How do you guys handle smog checks for your cars? I’ve got a 2010 Boxster and I’m always afraid that the smog tester won’t know what the hell to do with it, especially since it’s mid engined.
I looked up reviews and found a place where I saw lots of other fancy cars (Ferraris and other Porsches) so I figured they could handle a Boxster, no problem. The first two times I went there, they had me in and out in 20 minutes. I even met a guy who brought in his RWB Porsche and chatted him up about his car!
But the last time I went, the guys were a bit fussier. This time they insisted that I remove the rear cover myself or else they could not smog my car for me. I’d done this once before to try to access the front engine cover so I was familiar, but what if I hadn’t ever done that before? What would I have to do or where would I have to go for someone to do all that and smog test the car for me? Is that something a dealership would provide services for?
I’ve done this two ways. The first was to go to a shop that a friend of a friend knows. My car is bone stock and they officially checked the car on the machine but mostly took my word for the visual inspection, plus a mirror on a stick.
The second way was to just drive it into whatever shop had tests advertised cheap. On my last smog they asked me to pop the frunk for visual inspection and were shocked to not find a motor. I opened the rear and they signed off after looking at the fans.