No smog test when trading in your car?! (mileage, buy, sell)
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How come your car doesn't need to pass the smog test if you are trading it in? As far as the dealer knows, it might be unsellable, so why would he buy it?
You really thought that was a country wide thing? Many states don't have what you guys refer to as SMOG testing. A number of other states have some form of emissions testing but none are as oppressive as Southern California's... There are even other counties in CA that don't require it...
States and counties that smog cars, the dealers usually auction or sell from a sister dealership in a non smog county or state. Here in GA, some counties require emissions and some dont. I made a choice to not live in an emissions county to avoid the headache's that come with the smog checks.
The dealer inspects the car and makes a judgement based on condition. My impression is that they don't inspect very carefully- but on the other hand the price offered has plenty of room for unexpected issues.
Also- the car passed an emission test less than a year ago. How big can the risk be?
How come your car doesn't need to pass the smog test if you are trading it in? As far as the dealer knows, it might be unsellable, so why would he buy it?
If you're trading it in to an actual dealer, they're going to do their own inspection on it to make sure they're not selling someone a beater. Then they will be able to throw an inspection sticker on it. If they can't, they go to auction/out of state lot where there is no requirement for smog.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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They probably do a smog test when evaluating it, it's just not required by the state because they often send them to auction where they are sold as-is. if it's a late model low-mileage and they plan to sell it on the lot they have to determine how much it will cost them to get it ready when determining the trade amount, and deduct repair costs from bluebook. When they offer you more it's really just a discount on the price to make you feel good about getting a nice trade-in.
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