WI closes all of the emission testing stations.

[spooln30]

I heard about this when I worked at a smaller repair shop about 5 years ago. What a dumb idea. It only gives repair shops and worse, dealerships a chance to pressure people to fix their cars. I honestly can't see it taking " two minutes" like on the website. They will most likely make u wait as their paying customers will come first. Plus they will try to up-sell everything under the sun. So lets make it a hassle for people to save $600k and to fire 60 people. Come on really. Also on the site it said" The change means drivers can get testing done while going in for an oil change or other service." What about people who like me who do all of my own work and my family? I highly doubt it will be faster than going to the test station. Plus now we have to deal with dumb ass shops trying to get our business. No Thanks!

[BR3W CITY]

the idea will fail; but it will take a little while for all of the stories of corrupt shops to come out. Im guessing 2-3 months before fox or one of the stations ends up investigating shops for falsifying failures to sell services etc. I've been shop for non-performance reasons maybe 3 times in my life.....really don't want to make a new habit of it.

[Wagonbacker9]

Keeping cars registered to a non-emissions county just became that much more attractive.

[wikked]

We just got our 'machine' in at work.
Our testing area is basically 1 lane inside the service area.
It's all obd2, so it's only going to take a second to plug in/get results.

I'm not sure if we have a dedicated guy to do it though, they'll probably just train a few of the mechanics to do it, which are all busy during peak hours. *shrug*

I can't see there ever being a line really, since you can go to any dealership, and there are wayyyy more dealerships than there were DMV testing stations.

Time will tell.

[flyin_blue_egg]

Emissions testing....What's that?? LOL Love being from a county that doesn't have it. I've never understood why there's only certain counties that do it. Well I do (more ppl in those counties then others). But if a state is gonna have it why not require everyone to do it. Hell in Missouri where my brother lives you only go 1 time every 3-5 years. But they not only emission test your car, they also make sure it's road worthy.

[Prince Valiant]

Just went through Russ Darrow Honda's emission testing...first "live" customer they had go through.

Took less time than the typical waiting in line at the testing station...there were two glitches:

1. The first OBD2 plug in failed (rejected), so they ran a calibration and it passed the car 2nd try. Took a minute longer due to that.

2. They offered to renew the registration/new tags on the spot, however they were unable to get into the system to do so...seemed to be an issue on the state end of things there...since I had to renew an expired vehicle at the DMV, it was no biggie to me.

Two mechanics came over that wanted to be part of a "live run" came over, but it seems that their primary point person was a service writer...seemed all their service writers/managers were trained to give the most flexibility in administering the test and reducing wait times for both their paying customers and their customers for whom the state pays for.

Seems to me that once the shops are comfortable doing this, it'll be even easier. For one thing I love that there are 4 or 5 places to go within my zipcode to drive in and test...instead of one place for 4-5 zipcodes. Instead of having 100's people a day, a testing station might now only get 1-2/day.

So, aside from a few minor/correctable glitches, it seems so far so good.4

[juicedimpss]

the idea will fail; but it will take a little while for all of the stories of corrupt shops to come out. Im guessing 2-3 months before fox or one of the stations ends up investigating shops for falsifying failures to sell services etc. I've been shop for non-performance reasons maybe 3 times in my life.....really don't want to make a new habit of it.

I thought the same thing about shops scamming people. I forecast alot of MAF failures in the future. lol

[WickedSix]

Emissions testing....What's that?? LOL Love being from a county that doesn't have it. I've never understood why there's only certain counties that do it. Well I do (more ppl in those counties then others). But if a state is gonna have it why not require everyone to do it. Hell in Missouri where my brother lives you only go 1 time every 3-5 years. But they not only emission test your car, they also make sure it's road worthy.

There is a ground level ozone problem in the City of Milwaukee. The counties required to undergo the smog testing are those whose air quality directly contribute to the problem.

[WhatsADSM]

Does the state pay the dealership for all the people who come in just to test/renew and don't want actual service at the dealership?

