They had recently changed the way they do emissions testing here. Instead of having a government building set up for testing, like that used to, they have decided that you now need to go to a local mechanic that is authorized to do the testing, get your results, and then go to the DMV to get your tags.
The closest one to us only did emissions testing during certain fucked up hours. They started at 10:30am so I got there a little after that. I was sitting there waiting for them to finish and they came back telling me the car had failed emissions. Excuse me?
They haven't done the testing like they did when I was younger in a long time. They used to hook up a machine to your gas cap, put something by your muffler, run your car a bit and then determine whether or not you had passed. Now? Well now they hook up a machine to the computer of your car and base it on that.
They told me I failed because my check engine light was on. Okay, and? Apparently that is now an automatic failing of the emissions test. Fuck. Me. Running.
So I ask them, since they are a mechanic, if they can took a look and see exactly what I need fixed. You know, run the entire diagnostic to find out specifically was wrong with the car. They already had a code but the code could be a few things. They told me that just to run the diagnostic it would be $75. They also would not waive that fee if I decided to go ahead and get the repairs done with them. That's almost how much the damn tags cost. So fuck that.
I called up the mechanic I go to all the time. I trust them. I didn't go there immediately after failing the car because I was already at a mechanic and I wanted to see if they could find out exactly what was wrong with the car and then I would call my mechanic and see how much the fix would be versus what it would be at the place that just ran the emissions test.
So anyway, I go to my mechanic. I gave him the code and he told me he would run the entire diagnostic and then come out and tell me what was wrong and what I would need to fix it. He also told me that if I decided to not get the repair done today then he would have to charge me a $30 diagnostic fee. The price difference is amazing isn't it?
So I tell him to go ahead. So he comes back out and tells me that it was my power steering pressure switch. Please keep in mind that this has absolutely nothing to do with actual emissions. Nothing what so fucking ever. But it was causing the check engine light to be on which is an auto fail. My mechanic tells me what the charges would be. It's not cheap but it could have been a hell of a lot more expensive so I ask him to please do the repair. It only took him 30 minutes and I was on my way. And part of that time was because he had to run and get the part I needed. I love that shop!
They had already driven my car a little bit to make sure the check engine light didn't come back on. As he is handing me my keys he tells me that they have a guarantee that if the fix doesn't get me to pass the emissions he'll fix it for free to make sure I do pass. Again, this diagnosis has nothing to do with emissions but since that is what caused me to fail, he said the guarantee would cover it.
I then drive back to the place that ran the emissions test. They asked me to show proof that a repair was done. So I show them the bill and the dumb ass behind the counter tells me, "Well that has nothing to do with emissions." No shit Sherlock. I then showed him the fail results I got last time and the code that came with it. Moron.
Of course the car passed!
So I drive off to the DMV and get my very, very expensive sticker. At least it's all done now, for another year. But at least next year I don't need to go through emissions again.
No comments:
Post a Comment