Saturday, April 15, 2017

Biannual Bitching


Every other year we folks in selected Colorado areas are forced to spend time and money fulfilling ecofreak’s  wet dreams. Referring, of course, to having your vehicle’s emissions checked before you renew your license plates.

This is a defacto poor tax in several ways.  Poor people drive old, high mileage clunkers. The cost of the test. The time off work as the testing stations aren’t open in the evening hours. The cost of repairs needed to pass the test. Look for the sign and bend over.

Three days ago it was necessary to take the elderly Mitsubishi Might Max in for the test. Having spent years selling used cars, know some tricks. The truck’s test result was near new standards. Caused some questioning looks from the testing personnel. 

Fuck’em.

For once there wasn’t a long line.

The waiting area isn’t palatial or welcoming.

The assembly line.


Didn’t appreciate the test monkey popping the Mitsubishi’s clutch. This was after showing them the location of the catalytic converter, attached to the exhaust manifold, and not under the vehicle in a Mighty Max.

Afterwards, it was mailing a check to the county for $71.72. That is another reason I drive old stuff. Colorado is the only state with a TABOR act and the revenuers find other ways to fund themselves.

Suspicious minds wonder why license plates on newer vehicles are close to a monthly payment. Probably just a coincidence. 

 The only thing I’ve known to knock down the smog along the I-25 corridor is a brisk West wind.



Oh, WSF, you are full of stinkin thinkin.

Yeah? Bite me.



22 comments:

LL said...

The new place is in a part of AZ where no smog tests are required... I know that there are counties in CO where they don't do smog tests.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

The map of required areas looks like a congressional district gerrymandered by liberals.

Coffeypot said...

There is not testing after you leave the six county metro of Atlanta. I haven't had to pass an inspection in years. CO is a beautiful state, but I would not live there. Socialism and very cold weather are not in my idea of good living.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I don't do heat and humidity. I Like the Seattle area and Oregon Coast for the climate. Hope we've seen the peak of (P)gressives in CO. TABOR has been a great shield.

drjim said...

Unfortunately the area we're looking in requires bending over for the smog test.

The Smog Nazis of Kommiefornia have been playing games with the test limits. They've quietly been making the limits for older vehicles more and more restrictive. It's to get the old junk off the roads, doncha know?

The only people that have noticed it are guys like me with very well maintained "older cars" that we keep in excellent running condition, and only drive a couple of thousand miles a year.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Everywhere you go unelected, and nearly free of constraints, government functionaries are putting on the squeeze. Worse, our taxes support the assholes.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

My formula. Two bottles of ordinary denatured rubbing alcohol into a 1/2 tank of gas. Thirty minute run on a limited entry highway then to the test facility.

After the test, fill the tank.

Old NFO said...

Age and experience overcomes a LOT of BS... Just sayin! :-)

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Too true. There is a diminishing pool of mistakes we can make. We have also learned what BS we can challenge without fear.

drjim said...

Ethanol has good points and bad points as far as emissions go. Out here they sell bottles of "Make Your Car Pass Smog!" juice, but I don't know what's in them. I suppose I should by one and use my highly educated nose to detect what magic spice they have in there.

I know that with 30+ years and 168,000 miles of use, my catalytic converter is quite possibly not performing as well as it should. I'll see what happens when Colorado tests the car.

Do they put the car on a dyno so they can test it under load, or is it an idling, and high RPM "static" test?

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Dyno testing for gasoline powered vehicles. Diesel is even more expensive with far fewer test facilities. My last diesel was an E-350 cargo van. The static test took nearly an hour. In a county with 660,000 population, there was one test facility. Appointment required and $40+ fee.

I believe the standards may be lower in Larimer County. Like Weld, where I live, not every part of the county is covered
http://www.larimer.org/vehiclelicensing/vehemiss.htm

Fredd said...

You can thank all of those relocated Californians for your smog test woes. Not only did they bring their liberal pinko legislation with them to the Rockies, they themselves drive big honking new cars and trucks that get 8 mpg, such as Hummers, Escalades, Ford F250's and the like. And of course they are exempt from the smog standards that po' folk are subjected to.

What's gravy on their plate is that these ex-pat Californians are so numerous, and their limos so huge, they themselves are the primary cause of most of the smog in your area.

It just keeps getting better for you guys, Fool.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Life is a bitch. Then another trust funder relocates to Colorado. That pesky 14th Amendment is to blame.

drjim said...

Thank you, sir!

I'll bookmark that and check it out after our big Easter dinner.

Happy Easter!

Ami said...

Our state "representative", Laurie Monnes Anderson proudly helped raise the vehicle registration fees a few years ago. Not 10%. Or 20%. Or even 50%. Shit, no! Not enough! She helped DOUBLE those goddamn fees.

We have to have our cars tested for 'smog compliance' when our local buses belch out huge clouds of black smoke. Oh and this year they generously let us know that newer cars don't have to be tested. MY car is less than five years old. But it's not considered newer. So I have to go spend about $150.00 that I don't have to get my tags renewed for another two years.

Not that I've been quiet about it, but it does no good.
We just keep getting screwed

And they come to us again with their hands out, asking for more. All the time.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I feel your pain. The only think that stymied the liberal tax raisers in CO is TABOR. Oh, don't they just hate that. Now the Initiative process has been changed, they have an even harder time. Hopefully in a few years this will be a good state to live in again. Oregon? Good luck.

Brig said...

you never here that ditty "California here I come, right back where I started from" any more...
The cost to test ol Hank, my Ford pickup, has skyrocketed and the registration fees have too.
Interesting reading about TABOR in CO, but it sounds like you have a few wanting to change the way it is calculated.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

TABOR has been the bane of tax and spend legislators since it passed.

raven said...

How did the Initiative process get changed? It has been the bane of sanity here in WA. It seems to be becoming the tool of choice for the left, because they cannot get their measures passed in a legislative body representing the entire state, so they revert to simple majority with all the leftist idiots in the Puget Sound cities.
And all bankrolled by a few billionaires.

LL said...

I just received my registration bill for my three year old Ford F-150 pick up. $524, and no, it doesn't come with a 'happy ending'. But I'm moving the title to Arizona and will pay registration there.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

From the leftist rag.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/11/08/colorado-amendment-71-constitutional-amendments-election-results/
Signature solicitors now need to get a certain percentage of each county's population, i.e. Jackson County, pop. 1350, in each of Colorado's 54 counties.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Starting the de-cali program early?