lacelane

Okay, I live in Cali, my tags are due on May 10th. I moved my car's addess along with my license address to a non smog county, sisikyou county to be exact, now I get a letter from DMV today, 03-01, and it says I have to have smog required. What gives? Anyone know what's going on here? I thought this was a county where it is required for change of ownership only.

superswiss

I did not know that SMOG check differs from county to county, but after looking it up there are six counties in CA, that only require SMOG check in certain designated zip codes. Not the entire county is exempt, only some zip codes are. However, Sisikyou doesn't appear to be one of those counties, so not sure based on what you thought it was exempt. The six counties where you don't have to SMOG check if you live in the right zip code are:

• Sonoma
• San Bernardino
• El Dorado
• San Diego
• Placer
• Riverside

https://www.emissions.org/loc/califo...sions-testing/

lacelane

You can check here: https://www.bar.ca.gov/services/Prog...reaLookup.aspx

Try entering any zip code from siskiyou county, it should say smog check required only for change of ownership.

But in any event, has this happened to anyone before?

superswiss

Thanks for the link. I learned something new. Probably best to hit up the DMV and get it straight from the horse's mouth. You can reach them via online chat, which has proven to be the most effective way to get something done. Could be simply an error in their system, or maybe the county where the registration was last renewed is what determines the SMOG requirement.

lacelane

I just submitted it to DMV virtual assistance. I hate the waiting, especially if there's a time variable with this smog thing. Have you tried the live chat before? Do you have a linke by any chance? thx.

superswiss

Yes, I have tried the live chat. Last year both my wife and I didn't receive our Real ID in the mail, so I contacted them via live chat. Turned out the clerks at the DMV while they waved the written test requirement didn't enter the application correctly, so both our applications were just sitting there waiting for us to complete the written test nobody told us about. They waved the written test while I was chatting with them, mailed out temporarily licenses and within a week we had our actual Real ID. I don't quite recall how I got the live chat, but I believe you just have to tell the bot that you need to talk to a representative.

lacelane

I just typed ("live chat" with dmv) without the brackets into the search query on google. No link shows up directly about live chat. There was a page that talks about DMV's revamp of their website that includes live chat, but no live chat that that I saw. I'm guessing they removed it.

On another note, you said that DMV screwed up the written test requirement part, looks like DMV could've screwed up on my part as well.

superswiss

Yes, very likely they screwed something up. Yes, live chat is still there. Just go to https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/customer-service/, Click on Ask DMV at the bottom and then type "I need to talk to a representative" and you are being offered live chat. It's a pilot program at this point.

lacelane

Okay, that's great, thanks for that. I tried, and all they give me is a whole bunch of AI bot chats. I'm going through the email exchanges with DMV now and everything seems to be moving along. I stress, seems, because DMV is so incompetent lol. They responded pretty quickly, one response was within 40 minutes, and it was a dumb response. There was a second response from a separate email and it sounded like this person was more helpful, lol, can you believe that? It's like why not within the same email?

Also, I'd like to add, DMV gave me the link within their website, implying that I need the smog. The link is: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicl...g-inspections/

However, if you check the expanded menu boxes, the one that is titled, "Do I have to get a smog inspection when I renew my registration?" it clearly lists the counties that smog is required. And guess what? Siskiyou county is not one of them! But the DMV rep, the first dumb one, said I needed smog, even though he gave me this link that shows I only need it for change of ownership. Jeez, dealing with these folks is such a pain.