car testing

This fall our county began requiring vehicles to get emission tested.

That is not a bad idea, get those clunkers off the road.

So I took my car in to be tested (the pickup goes in next year). I had just gone through a bunch of work on it, and I was quite confident.

Fail. Fail. Fail. I don’t even understand the words they used! So I took it back to the shop where it has been for most of the last month.

Yesterday I paid for their work ($775) and with confidence I went back to get it tested. Failed again, but not so badly, so back to the shop.

I don’t argue at all with the concept of inspections. And, I know that a car that will meet the requirements will run better and more efficiently, but curing the problem is sort of a fishing trip.

It could be this or it could be that, but more than likely it is partially this and partially that and it can involve a lot of spendy parts.

The shop owner tells me that some inexpensive cars (to buy), are not doing well in these tests, and the parts can be horribly spendy, so I will be glad it is a model with a few less spendy parts.

It is a solid little car (though 19 years old), so I will pay to get it up to snuff, only this time I will have to make payments on the bill, I fear. But it will be done, it will pass inspection and we will all be happy!