Wisconsin’s emissions program is about to change.
Starting July 2, you will no longer be able to test at the stations you once went to. Those locations are owned by a company named Envirotest. Previously, Envirotest contracted with the state to administer emissions tests.
Earlier this year, another company named Systech outbid Envirotest for the emissions contract. Now instead of 5 company owned test facilities, there will be 200 in a 7 county area. Systech is contracting with local repair facilities to do the emissions tests.
What does this mean for the consumer? There should be shorter wait times. With 200 test locations the volume at stations will be much less. Test centers will be
more convenient with locations closer to consumers. There will be an increase in hours available to test. All 200 centers are required to be open a minimum of 50 hours per week to test cars.
With 200 test locations the volume at stations will be much less. Test centers will be more convenient with locations closer to consumers.
That’s where the difference ends. Everything else should remain the same. There is no charge to the consumer for the first 3 tests. All you need to do is take your registration slip showing your due for testing when you go in. Testing will be required every other year on your vehicles unless there is an ownership change which could shorten that term temporarily.
There will be a barrage of media attention giving more details before the program changes. Watch for a website showing locations of new test stations. Changes should be seamless to the consumer and if everything goes as planned it should make life easier for all involved.
What time frame are you looking at? Could it simply be that older cars have been leaving the roads, thus causing air pollution to go down? Cars that can't pass emissions and would cost too much to fix are often sold Up North so they don't have to past tests. The air quality in our area is greatly dependent on the wind bringing pollution from Chicago and Gary. I lived on the lake and you used to be able to see the "Gary air" hanging in a haze over the water. Haven't seen that in a couple of years. How much of our improvement is due to Gary industries improving on their air quality or shutting down? I think it's a great idea to shut down the testing stations and maybe that's a good step towards eliminating them altogether. The testing scheme has yet to prove to me that it has improved anything. Older cars are usually those that pollute the worst, but have been exempt from testing (what's the cutoff year now?). One can complain that the private tester will falsify testing to try to get business. Simple - take it to another testing station if you're told you need work and don't believe it. Maybe the Patch could investigate. What are the statistics on our air quality over the years? What are the model years of cars on the road? What has Gary and Chicago done to improve their industrial emissions over the years? What percentage of cars that don't pass emissions are transferred to another area of the state?
As far as falsifying testing I'm sure it could be done but not easily. All testers have to be certified and all tests are video recorded. A fingerprint ID is required to log into system. The penatly for faslisfying tests is extreme and a repair station would be foolish to even consider doing anything like that.
I'm somewhat confused by your statement that more cars wouldn't be in compliance without testing. All cars are tested now, approximately 7.23% fail. Without testing...that number shouldn't change. After a few years there may be a small amount of change due to prevously failed vehicles being allowed to stay on the road, but I don't see it being so dramatic as to increase by 6% or more.
Y'all can play the silly games that Wisconsin has to offer and there are many. Best thing I could ever do is escape that state where even the divorce court in Waukesha county can't touch me any more! Wish I could give them a hand sign from here. Enjoy!
I am sure John does have his political views about all of this stuff. I appreciated his keeping it as objective as possible. There are plenty of other blogs for political rants. Trust me, I use them. John is a small business owner trying to get ahead of the game. This is a great article.