Is this too good to be true? $975 given by state to save car

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Program aims at fixing clunkers

REPAIRS: A state plan will pay up to $975 to fix vehicles that fail the tailpipe portion of the smog check.





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08:57 PM PDT on Friday, April 22, 2011

By TIFFANY RAY
The Press-Enterprise


Now is the time to take that smog-causing clunker out of the garage and get it fixed. A state program is offering California drivers up to $975 each to pay for testing, diagnosis and repair of vehicles that fail the tailpipe portion of the smog check.

The program, called Vehicle Repair, Retirement and Replacement for Motorists, or VRRRM, is intended to improve fuel efficiency and air quality and is being financed with a $20 million grant from the Reformulated Gasoline Settlement Fund, a pool of money from the settlement of an antitrust class action lawsuit filed against Union Oil Co. of California and Unocal Corp. It is being administered by the Foundation for California Community Colleges.

The program is open generally to anyone who purchased gasoline in California from 1995 to Aug. 11, 2005 during the months of April through October, and it is expected to run until early 2013 or until funds run out.

Harvey Van Egmond, owner of Harvey's Autotech in Corona, said customers are initially skeptical when he tells them about the program because it is such a good deal. Once they come around, "people love it, they're excited. It's something that's going to catch on fire, but it hasn't yet because nobody knows about it."

VRRRM was launched last fall, but funds were initially available to vehicle owners only after they had paid out $450 of their own money or had exhausted funding available to them under a separate state Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) for low-income residents. But the restrictions proved to be a deterrent to vehicle owners, who often opted for a vehicle waiver to postpone repairs rather than go through the application process, said Keetha Mills, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for the foundation. Also, CAP has been suspended, at least until a new state budget is passed. So organizers eliminated those requirements April 15 in order to simplify the process and attract more takers.

Now, it is open to consumers regardless of income without an initial payment. Vehicle owners can simply take their vehicles to any participating Gold Shield repair shop, and the application and repairs all can be handled from there. About 600 shops are signed up to participate, and more are being added. A list of shops and other program information is available online at www.vrrrm.org.

There are still a few restrictions on the program, though not many. Vehicles must have six months of continues registration to the same owner in California, for example, and funding is not available for vehicles owned by city, state or federal agencies. Mills said organizers have tried to make the program easier for repair shops, too, relaxing stringent screening procedures and eliminating a pre-approval process on individual repairs.

Howard Baldwin of Baldwin's Auto Inc. in Moreno Valley said the program is a good thing for consumers, but it needs more advertising so people know it's out there. "It would help them and us," he said.

Mills said the foundation has relied mostly on repair shops to get the word out.

A separate component of the VRRRM program offers consumers $3,500 toward the purchase of a new car as an incentive to retire and replace their older ones. That program is scheduled to end May 15 and a new one will be rolled out in collaboration with the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the state's Bureau of Automotive Repair, Mills said. Details on that program are not yet available.

Reach Tiffany Ray at 951-368-9559 or tray@PE.com