CA buyers: Buying your BRZ or FR-S out-of-state

[PMok]

It doesn't sound like anyone here who bought a car from out-of-state has had a problem with this. I don't know for sure, but I think it has more to do with the number of start/stop cycles, than the amount of miles the car has been driven. Even a brand-new car off the dealership lot has been started and moved around several times, and so in most cases I would imagine the ECU will be just fine by the time you reach a smog shop.

If you want to be extra cautious, go take it for a fun drive before you bring it into a smog shop. You did buy this car to drive it, didn't you?


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[mav1178]

Originally Posted by vhx1

At least in California, if you attempt to do a smog check on a car that just had it's ECU reset (a brand new car from the factory is the equivalent of this), you will not be able to pass the Engine ECU DTC readiness test until you complete a drive cycle (by driving ~100 miles but varies between cars) and all ECU readiness monitors are listed as complete with an OBDII scanner.

... but a few questions pop up:

1) would a new car really fail a smog test this way? Or more importantly, are car manufacturers that naive to let this happen? One would assume with proper QA, cars are run at the factory on a dyno to ensure proper final assembly without errors.
2) why would you buy a Heuberger (or any out of state car), and register it immediately?? You get up to 20 days from date of entry, PLUS you are given 2 months temporary registration from the state of Colorado from the dealer. Not using these two time periods to your advantage is just throwing money away earlier.

-alex

[davesbrz]

Originally Posted by vhx1

At least in California, if you attempt to do a smog check on a car that just had it's ECU reset (a brand new car from the factory is the equivalent of this), you will not be able to pass the Engine ECU DTC readiness test until you complete a drive cycle (by driving ~100 miles but varies between cars) and all ECU readiness monitors are listed as complete with an OBDII scanner.

Easy answer: drive >50miles before smog check. (I did and all was fine.)
vhx1 may be right about the reset/min. mileage req'd - I had a smog check done on a (not new) VW after disconnecting its battery/resetting ECU, and while the (cheapie) OBDII scanner showed me no codes, the smog check guy made me come back after driving >50miles, because his analyzer saw a too-recent reset.

[vhx1]

Originally Posted by mav1178

... but a few questions pop up:

1) would a new car really fail a smog test this way? Or more importantly, are car manufacturers that naive to let this happen? One would assume with proper QA, cars are run at the factory on a dyno to ensure proper final assembly without errors.
2) why would you buy a Heuberger (or any out of state car), and register it immediately?? You get up to 20 days from date of entry, PLUS you are given 2 months temporary registration from the state of Colorado from the dealer. Not using these two time periods to your advantage is just throwing money away earlier.

-alex

1) Doesn't matter if the car is old or new.. if it cannot pass DTC readiness, you will fail the smog check. This applies to all cars used or new. You can google lots of case of cars failing smog for DTC readiness.

2) Since the car was delivered the day before I left town for x-mas break, I only have a few days left to get it registered.. this means I will be doing alot of driving the next few days to get it ready (which isn't really a bad thing)! I've already put 100 mi on my car and have one system left to switch from incomplete to complete.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by vhx1

1) Doesn't matter if the car is old or new.. if it cannot pass DTC readiness, you will fail the smog check. This applies to all cars used or new. You can google lots of case of cars failing smog for DTC readiness.

My hypothetical scenario in 1) mostly describes a manufacturing process... in other words, if OBDII diagnosis involves a test for DTC readiness, wouldn't this be a part of a post-assembly testing process? I really think this is not a concern, but FWIW it's only a problem if you have a brand new, off-the-truck car being smogged.

-alex

[vhx1]

Originally Posted by mav1178

My hypothetical scenario in 1) mostly describes a manufacturing process... in other words, if OBDII diagnosis involves a test for DTC readiness, wouldn't this be a part of a post-assembly testing process? I really think this is not a concern, but FWIW it's only a problem if you have a brand new, off-the-truck car being smogged.

-alex

My guess is there isn't going to be a test for DTC readiness during post assembly test but rather extensive testing of the control loops and ecu hardware from the ECU supplier before the ECU is even installed into the car would cover any sort of defects which could prevent a car from passing DTC readiness

[lazee]

I've seen 2 different answers throughout this thread, but has it been officially determined whether you would have to get the car smogged every 2 years or 5 years?

[tonylop33]

After the initial smog (because it is coming from out of state) you do not have to smog it until the sixth year registration. This was confirmed by a regional manager from DMV.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by lazee

I've seen 2 different answers throughout this thread, but has it been officially determined whether you would have to get the car smogged every 2 years or 5 years?

Smog when you first register an out-of-state car (no matter if it is new or used)

Smog again in year 6.

-alex

[lazee]

awesome! thanks for the replys

[kayoh]

I have my DMV appointment today and I was looking at the forms sent from CO. The date that was put down for when it was purchased/acquired was printed as 12/5/2013 which would make it seem that I exceeded the 20 days. However I didn't acquire the car until the 23rd.

Did anyone have issues with this?

Not to mention "J Tonkinson" who was supposed to sign the VIN Verification did not do so...

Seems like I'm going to have to redo all this paper work that I paid to have done correctly....

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by kayoh

I have my DMV appointment today and I was looking at the forms sent from CO. The date that was put down for when it was purchased/acquired was printed as 12/5/2013 which would make it seem that I exceeded the 20 days. However I didn't acquire the car until the 23rd.

Did anyone have issues with this?

Not to mention "J Tonkinson" who was supposed to sign the VIN Verification did not do so...

Seems like I'm going to have to redo all this paper work that I paid to have done correctly....

- 20 days to register from date of entry to CA. Not from date of purchase. You can buy a car and have it sit out of state for as long as you want (legally), but once you bring it in to CA you must register it within 20 days.
- VIN verification can be easily done at a police station. Or done at DMV but that will take longer. Note that VIN verification for CA purposes can only be done by a DMV employee, or police officer, or someone certified to perform VIN inspection in CA.

-alex

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by vhx1

My guess is there isn't going to be a test for DTC readiness during post assembly test but rather extensive testing of the control loops and ecu hardware from the ECU supplier before the ECU is even installed into the car would cover any sort of defects which could prevent a car from passing DTC readiness

Agreed, however I still think this is a weird, and moot issue. And mostly one created by the state of California because of their need to have *ALL* out of state car purchases undergo a smog check, even if the car was brand new and exempt from smog checks for 4 years.

-alex

[kayoh]

Originally Posted by mav1178

Agreed, however I still think this is a weird, and moot issue. And mostly one created by the state of California because of their need to have *ALL* out of state car purchases undergo a smog check, even if the car was brand new and exempt from smog checks for 4 years.

-alex

Thanks I just hope I don't get haggled to death. There's a reason why people hate the DMV.