Posted to Emissions Forum on 10/13/2012

Hi Paul,

STAR was conceived to allegedly rate inspection performance, not diagnostic and repair performance, and I never officially inspected the vehicle, at least in a 'smog-check' sense. The customer already knew (or had been told elsewhere) that his car would automatically fail for the MIL portion of the inspection, so he brought it to us to 'fix the light'.

It is probably universally true that people prefer paying for positive results rather than negative information, but it can get pretty ugly in my experiences here.

"I don't even know why I decided to let you fools check my car. I already know it need the same thing as last time: a tune-up, a sensor, and a caddilac converter. I don't know why you want me to pay $85 for nothing except hook up the dynostic machine, punch a few buttons, and read me the printout. The Autozone dude did that for free last year, but he ain't there this time."

My boss/service writer takes the brunt of it, but I get the 'privilege' of dealing with the vehicles.

Sincerely,

Michael Barry
Technician
Quick Stop Smog & More
Sacramento, California, USA