Bruce! Lake Tahoe is in Nevada!

Well...some of the best part of Tahoe is in Nevada.

My home away from home.

When did they move it? Looks to me that the state line goes through the lake and most of the lake is in CA. And if it is in Nevada then it is CA smog exempt. So Boo-ya Rob!

What ever, one of those big lakes, Tahoe, Mammoth.
Bruce

Bruce, there is a perpetual disagreement over what part of Lake Tahoe Mark Twain described in his travel journal books. The locals on both sides of the border say it was theirs. I just claim the whole lake for Nevada!