Registering a vehicle in California

[mattja]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Well yup.

Actually, living in a boat on the river … with van parked under the bridge. Great lifestyle. Money in the bank. Not in mortgage payments!

You said you work with drug addicts, right? And live in a van part of the time?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by mattja

You said you work with drug addicts, right? And live in a van part of the time?

Lol.

No, I never said that.

Retired from the military. Retired now also from self-employment. Had a print shop. And worked building and remodeling houses. Lived mostly on boats during and after service.

Saved a lot of money. Invested in other ways, not real estate. I can buy house(s) cash money, if I wanted. I don’t want. I hate houses

And I’ve been helping veterans in crisis for over 30 years: obtaining medical and other benefits, housing, training. In supporting my fellow veterans who have sometimes hit bottom, I also rub shoulders with other non-vet homeless. I am very informed and experienced with the problems on those drugged up streets.

I do also have a diesel van I tow my boats with, and it’s a camper. So yeah, I’m in it a lot. But I maintain full-time live-aboard marina slips now in San Diego and Central Coast. More and more I just travel the whole Pacific Coast.

Love my minimalist, wandering lifestyle. No gutters to clean.

[NORTY FLATZ]

Originally Posted by curiousgeorge5

I guess these people either work for the state or have a connection to someone that works for the state.

$900 is a lot. I wonder how long the certification is good for.

2 years.

The reason it's $900, is because there's NO WAY this car could ever pass any emissions test. Kind of a "ransom."

PS. It's NOT my car, but a friend's. Odd thing is, he rarely drives it....

[saibot]

Originally Posted by NORTY FLATZ

2 years.

The reason it's $900, is because there's NO WAY this car could ever pass any emissions test. Kind of a "ransom."

PS. It's NOT my car, but a friend's. Odd thing is, he rarely drives it....

We got one of our cars "smogged" for only $250... I drive it once a week or less so it doesn't make me feel guilty about contributing to the already very reduced air pollution. No way the car would pass a regular emissions test, but also no way I am giving it up.

[mattja]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Lol.

No, I never said that.

Retired from the military. Retired now also from self-employment. Had a print shop. And worked building and remodeling houses. Lived mostly on boats during and after service.

Saved a lot of money. Invested in other ways, not real estate. I can buy house(s) cash money, if I wanted. I don’t want. I hate houses

And I’ve been helping veterans in crisis for over 30 years: obtaining medical and other benefits, housing, training. In supporting my fellow veterans who have sometimes hit bottom, I also rub shoulders with other non-vet homeless. I am very informed and experienced with the problems on those drugged up streets.

I do also have a diesel van I tow my boats with, and it’s a camper. So yeah, I’m in it a lot. But I maintain full-time live-aboard marina slips now in San Diego and Central Coast. More and more I just travel the whole Pacific Coast.

Love my minimalist, wandering lifestyle. No gutters to clean.

No harm no foul, I wasn't criticizing your lifestyle.

Actually, I was setting you up for a joke about living in a van down by the river, which is kind of applicable to what you do. I'm sure you know the context of that joke, correct? It's probably the best SNL skit of all time.

[mattja]

.

Originally Posted by saibot

We got one of our cars "smogged" for only $250... I drive it once a week or less so it doesn't make me feel guilty about contributing to the already very reduced air pollution. No way the car would pass a regular emissions test, but also no way I am giving it up.

I received a letter from BAAQMD several years ago trying to persuade me to retire my old truck. They said it was a "gross polluter" and I should sell it to them for $500. lol

The truck has passed SMOG every time for almost 40 years.
It has some of the lowest emissions for any vehicle that came out that model year.

The real issue they have is it produces more CO2 that modern vehicles. At the time, CO2 was not considered an element of pollution, so while it was measured as part of the SMOG test, there was no state standard as to how much a vehicle could produce. That's what I was told by the SMOG test guy decades ago.

Now that CO2 is considered "bad," they want to get all vehicles that produce CO2 off the road. But they can't do it retroactively (for now ), so they have to think of other ways to get people to retire their "gross polluters."

BAAQMD is the worst. A few years ago they told people to fink on their neighbors if they saw smoke coming from anyone's chimney. I don't think there is a more hated organization up here.

[V8 Vega]

Years ago in the hot rod community there was a few smog check places where for considerable extra money they could get you a passed smog check for your hopped up car.
I thought that was long gone because its highly illegal, the smog check place could lose his business.
But I went back and looked again at page 2 and it might be back if you know where to go.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by mattja

No harm no foul, I wasn't criticizing your lifestyle.

Actually, I was setting you up for a joke about living in a van down by the river, which is kind of applicable to what you do. I'm sure you know the context of that joke, correct? It's probably the best SNL skit of all time.

No, no. I got the joke … and no offense taken whatsoever.

(And yeah, I get that joke tossed my way often. )

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by AnythingOutdoors

I don't expect anyone moves just for renewal fees, that would be silly. But it adds up as part of a larger picture: VHCOL, high taxes, high fees, expensive utilities, high gas prices. I don't mind paying a lot if I'm getting value in return. E.g. when we lived in Germany I was fine with a >50% marginal tax rate because everything was so well run. Moving back to California was, quite literally, jarring as we navigated really poor roads, underfunded schools, dilapidated parks, and failing infrastructure.

Similarly, I don't mind paying my taxes here because our schools are great, the roads and parks are well maintained, and government agencies provide good service. Stuff is just generally very functional and managed well. The state is running surpluses, so last year our property taxes were lowered enough that I could use the savings to buy a new mountain bike.

For those who prefer CA and accept the tradeoffs involved that's fine with me. I'm also fine with people moving to Idaho -- people are what makes a place great by contributing their skills. Idaho isn't perfect and it's not for everyone (really, no place is), so there may be other paces in the US that are better depending on what one is looking for. We are quite fortunate in the US to move freely in such a large, beautiful and diverse country.

I just left Idaho yesterday. In Montana now. I always enjoy my trips to and through these two states. I agree they both seem very well managed and functional. Nice visits always. I absolutely recommend everyone in California who is dissatisfied should move north. Absolutely. No sarcasm whatsoever.

That said - sincerely - if/when Idaho ever grows to 39.5 million population - that being in fact a 20x increase over what you have now - let’s get back to a followup conversation about how smoothly and efficiently functional it is under the strains and pressures of the new boatload.

[mattja]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

No, no. I got the joke … and no offense taken whatsoever.

(And yeah, I get that joke tossed my way often. )

Do you? That's awesome!