So I thought I was smog exempt...

[scestes]

So long as I get a cop (any law enforcement officer) to sign the ticket, it costs me nothing. She acknowledged that records show my car is properly registered, just lacking the actual tags.

[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.

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

You have to appear before a judge and prove to him that you had paid on-time or you will be fined a sizeable amount even if you have paid since the violation. Note 40152a and the comment about the court dismissing the violation. A cop at a donut shop is not a court. And you didn't read my post, there is no CVC violation for expired tags. It is a violation because one did not pay fees. There is myth and reality. Read the CVC sections cited above for the reality. A 5200 CVC citation for no front plate is a fix-it that a cop at a donut shop can sign-off on.

When scestes receives his bail notice in the mail it's probably going to be closer to two hundred dollars. Registration violators are severely punished as it concerns money.

Here's Santa Barbara County for example . . .

"Clearing Correctable Citations:

Proof of correction can be obtained by having an authorized representative of a law enforcement agency fill out the Certificate of Correction located on the reverse side of your citation. A Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) clerk may certify registration and/or driver's license violations. All registration violations must be corrected and proof submitted to the court. Your courtesy notice will contain the correct amount of money you must pay along with your proof of corrections."

Note once again, "All registration violations must be corrected and proof submitted to the court. "

Note again, "our courtesy notice will contain the correct amount of money you must pay along with your proof of corrections."

The only way you get the fine dismissed is to appear in court.

Now I just found this, "The statewide schedule for a violation of California Vehicle Code section 4000(a)(1) calls for a fine of $190." With the local court adding fees, surcharges and penalties it could be 300 bucks or more.

The DMV and the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan colluded for decades and charged a driver with a 4000a the same penalty assessed to a driver for Reckless Driving, to punish registration violators. Apparently in the near past someone challanged the fairness of this punishment as it has now been removed from CAARP underwriting rules. An insurance company doesn't charge for a 4000a, but courts do.

[dubois]

...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 ? .

The only reason I was pulled over was because of my tags.

Did she have a wedding ring???

[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 ? .

The only reason I was pulled over was because of my tags.

Did she have a wedding ring???

I couldn't date a woman that wants to see if anything under my hood is illegal equipment. She'd have to appreciate it, not want to fine me for it.

[bingbong]

Wow this all sounds incredibly annoying, glad I only live in a city that tricks people into street racing to charge them!

I'm sure you will come up with a solution that will keep your motor the way you like.

[KFunk]

well, thanks for warning others....

...its obvious that simply we should know not to agree to open our hoods for police officers, even if they try to trick us. if you want to be nice about refusal, just tell them your hood latch cable is broken. old and rusted apart, its a damn shame. gonna have to get a sawzall to cut the hood off soon, thats gonna suck.

[Pierre]

but not in front of a judge.

If you show up at the window where you are supposed to pay the fine, and show them proof that the car was registered at the time you were pulled over, it gets dismissed right there and then.

I had a similar issue with proff of insurance. I got a ticket because I did not have my updated insurance card on me. Jus like a registration, the date shows when it was issued and paid.

If the ticket itself has no mention of any smog violation, then her threats are worthless and empty.

[napa02]

Evidently she was not truly concerned with your lack of smog equipment , or you would have been ticketed for it ( certainly she has the authority to due so). perhaps this was merely an educational moment......

[2002Targa]

10 bucks, no biggie, it's just a hassle. Just don't say zip to whoever the verifying official is that signs your tags ticket and just drive up real quiet like. Personally I wouldn't have let her look under the hood and probably would have been an ass if she tried to force it. If the car is quiet without a bigass coffee can exhaust on the back, they would have no probable cause to examine it.

Cop: May I look under your hood??

Driver: (politely) No thank you officer, may I go now?

I ran into this about 10 years ago in Sacramento when they tried to get me to pull up onto one of their towable "sniffer" trailers. I just said "No thanks, I'm from Alaska" and drove off. I actually started laughing at the puzzled looks on their faces as they were trying to figure out wether or not it would be worth it to chase me down...

Nowadays I probably would have been tazed and beaten for that.

[Guest]

..........hey folks lighten up a bit. Every profession has its less than stellar employees, but painting all police officers as incompetent is wrong. Most officers are hard working guys and gals who do a job no one else wants to do, they do a job that no one can pay them enough to do. When you need the police they are heroes, when they pull you over they are jerks.......and some of us are just like you, we drive 02's....

bill

[InkaSteve]

...............and some of us are just like you, we drive 02's....

bill

Good point, Bill. Just today, one of our local officers stopped and told me how much he liked my car. I am sure many of our board members are members of law enforcement also. It is not "Them" against "Us" when a lot of the time "Them" are "us", and your job is really about "protecting and serving" . We thank you for that. If you are not working, plan on joining us in October at the 1st Vintage BMW gathering. http://www.socalvintagebmw.com/index.html

[neanderthal]

as has already been stated, just because your car is smog exempt, does not mean that may remove all the smog equipment on your car. by law not only must it be intact as it left the factory, but it must be operating.

as for the nuances of law.

i used to pay my registration on my 76 every year. however, the thermo reactor on it had gone south a long time ago, and damned if i wasnt going to be paying $700 (price at that time) for a used one that didnt really do anything for the smog test. my car still passed the sniffer test even though it failed the visual.

anyway, suffice it to say, i had tags that were a couple of years old. but i kept my smog test results, insurance, registration and all that associated stuff in a copy of the vehicle code. specifically on the page that states that the payment of fees is essentially a partial registration and one could then drive the car on the road. and those relevant sections were highlighted for good measure!!!

initially i got pulled over just about daily, but an explanation " expired tags, i know... registration has been paid, here is the reciept, here is a copy of the cheque, here is the insurance, unfortunately smog.... but here is the test results......., as you can see, the car passes the actual sniffer test, it only fails the visual, and here is the most recent quote i got for the part, $700, yes $700 to make it pass a smog test it already passes. its a bit ridiculous really. i get pulled over so frequently...." most simply agreed, some would tell me to take care of it, but one asshole, yes i called him an ASSHOLE tried to get me towed.

which is where the vehicle code comes in. "the highlighted portion categorically states that as long as my registration is paid, im in the process of registering my car and as such, i am fully entitled to operate my vehicle on californias streets" we had to call the sargeant. who had pulled me over himself and was a regular customer at my work. no, I DO NOT work at a donut shop.

anyway, the parking tickets are what did it for me. im still bitter about that bureaucratic quagmire.

[f1reverb]

through the link from the faq. I operate in a similar fashion and I have some tips. I'm also curious about your parking tickets comment as applied to the other issue.

[ClayW]

Is anyone that does a motor swap without impossibly/ridiculously attempting to keep smog equipment breaking CA law? Obviously, a newer motor or fuel injection would help burn cleaner, so I'm curious how CA law handles that.

[cmartin93]

Weren't sidedrafts, headers and oil coolers factory and/or dealer installed options back when our cars were new........wink wink