So I thought I was smog exempt...

[scestes]

I got pulled over yesterday for expired registration. That wasn't a big deal as the registration is in process, I'm just waiting for tags to show up. The CHP officer asks if she can look under the hood under the guise that she's interested in the car. I thought, hrmm. Okay, sure I guess. I popped the hood and she starts rattling off how many of the components under my hood don't look stock. My header, my Dual Weber 45's, the oil cooler. I decided to just play dumb and say "Hrmm, gee, I dunno." I just kind of offhandedly said that I thought the car was smog exempt and that so long as I was not a gross polluter, that I didn't have any issue if mods were made to the car. So that's about the time she actually got a little snooty and told me "No, it's not exempt", and that if there were any components on her "hot list of parts" installed on my car, she'd write on my fix-it ticket that I would have to appear before the state referee board to have my car reviewed under a microscope.

Can anyone lend some validity to this? Has this happened to anyone else? wtf is the story here. I usually take the word of CHP when it comes to vehicle code because that's all they deal with all day long. This just seems a little odd and unusual considering my car is supposed to be smog exempt.

[Guest Anonymous]

My cars are 74s and they don't need to be smogged.

[f1reverb]

and all required smog gear has to be there.

There is no "expired tags" Cal Vehicle Code section. The cops will write that on a ticket for 4000a vehicle code even though that is not what the section states. 4000a states that the fees were not paid. Always pay your fees before they are due regardless of any other isssue such as smog-testing or insurance issues, as you lose all sorts of legal power once you have a late renewal versus an incomplete renewal. All the state really cares about is the money, and an incomplete means you paid the money on time. Taking the word of a police officer on the law is like taking the word of George Bush on Iraq. The police think they know the law but they do not. The only way to beat tickets is to examine and defend yourself on the law itself, and the law is the vehicle code when it comes to cars. You should have made no statements of any sort. One of the guys on the e9coupe.com site (in California) was pulled over in his '73 CSL and the cop wrote him for not having a catalytic converter on his car, regardless of the fact that they weren't on cars then at all. He fought the ticket on that basis, and the judge in Sacto even drove the CSL and then dismissed the ticket.

You will have to put all the required smog gear on your car to pass a visual inspection by the DMV or CHP. What vehicle code section/sections did they say you violated on your ticket?

[dubois]

it used to be that their main target for that kind of inspection under the hood was the hondas, acuras (aka as rice rockets), but if they suspected your 02, then, they ALL know by now that we as a group like to tinker with our engines too...

The problem is that it will take time to fight that ticket, regardless what route you take.

If you take that away, pretty soon a lot of modified 02's are going to be for sale in CA!

Wonder what would have happened if you have refused to let her look under the hood??? You probably would have had 5 CHP's follow or arrest you on the spot (that would be my guess)

[steve k.]

the rules exempted pre '76 car from the need of going to the bi-annual smog tests. The rules do not exempt your car from being smog legal for the year it was produced. You still need to have all street legal parts on the car and they all have to be DOT approved.

steve k.

[ClayW]

The police think they know the law but they do not.

That's generally the case in any state. The cops love to try to scare you into complying with whatever they say. They tend to NEED to control everything in a situation so they don't like resistance at all (ask yourself what kind of person takes that job).

F1 is right; cops like to pretend to know the law but rarely do. They aren't judges or jury members. They just ticket and arrest. If you get pulled over and hassled, say as little as possible and smile. Remember that it's a judge or jury that convicts you of an offense, not the cop. If they ticket you, then they ticket you. It's not a conviction.

[scestes]

The only thing she wrote me up for was the fix-it ticket for the expired tags. Once the tags show up I take the car to a cop at a starbucks or local donut shop and have them verify the car is correctly registered. This whole encounter has me a bit nervous about the equipment installed on my car now though. The last thing I want to do is deal with a damned referee board.

I think you're exactly right tho. She was looking to see if I had any of that chrome crap that people install on their Nissans and Toyotas.

[esty]

illegal search....

[c.d.iesel]

...and not to be a STICK IN DA MUDD -

-= BUT =- what brought you to the attention of

the POLICE to be pulled over in the first place ? .

[f1reverb]

The defense per the CVC since apparently you paid on-time but had not received the indicia of current registration before the expiration date (as if you mailed it in the day before it was due for example). The info below is a proven defense I've used numerous times to successfully have a 4000a ticket dismissed (I had a hell of a time this year getting a copy of the 2008 edition of the CVC, so I'm curious if your ticket says 4000a or 4000.(1)) . . .