If not it sure seems like we are going to get second rate service and/or a lot of upselling!

[TransAm12sec]

I believe the dealer gets $2 per vehicle; with the incentive that increased traffic to the shop/dealer will increase future business.

[BigSnailBuick]

Keeping cars registered to a non-emissions county just became that much more attractive.

Been doing that since I was 15 lol

[Wagonbacker9]

Been doing that since I was 15 lol

I've yet to register a vehicle anywhere BUT my parents' house.

[Z06 KID]

its a nice idea as far as the state of wi won't have to pay as much for buildings, employees, etc but i have been doing them live since 6/28 and being today was the first real live day, this is going to suck. i did about 7 in 15 minutes. one after another. i didn't have any time to get any other shit done and being 90+ in the shop all this running around really takes a tole on ya. very simple process until you get the knob that wants to breathe down your neck or refuse to hand over their keys

[KussBus]

Virginia did registration at gas stations and dealerships back in the 1980's when we lived there; it seemed to work OK.

[Prince Valiant]

Virginia did registration at gas stations and dealerships back in the 1980's when we lived there; it seemed to work OK.
Welcome to the site!

And you're right...this is how it's done in uber-regulatory CA (as well as NV, WA, NJ, UT, and several other states), and the sky has yet to crash on them. And the side benefit is that it becomes MUCH cheaper than maintaining a host of buildings while paying a rather large workforce to administer/perform the test.

[lordairgtar]

When I lived in California, they started having people pay a fee to get the test. I think it was like $15 back then. Have no clue how they do it now. Wouldn't charging a nominal fee be better for the state?

[Wagonbacker9]

When I lived in California, they started having people pay a fee to get the test. I think it was like $15 back then. Have no clue how they do it now. Wouldn't charging a nominal fee be better for the state?

They already charge registration... Isn't the point of the testing that it has to be done to get your registration?

[spooln30]

I'm a Auto Mech that gets paid flat rate and this is my biggest complaint about this program. It will take time away from me making money. We don't have the program at my shop yet but the owner wants to drum up more business and thinks this will help. IMHO smaller shops mechanics will be more pissed off than dealerships techs. From what I've been hearing dealerships are having the Service Writers and lube techs doing the testing. Where I work there's only 3 mechanics and 1 writer, who is lazy, so we will have to to the tests. I'm not looking forward to this at all.

[Russ Jerome]

GREAT!: The state run testing stations are far more inclusive and vin specific than the generic OBD2 readers dealers are offerd. I can clear codes and make ecm do drive cycle in minutes prior to generic OBDII tests. On top of that I can hang a dummy ecm in your glove box, hang the obd2 port bellow dash on a totaly junk vehicle that would normaly not pass, make the CEL cycle with a single wire tied to OE harness :) My 1986 carbed truck that runs 1997 mpfi tests 100% readiness test pass, never need to test but I can make a dealer think its a 1997 B250 seq fuel inj motor thru obd2 port :)

[Firefighter Z]

Here is the link to the locations that are doing them...

http://www.wisconsinvip.org/WivipPublic/Pages/TestFacilities.aspx

[GTSLOW]

:rolf really paranoid about shops doing testing? Be happy its not like other states where you have to constantly get your car inspected. This is a great idea!

[Rocket Power]

As long as it isn't like when I took the Screw to Hiller for the alignment. 2 hrs for them to do their "inspection" when all I wanted was the alignment I came there for. No, I'm not paying you $100 to put a swaybar endlink on. I'll do it myself for $15.

[GTSLOW]

^ that happened to me this weekend. $185 to get an expansion valve put on $115 of which being the valve itself. I went to Napa and put it on myself for $35.

[Wagonbacker9]

^ that happened to me this weekend. $185 to get an expansion valve put on $115 of which being the valve itself. I went to Napa and put it on myself for $35.

Seriously, if they didn't make the prices absurd I'd pay em to not have to mess with it.. but when they make it a 500%+ mark-up.... seriously.