PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) officials announced yesterday motorists whose vehicles are registered in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, including Maricopa County and portions of Pinal and Yavapai Counties, known as “Area A,” will save $3.00 per vehicle for emissions testing fees, effective July 1, 2016.
ADEQ estimates that these fee reductions, representing approximately 1.2 million tests, will save vehicle owners about $3.7 million annually. All “Area A” vehicle emissions inspection fees will be reduced by $3.00.
“ADEQ continuously looks for ways to improve its vehicle emissions testing program,” said ADEQ Air Quality Division Director Timothy Franquist. “The State legislature’s passage of House Bill 2702 will reduce fees and more equitably cover ADEQ program costs.”
Beginning in 2014, ADEQ voluntarily lowered vehicle emissions inspection fees by more than 25 percent for more than one million tests in the Phoenix metropolitan area, which resulted in a savings to vehicle owners of about $8.2 million.
ADEQ supports a stepwise approach to reducing vehicle emissions testing fees as a prudent approach to balancing fees with service costs. The approach ensures program resource needs are met and minimizes reversing fee reductions at a later date.
ADEQ also instituted a Gas Cap Distribution Program in Maricopa and Pima counties, which provides vehicle owners with a new gas cap, free of charge, if their gas cap fails emissions inspection. This eliminates the need for the owner to leave, buy a new gas cap and return to retest, and immediately eliminates the release of gasoline vapors into the environment. If the testing station doesn’t have the gas cap size needed, motorists are offered a $5 prepaid card to help cover the cost of a new cap. Since its inception in 2014, ADEQ and its contractor have provided more than 91,000 gas caps and prepaid cards to Arizona motorists.
ADEQ is committed to better, faster, cheaper services by providing more service for less cost to customers applying Lean principles of continuous improvement and elimination of waste.
Please visit the following online resources for more information about ADEQ and vehicle emissions inspection and testing:
ADEQ
ADEQ Vehicle Emissions Inspection
http://www.azdeq.gov/programs/air-quality-programs/vehicle-emissions-inspection-vei
myAZcar.com