How Nevada Could Close ‘Classic’ Car Loophole

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — What makes a automotive traditional? It feels like fodder for bar trivia, however in Nevada it’s a query nearly sure to return up within the state Legislature.

Basic car license plates issued by the state Division of Motor Automobiles permit car homeowners to bypass annual smog checks required in Clark and Washoe counties, together with in and round Las Vegas and Reno.

Whereas many individuals consider classics as maybe a Fifties muscle automotive or a classic roadster, Nevada vehicles can qualify for “Basic Rod” plates when they’re simply 20 years previous.

Meaning a 2001 minivan you’re nonetheless utilizing to run the children round and drive to work may qualify, for a $37 commonplace DMV software price.

Some environmentalists say many individuals are utilizing the traditional designation to get round smog requirements for vehicles which might be extra rolling fog machines than items of automotive historical past.

Assemblyman Howard Watts, D-Las Vegas, is proposing laws to shut the loophole, proscribing the particular plates to automobiles extra usually thought-about classics.

“Principally, an increasing number of car (homeowners) have realized they will drive these automobiles with a traditional plate, they don’t need to get a smog test, and there’s no actual enforcement,” Watts instructed the Las Vegas Solar .

The variety of traditional vehicles registered in Clark and Washoe counties has grown from about 5,000 in 2011 to greater than 23,000 this yr.

Beneath present legislation, traditional vehicles aren’t speculated to be pushed greater than 5,000 miles a yr.

However, Watts stated, “the DMV doesn’t actually have the construction or sources to implement that.”

His proposed answer: Require individuals who need traditional automotive plates to have traditional automotive insurance coverage. It will assist resolve the issue as a result of insurance coverage corporations are typically pickier about what sort of automobiles qualify as classics.

Allstate, for instance, lists typical {qualifications} as restricted annual mileage, proof of correct storage, proof the driving force has one other automotive for on a regular basis driving and car age necessities.

It’s troublesome to determine the influence on the setting from cracking down on the variety of early classics on the highway. However older vehicles are considerably dirtier than newer fashions.

Emissions from a 1990 mannequin yr car produced as much as 18 instances the quantity of ozone-producing emissions as a 2015 mannequin, in accordance with a 2016 report by the Nevada Division of Environmental Safety.

Rudy Zamora, program director for Chispa Nevada, a Latino-focused arm of the League of Conservation Voters, stated the laws would profit communities of colour, which regularly bear the brunt of air pollution.

“Communities of colour are disproportionately affected as a result of we’re those which might be nearer to the sources of air pollution — we’re nearer to the highways,” he stated.

Christi Cabrera, coverage and advocacy director for Nevada Conservation League, stated the proposed laws would additionally direct some state emissions charges to fund automotive smog restore packages and electric-vehicle incentives for low-income individuals in Clark and Washoe counties.

Watts stated the environmental, financial and clean-energy impacts of the invoice make it value passing. “I believe it’s a win, win, win coverage,” he stated.