Program Information
To reduce air pollution, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's (Air District) Vehicle Buy Back Program (VBB) will pay $1,000 for an operating and registered 1989 and older vehicle. Vehicle dismantlers contracted by the Air District will scrap the vehicles. The VBB Program is a voluntary program that takes older vehicles off the road. For your vehicle to be eligible for the VBB Program, it must meet the Vehicle Status Requirements and the Vehicle Functional and Equipment Eligibility Inspection described below. If you think that your vehicle qualifies, call an Air District vehicle dismantler to schedule an appointment to sell your vehicle to the Program. The dismantler will verify your vehicle’s eligibility and provide you with the specific locations of their sites.
If your vehicle has failed its Smog Check inspection, you may qualify for financial assistance under a separate State program, the California Bureau of Automotive Repair Consumer Assistance Program. That program provides financial assistance for qualified consumers for either repair assistance or vehicle retirement. Participation is limited to available funds.
Your vehicle must meet the following requirements when it is driven to the vehicle dismantler:
- The vehicle must be a 1989 model year or older passenger car or a light duty pickup truck that includes, but is not limited to, a pick-up truck, sport utility vehicle (SUV), or van up to 8,500 pounds gross vehicular weight rating.
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The vehicle owners are responsible for going to a DMV office and obtaining the registration history printout from the DMV (currently $5) and presenting it at their appointment with the dismantler.
The vehicle must be currently registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as an operable vehicle and shall have been so registered for at least twenty-four (24) months prior to the final date of sale to the VBB Program, to an address or addresses within the Air District. The Air District includes all of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties, and the southern portions of Solano and Sonoma counties. Smog Checks must be performed as required by the DMV in order for the vehicle to be considered registered.
A vehicle may also be eligible if the owner of the vehicle placed the vehicle in planned non-operational status per Vehicle Code Section 4604, et seq., for a total of two (2) or fewer months during the continuous twenty-four (24) months registration period and occurring at least three (3) months prior to the date of sale to the VBB Program.
A vehicle may also be eligible if the registration has lapsed for less than 181 days during the previous twenty-four (24) months, and all appropriate registration fees and late penalties have been paid to the DMV, provided that the vehicle is registered for at least ninety (90) days immediately prior to its date of sale to the VBB Program.
Determination of a vehicle's registration history shall be based on 1) registration data obtained from DMV records and 2) if those records provide inconclusive results, then copies of the registration certificates may be used.
- If a vehicle owner has sold a vehicle to the VBB Program within the previous twelve (12) months, any subsequent vehicles offered to the vehicle dismantler must have been registered continuously to that owner for the previous twenty-four (24) month period, in addition to meeting all other requirements of the VBB Program.
- The vehicle must be driven to the vehicle dismantler site under its own power.
- The vehicle cannot be operating under a Smog Check repair cost waiver or economic hardship extension.
- A vehicle must pass the most recent biennial Smog Checks required by the DMV in order to be considered eligible for participation in the VBB Program.
- If a vehicle is within sixty-one to ninety (61-90) days of its next required Smog Check Inspection, the vehicle is not required to have a Smog Check Inspection. But, if the Smog Check Inspection is performed in this sixty-one to ninety (61-90) day time frame, the vehicle must pass the inspection.
- If a vehicle is within sixty (60) days of its next required Smog Check Inspection, the vehicle must take and pass the Smog Check Inspection without receiving a repair cost waiver or economic hardship extension. Owners of vehicles requiring Smog Check Inspections will be required to submit documentation issued by a licensed Smog Check station demonstrating compliance with this requirement. The documentation must be submitted to the vehicle dismantler performing the functional and equipment eligibility inspection.
The vehicle dismantler will only purchase your vehicle for the Vehicle Buy Back Program if it meets the following requirements:
Upon satisfactory completion of the inspection, the vehicle dismantler will issue a certificate of functional and equipment eligibility.