california emissions

[backhoemike]

Recently purchased a 1995 Newmar Class a 40' mh , will it be legal in california? wanting to pass thru to oregon and scared of this state anyone have any issues , i work in transportation and they give truckers quite a time of it on fines and all the hoops they have to jump thru?

[lanerd]

Scott, wish our registration endeavors were as easy as yours; however, you gotta remember that there has been a ton of changes in the California emission laws since 04...in fact I don't even think there were any for diesel motor homes back then other than being exempt from smog testing if over 14,000 lbs. Even tho you registered your 04 in May of 2011, it still only had to conform to the regs of 04.

We have been in CA our entire life and changing now in this late of life just doesn't make sense for us. We spend our summers on the Oregon coast (Newport) and winters here in the warm and sunny California desert. Life is good except for a slight hic-up with the DMV every few years. :R

Ron

[FIRE_UP]

lanerd,
This is really something. We purchase our '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the C-7 330 CAT back in May 25 of 2011. It was owned and operated in Nevada and Arizona but, had an LLC in Montana. We flew from San Diego to Reno NV to pick it up. It took us a couple of days to leaurely get it home.

Once we got it home, that's when I learned about the 14,000 lb. rule. Still, it took us about 1 day to get it registered. We did have to take it to the local CHP office for them to verify the VIN. Once that was done, we paid a local registration office (Private DMV registration business) a fee of $35.00 to register it for us. We had new title and plates in two days.

This was done in May of '11. If there's new rules about "CARB" compliant, over 14,000 lb. diesel registration, since that date, I'm not aware of them. Sorry for your issues. On a side note, we're tired of CA and all its issues, have been for years so, in not too short of time, we're moving to Havasu City in about 3 months when our new home will be completed.

I just talked with a DMV from Lake Havasu City and, to change our Drivers license to an AZ one, all that's done is, write them a check for, $20.00 for me, $20.00 for the wife, and an additional $7.00 for me to transfer my motorcycle license. A grand total of $47.00 for all that and NO TESTS ARE REQUIRED, YAHOOOOOOOO! As for vehicle registration, it will be the same, no issues.
Scott

[lanerd]

John S. wrote:
Wow I am glad I don't live in CA.

John... California does have its good points... ie: right now I'm enjoying a nice warm 70 degree day, and it's been pretty much that all winter long. How about you?

Ron

[John_S_]

Wow I am glad I don't live in CA.

[lanerd]

falconman wrote:
Glad to see you're making progress on your registration dilemma. We're wondering how the California sales tax is only $1,800, though. That would mean you got your 2013 Tiffin Phaeton for about $20,000, based on a minimal 8.75% tax rate. ??? :h Sounds more in line with a registration fee amount. Just wish our recent sales tax payment was that low!

Yeah, my train of thought was screwed up. What I meant to say was the $1860 was for the license fee....not sales tax. Our sales tax amounted to over $22K.

Sorry for misleading the issue.

Ron

[falconman]

Glad to see you're making progress on your registration dilemma. We're wondering how the California sales tax is only $1,800, though. That would mean you got your 2013 Tiffen Phaeton for about $20,000, based on a minimal 8.75% tax rate. ??? :h Sounds more in line with a registration fee amount. Just wish our recent sales tax payment was that low!

[lanerd]

Made one more trip yesterday with the motor home armed with the emissions certificate from Cummins and the location of the emission tag on the engine. DMV agent once again inspected the motor home, only this time I insisted that she lay down on the floor and inspect the tag on the engine.

With flashlight in hand, I pointed out to her that the tag included "EPA CARB" and would you believe she did not know what CARB meant. For those of you that are not Californian, CARB stands for California Air Resource Board who is the organization in California who determines and enforces all smog/emission rules/regs for California. She had to go back inside the office and ask her supervisor...

Anyway, she filled out the inspection form and I made sure she checked off the correct boxes that indicated we were California compliant, and gave her the address and phone number of the DMV agent in Sacramento that we have been talking to.

On that note, we purchased this motor home in August and the dealer sent all necessary paper work to Sacramento. We have made numerous trips to the local DMV and even to the much larger DMV located in Bakersfield. In addition, we have been in contact with the head DMV office in Sacramento at least five or six times. The last two times have been to the same agent. To date, she has informed us that they (Sacramento) does not have the paperwork sent in by the dealer. The dealer, of course, insists that they sent everything back in August including the info that we paid the California sales tax ($1860) during the purchase. DMV, by the way, has acknowledged that this sales tax has been paid so they actually have received the paper work from the dealer. During our first trip to the local DMV back in October, we also paid the sales tax again (another $1860) due to the fact that on the purchase papers, the sales tax was listed as "Title Fee" and we were unaware that that fee was indeed for California sales tax. Sacramento DMV assures us that the second payment will be returned....been three months and still no $1860 refund.

