My husband is from California and I’m from Utah, and just the other day we tried to figure out if we needed to get safety and emissions this year or not. We spent a good amount of time arguing before we decided to look it up and find out. Since safety and emission testing is different in every state we finally figured out in Utah what we needed to do for our car.
Most people think that when you get your safety done you get your emissions done too. Most of the time that is correct but it can be different depending on the year of your vehicle. The year of your car is the deciding factor on when it needs to be checked out and inspected.
The timing for safety testing is rather simple. If your car is 1-8 years old, you only are required to come in every two years to get it inspected. If it is 9 years or older, you are then required to come in every year.
Emissions is only slightly different. If your car is 6 years old or younger you only have to bring it in every other year. If it is older than 6 years it is required to be tested every year.
If you wait too long to get both done till after your registration has expired, you’ll have to head over to your local DMV and get a temporary registration card so that you’ll have some extra time to get your safety and emissions done. This costs a little extra money though.
Don’t be upset if your safety or emissions inspection comes back a negative, meaning you need to get some work done before it will pass. A lot of times it can be just little problems that need to be taken care of. It might seem stupid but every tiny little thing needs to be in working order for it to pass.
You can prevent this from happening if you are taking really good care of your car and doing maintenance work on it. Even little things like a flashing light can fail your test.
If this is your year to get your safety and emissions done, don’t put it off because you might forget. Take it to a trusted shop and be on top of things before your registration expires.