Will 30 Day Old Smog Certificate Still Work with DMV?

I'd like to know if a copy of a 30 day old smog check will still be accepted by the CA DMV if it was already used once. I'm buying a vehicle that passed the smog test last month but the owner used the smog certificate to register it in his name. Will a copy from the smog station work for me to transfer ownership to my name with DMV? Thank you.

Answer:

A California smog certificate is only valid for 90 days from the inspection date for title transfer and registration. The smog test results are automatically sent to the DMV via the smog station's smog check machine; so this vehicle's smog test results should already be in the DMV computer system. You can show proof that the vehicle passed the smog test by providing a copy of the smog certificate, but the DMV should already have the test results (certificate number) in the system.

posted by SmogTips Support