So, that's my up to date story. Will I ever get this MH registered and also receive my $1860 bucks back? Who knows.

Ron

[lanerd]

I bought it in June 2012 in Arizona, the legislature has not changed anything since. If you need it done, Santa Paula DMV said for a used Motorhome you only need to have on the vehicle what came on it from the factory.

But...it's still an 07, so it only had to conform to the laws and regs for that year...not 2012.

Also, my coach is new...not used.

thanks for the input, appreciate it.

Ron

[UsualSuspect]

lanerd wrote:
Problem is that the CA CARB has changed the rules for HD diesels in motor homes in the past couple of years.... what was legal in 07 is not what is legal today.

We took the certificate to the local DMV who in turn then called Sacramento who in turn said that they would get back to us in the next couple of days. It's now Wed and Sacramento has failed to call. This is really getting old.

Ron

I bought it in June 2012 in Arizona, the legislature has not changed anything since. If you need it done, Santa Paula DMV said for a used Motorhome you only need to have on the vehicle what came on it from the factory.

[lanerd]

Problem is that the CA CARB has changed the rules for HD diesels in motor homes in the past couple of years.... what was legal in 07 is not what is legal today.

We took the certificate to the local DMV who in turn then called Sacramento who in turn said that they would get back to us in the next couple of days. It's now Wed and Sacramento has failed to call. This is really getting old.

Ron

[UsualSuspect]

My 07 does not have a sticker for California on it, and was bought out of state. DMV did the inspection, did not check the CA compliant, and I was allowed to register it and walked out with the plates.

[lanerd]

I'm truly sorry that I've hijacked this post. I did not intend for this to happen...however, since it has....

Falconman, thanks for your replies, but once again I must emphasize that the issue is NOT about smog testing! It is about the engine being in compliance with California Air Resource Board's (CARB) requirements.

I have had the motor home inspected at the DMV in Bakersfield and the inspector filled out a form that had to be sent to the Sacramento DMV. This was done; however, upon reading my copy of the form later, I noticed that the inspector checked off an inspection item marked: Conforms to US EPA standards. Directly below this and not checked off was: Conforms to US EPA and California standards.

I have contacted Cummins and they have provided me with a copy of the emission certificate (with my engine's serial number on it) and was informed that since Jan 2012 all Cummins engines that are supplied for motor home usage, comply with 50 state emission standards.

So, Monday I will take the certificate (and all other paperwork) BACK to the local DMV and give it a shot once more.

Again, I apologize to the OP for hijacking his post.

Ron

[msmith1199]

lanerd wrote:
Having a smog test is NOT the issue! As mentioned previously, the mh is EXEMPT from smog testing as are all dp mh's over 14,000 lbs.

We don't have a "CARB TAG". The engine emission label has on it: "EPA CARB", but we're not sure if that is sufficient or not. We have taken a picture of the label and will be going back to the DMV again tomorrow with the picture and see if this will do it. I'm sure they're gonna say: " you gotta bring the mh to us to inspect ourselves". We'll see.

The ISSUE is: the engine has to be California Emission Certified by the manufacture and they have to provide a label on the engine that signifies such. We have found the label, but due to the almost inaccessible placement of it, it's almost unreadable. We may have to contact Cummins (or Freightliner) and see if we can get a duplicate label.

The inspector in Bakersfield DID NOT open the engine hatch to look at this label and as such probably did not certify (on the inspection form) it as meeting the CARB standards; hence, now the requirement for an DMV or LEO to physically inspect it "again"!

On top of everything, the DMV double charged us the registration fees and now we are trying (for the past two months) to get the $1800 refunded to us.

Totally frustrated over this whole ordeal.

Ron

Take a look at this wikipedia page I see your motorhome is a 2013. That first paragraphs describes other states that have adopted the California standard for emissions and it says the are all considered "CARB" states. It says started with the 2011 model year vehicles Oregon was a CARB state. So it sounds like your label is in fact saying your DP meets CARB standards for Oregon which should be the same as California.

Maybe the answer to your issue with California DMV is in Oregon. You may be able to get something from them indicating the motorhome meets Oregon standards which as of 2011 was the same as California standards.

[Executive45]

Hi! Jack!.....:B.....Dennis