New Rules of the Road for Smog Checks : Autos: Anti-pollution program ends waivers on major repairs. In addition, highway sensors will sniff out vehicles that exceed exhaust standards and photograph their plates.

Vehicle owners may be paying more for smog repairs beginning Sunday as part of a statewide program to crack down on air pollution from emissions.

Smog Check II, created by legislation and carried out by the Department of Consumer Affairs, is designed to force owners of vehicles that emit high amounts of pollutants to “make repairs or get them off the road,” said Lance Barnett, the department’s interim director.

Currently, if a smog repair costs more than $300, the owner can go to a state Referee Facility and request a waiver. If the waiver is granted, the owner can skip the repair.

The new system eliminates those waivers and makes the owner responsible for repairing the car, no matter what the cost.

The new law does, however, exempt owners from repeating smog repairs that cost more than $450.

“If you spend $450, you take it back and it fails, then you don’t have to make the repair,” Barnett said. “A smart consumer is going to have their car regularly maintained so they won’t be hit with a huge $450 repair bill when it comes time to renew their license registration.”

The money goes to “your friends and neighbors of the repair business,” Barnett said. “What you get back is not only clean air, but a car that runs better.”

Moe Mahdavi, an employee at Arco’s Smog Pros in Orange, said the changes really will affect only people with older cars.

“We have never had a 1990 to 1994 car that we actually charged $300” for repairs, he said. The average is about $50 to $75. However, I have seen one that was $175. You figure (cars) in the 1990s and on aren’t in that bad of shape.”

The average cost for smog repairs statewide is $83.44, said Kurt Heppler, a spokesman with the Department of Consumer Affairs.

But Andrew Nemeth, a mechanic with Tuneup Masters in Anaheim, said many older cars will cost their owners considerably more.

“There’s a lot of cars out there that to repair them, you need a $200 component,” he said. Another aspect of Smog Check II will take effect this summer. By then, remote sensing devices will have been placed on heavily traveled streets and freeway ramps throughout the state, primarily in Southern California. Beginning in August, the devices will sense the emissions coming from tailpipes and, if high emissions are detected, will take pictures of cars’ license plates.

Under the threat of a maximum $500 fine, owners then must take their vehicles in for inspection at special emissions testing facilities, Heppler said.

If it’s more affordable to sell the car than to repair it, the Department of Consumer Affairs offers a buy-back program, in which it buys and crushes gross-polluting cars. The owners are paid $800.

The money comes from a fund created when new car buyers opt to pay $39 through the dealer at the time of purchase to skip their first smog check. Since July, 1994, when buyers first had the option, the Department of Consumer Affairs has tucked away $1.2 million. The eventual goal is $24 million.

“The buy-back program is a big part of the state’s clean air plan,” said Claudia Keith, a spokeswoman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “Generally, we’re supportive about the concept. A number of private companies already have buy-back programs to help reduce pollutants, and the state has targeted the buy-back of 75,000 cars. But where the money is going to come from, that is unknown.”

The Department of Consumer Affairs hopes to reach the $24-million target through wider participation in the first-year smog exemption program, rather than through taxes.

“I don’t believe taxpayers would be asked to contribute,” Heppler said. “The fund is supported by people who purchase that exemption and from other means, not by general monies.”