Most stations give out coupons to try and establish new business. This is just something that most business' do even if they are not a smog check station. My experience as a shop owner for over 15 years, has come to make me realize, most coupons for a smog checks are put out as a scam. Let me explain. You will find some smog check stations doing smogs for $39.99 and some for $69.99. First let me break down the pricing. The place charging $39.99 is usually the price after the coupon. If the coupon is $20 off the normal price of $59.99 then your price is $39.99 plus a certificate fee of $8.25 for a total of $48.74. When you show up they usually add more fee's to the price, and because your already there, you just bite your tongue and pay the money. So $48.74 usually turns into + ETF fee $2 + evap fee + heavy duty fee + "oh that car is different and the base price is $69.99". Maybe they tell you the coupon is on valid during the week. The $69.99 shop might be including the Certificate fee of $8.25. So his price might be $61.75+ Cert ($8.25). When you get down to the brass tax, Smog Checks are usually around the same price out the door. Probably a lot different on the coupon price, but that's why they use the coupon, it's bait. We average 25 cars a day (More than most shops) and have huge overhead for employees, rent, and analyzer maintenance. One smog machine has the capability to do 25 smogs a day maximum. If you take $39.99x25=$1,000 a day and deduct your expenses, you are between $150-$300 a day in profit. That's if you max out your capabilities. Real life numbers are 12 cars a day (or less with free retest). This is why when you come in with a coupon they try and up sale you or tell you your coupon is not valid with the kind of car you have. Its all bad sales tactics. If they all just charged what they need to be in business they wouldn't need to try and undercut the other guy. We have coupons but we only use them to track where our advertising is coming from. We don't have added fee's when you walk in the door. When you call and we give you a price, that is what you pay. We do not try and compete with these other low budget operations that have only been around a few years. We have been in the Sacramento area for 15 years under the same name and have great online feedback. We have customers that have been coming to use for 15 years still as happy as the first day they walked in our first little shop in 1996. The moral of the story is :Don't be fooled by the Cheap Smog. The cheapest smog isn't always the best place to go.
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