4000a: Registration Required

4000. (1) No person shall drive, move, or leave standing upon a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility, any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole or pipe dolly, or logging dolly, unless it is registered and the appropriate fees have been paid under this code or registered under the permanent trailer identification program, except that an off-highway motor vehicle which displays an identification plate or device issued by the department pursuant to Section 38010 may be driven, moved, or left standing in an offstreet public parking facility without being registered or paying registration fees.

Defense . . .

Contents of Registration Card

4453. (a) The registration card shall contain upon its face, the date issued, the name and residence or business address or mailing address of the owner and of the legal owner, if any, the registration number assigned to the vehicle, and a description of the vehicle as complete as that required in the application for registration of the vehicle.

4602. Application for renewal of a vehicle registration shall be made by the owner not later than midnight of the expiration date, and shall be made by presentation of the registration card last issued for the vehicle or by presentation of a potential registration card issued by the department for use at the time of renewal and by payment of the full registration year fee for the vehicle as provided in this code. If the registration card and potential registration card are unavailable, a fee as specified in Section 9265 shall not be paid.

Amended Ch. 1268, Stats. 1988. Effective January 1, 1989.

Operation Pending Renewal

4606. Notwithstanding any provision of subdivision (a) of Section 5204 to the contrary, when an application for the registration of a vehicle has been made as required in Sections 4152.5 and 4602, the vehicle may be operated on the highways until the new indicia of current registration have been received from the department, upon condition that there be displayed on the vehicle the license plates and validating devices, if any, issued to the vehicle for the previous registration year.

Amended Ch. 258, Stats. 1992. Effective January 1, 1993.

Unregistered Vehicle: Compliance

40152. (a) Whenever any vehicle or combination of vehicles is found to be not registered as required by this code, and a notice to appear is issued or a complaint is filed for that violation, the person to whom the notice to appear is issued or against whom the complaint is filed shall produce in court satisfactory evidence that the vehicle or combination of vehicles has been registered or has had the appropriate fees paid, or has been reduced to junk, to conform with the requirements of this code. The court shall not dismiss the offense until that evidence is produced.

P.S. Be sure to note this or/or 40152a comment . . .

"or has had the appropriate fees paid"

Any court has no choice but to dismiss the ticket if you've paid the fees on-time regardless of anything else . . .

"The court shall not dismiss the offense until that evidence is produced."

No driver in California should be without an offical DMV published copy of the California Vehicle Code in his/her car at all times. It's now 10 bucks at the DMV and you need to get a new copy every year (it's the size of a phone book these days). In court only the DMV published copy is considered legal. I recommend the same for any driver in any state in the USA.

[f1reverb]

...and not to be a STICK IN DA MUDD -

-= BUT =- what brought you to the attention of

the POLICE to be pulled over in the first place ? .

like an invalid registration sticker is probable cause enough to pull you over here in California. Even a little dirt on a total valid sticker is enough of an excuse for the cops as they claim it couldn't be read. Don't wash your license plate for a length of time and you will get stopped.

[scestes]

...and not to be a STICK IN DA MUDD -

-= BUT =- what brought you to the attention of

the POLICE to be pulled over in the first place ? .

To be honest, there should have been nothing that brought me to the attention of the police in this situation. I followed the officer off the freeway. She was on here way back to the cop shop after her shift (I have to drive past a CHP station every day when I leave home), and when I drove past her (at much less than the speed limit because of the amount of heavy truck traffic that is on this road) she apparently looked over at my tags as I went by (CHP look at tags all day long, its one of the primary reasons they pull people over besides speeding) and she pulled in behind me and threw the rollers on. The only reason I was pulled over was because of my tags.

[steve k.]

a fix it ticket or a taking the whole thing to court and winning will cost you $10. So not sure if spending time in court is worth it. I think his bigger question was about Smog Exemption. The answer to that is that you are only exempt from biannual testing.

steve k.

[f1reverb]

a fix it ticket or a taking the whole thing to court and winning will cost you $10. So not sure if spending time in court is worth it. I think his bigger question was about Smog Exemption. The answer to that is that you are only exempt from biannual testing.

steve k.

He was not cited for anything regarding smog equipment.

[steve k.]

a fix it ticket or a taking the whole thing to court and winning will cost you $10. So not sure if spending time in court is worth it. I think his bigger question was about Smog Exemption. The answer to that is that you are only exempt from biannual testing.

steve k.

He was not cited for anything regarding smog equipment.

but he was sited for expired tags. And that's a $10 fix it ticket.