Lien Enforcement, Inc.

Smog Inspections

This is a general guide and not intended as legal advice.

Smog Requirements for Title Transfers

If your vehicle was four or fewer model years old when sold, a smog certificate was not required to transfer the title. The Interested Party was responsible for paying for the smog certificate to transfer your vehicle into their name. If your vehicle was more than four model years old when sold, your were required to provide verification of a current smog certification excluding any of the following situations:

The vehicle transfer occurs between a spouse, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, or grandchild.
The vehicle was registered and biennial (every other year) smog certification was submitted to the DMV within the 90 day grace period from the date the title transfer took place. A vehicle inspection report may be required as proof of certification.

If your vehicle did not fall under one of the above situations and you lived in one of the following counties, you were required to take your vehicle in for a smog inspection every other renewal period:

Counties That Require a Smog Inspection
Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Ventura, Yolo, and Yuba

There are six (6) counties not listed above that also require smog certifications but only within certain zip codes.

Those counties are: El Dorado, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Sonoma.

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Smog Inspections