This morning I am getting my wife’s tags renewed on her car. See there I am sitting in the front right of the picture at the smog check station. (Side note, yes that is a real picture of me sitting there. The smog check station has a webcam so you can logon and see how busy it is before heading down. I being the geek I am had my laptop and air-card so I was surfing the net while waiting my turn.)
I really have no quorums with smog checks, I think it’s a great idea. After all how many times have you driven around and about choked to death on the fumes from another car? Happens to me a few times, plus it’s just not good for the environment. So I am for smog checks. What I am NOT for is the process.
See in order to get a smog check you need to have valid registration from the state. To get that you need to go to the County Clerks office, or wait until you get it in the mail.
Then you go to a smog check station located downtown and wait in line, yep I’m in a smog check line. Then you pay your $9, get a certificate with a smiley face on it and then have to drive about 10 miles back to the county clerks office so you can turn the certificate in for a new sticker.
I just can’t see why they can’t do the auto renewal at the smog check stations. I realize the stations are not government owned but perhaps they should be. Obviously they are a profit making business or else they wouldn’t be around. So, government should either take ownership of the smog check stations OR give the smog check stations the ability to issue new registration.
See what I hate is we get smog checks to make sure we aren’t polluting the environment. But yet we have to drive back and fourth wasting gas, emitting toxins, etc to get the sticker. Seems like if the goal was to have a greener environment it would be a “one stop shop” so to speak.
Anyways, I’m about to pull into the garage and then go drive to county clerks office to stand in line and wait. Fun times.
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