gray market, direct import, PPI, smog test

If you are buying a ferrari in california I found a neat trick at http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/ lower left button says "Find Vehicle Smog Test History".

If you are buying a ferrari pre-1983 you know all the problems early fuel injection and carbs have staying tuned and passing smog.

If you are buying a grey market car you know all the horrors that can befall you. With grey or direct import cars there is all kinds of papers that should or should not come with the car. Lets see...dot cert, epa cert, cert of conformity, bar label. It is a nightmare to figure out. I had to do that once with a mid-80's mondial cabriolet. Well you can sleep alot easier with a virtual pre-purchase inspection and know that if a grey car has a regualr history of passed and passing inspections in california it is a legal car to have in california since no one will ever ask you for the epa or dot certs ever again. Also, if you can get a car titled and registered in the people republic of california then you can do it in any of the other 49 states. So the gap in value of gray market to USA cars could close a bit and if you find a stunning gray market car you might still want to purchase it.

For example the ca.gov site lists this history for a 308 ferrari I picked from a public advertisement at random

Station Name /
City Make Model Year Date / Time Pass / Fail Certificate
1 STOP SHOP /
ESCONDIDO FERRA 308 1981 04/18/2008 04:56 p.m. P VP229584C
1 STOP SHOP /
ESCONDIDO FERRA 308 1981 04/18/2008 04:27 p.m. P
EDDIE SMOG SERVICE /
LANCASTER FERRA 308 1981 01/25/2007 03:18 p.m. P VD805870C
SMOG DEPOT /
HUNTINGTON BEACH FERRA 308 1981 01/21/2005 02:45 p.m. P FR889779C
CAR TEKK /
VAN NUYS FERRA 308 1981 06/28/2003 12:07 p.m. P FB163927C
NR TEST ONLY SMOG /
VAN NUYS FERRA 308 1981 04/21/2003 01:29 p.m. P EZ069034C
NR TEST ONLY SMOG /
VAN NUYS FERRA 308 1981 04/21/2003 01:14 p.m. A
ADVANCE AUTO /
UPLAND FERRA 308 1981 02/18/2003 10:32 a.m. P EX280190C
SMOG STOP /
RANCHO CUCAMONGA FERRA 308 1981 02/16/2001 11:31 a.m. P EC476314C
DICKS AUTO ELECTRIC /
ONTARIO FERRA 308 1981 02/16/1999 02:46 p.m. P DH870088C
DICKS AUTO ELECTRIC /
ONTARIO FERRA 308 1981 01/31/1997 01:04 p.m. P BS764127C


You can see a regular history of passing smog which means the car had to run well those days at least and the history goes back to 1997 on this car. You can see one "A" for aborted attempt and you can only guess what that means. Perhaps the test was close or the car just barely failed and the owner drove the car around to get it really hot and then 15mins later the car passes. Or it could be that the tech decided he was late for lunch. If the second attempt is 2 weeks later probably some work was done to the car. The owners used different smog stations so it is not as likely that tests were faked. So this can be a handy tool to help confirm what owners and dealers are telling you in california only. Other states may have a similar system.