........ yesterday with a member of the E.P.A. He came into the dealership looking for information on diesel parts. So my front counter guy comes and tells me that there's an EPA guy here and that he's asking a bunch of questions and wants parts numbers etc... So I go out and introduce myself as the parts manager and ask what we can help him with. He told me that with the new smog laws they are trying to get a baseline for repairs on diesel trucks. I ask him if this is in regards to that nice little blue postcard we all seem to have gotten earlier in the year describing the new smog laws for vehicles under 8500 gvw. He says "No, it's for ALL light duty trucks as the state of California has decided to go ahead with a smog program for all light duty diesel vehicles regardless of gvwr" So I told him that I have a 2006 Chevy LBZ 3/4 ton, will this be part of the new program, he said "Yes"
The state of California has an assistance program that if your gasoline powered vehicle does not pass smog and the repairs cost more than $450, you can apply for assistance with the state to help with the cost of the repairs so what they are trying to do now is find that dollar figure that would be appropriate for diesel powered vehicles. So he tied up one of my front counter guys for 1 1/2 hrs looking up part numbers and msrp pricing on parts such as injectors, turbos, egr valves, etc etc.....
So it looks like either this time next year or early 2010, (he didnt have an exact timeline) we diesel owners in California will be in line with everone else getting smog checks.
This maybe new news to some and not so much for others but I thought I would throw out the information as I got it from the "horses mouth".
Mike
The state of California has an assistance program that if your gasoline powered vehicle does not pass smog and the repairs cost more than $450, you can apply for assistance with the state to help with the cost of the repairs so what they are trying to do now is find that dollar figure that would be appropriate for diesel powered vehicles. So he tied up one of my front counter guys for 1 1/2 hrs looking up part numbers and msrp pricing on parts such as injectors, turbos, egr valves, etc etc.....
So it looks like either this time next year or early 2010, (he didnt have an exact timeline) we diesel owners in California will be in line with everone else getting smog checks.
This maybe new news to some and not so much for others but I thought I would throw out the information as I got it from the "horses mouth".
Mike