ADEQ

Well let me make this easy for you… Go early and you will not have any issues. I went on a Friday morning as they were just opening and I was in and out in 15 minutes tops.

The emissions testing place. Very exciting. The day I visited it was all 4 lanes, about 10 cars/​trucks deep. Have to say it went faster than I anticipated. And at a rate of only $ 20.00, I was happy to get in and out. My Prius, a non-​emission vehicle, amazingly passed. Go figure.

I am from California and was helping my Mom and getting her car tested for her. I went to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality closest to her home and was nothing short of delighted. It was a hot day and there were lines, but I was in and out in about 10 to 15 minutes anyway. The gentleman who helped me (Dan) was courteous and quick. The place is run with extraordinary efficiency. Further, the cost is only $ 20 — amazingly cheap in my opinion.

Two visits in one week! I needed to take both Mom’s and my car in for emissions testing (first one since we bought our Priuses in 2010) before purchasing two-​year registrations** through
. $ 20 cash per test, and the testing takes less than five minutes***, or so you hope, because some of the people here perspire and leave AWFUL body odor on your driver seat! The rep who handled Mom’s car last week (3’ish pm) was much cleaner (and not as big) as the guy that did my car test two days ago (630 pm). Last week’s tester was also older, friendlier, and knew how to bid me goodbye with a smile. As soon as I got home from the test two days ago, I changed shirts and went back to my car, armed with a can of Lysol disinfectant. I then went back to the apartment and took a shower.
Lesson learned: Visit earlier in the day to avoid bacteria and sweat-​drenched testers from contaminating your driver chair! I wonder if I may get my car tested earlier in the year to avoid this malady in the future? If not, then I suppose I need to cover my seat with plastic sheets, or a towel I don’t mind throwing away…
**Registering two years at a time saves money. This year, I saved about $ 70 total for both cars, and another $ 40 next year, since we won’t need smog checks for another two years!
***There were at least two sites online that gave estimated wait times at different valley locations. One even provided webcam links to show you real-​time captures, so you can see just how busy each location was. Pretty nifty! Learn from my experience, though– go earlier in the day to prevent the need to spray! :P

Once you get past the normal confusion as not-​too intelligent drivers attempt to figure out how to break out into the lines, it’s a pretty painless process. The folks were competent, and rolled through the inspection in a relatively short time. Very convenient.

Wait wait wait.
Car emissions is a scam just to collect additional money for the state.
What ever you do do not go to the full service lane go thru the express lanes.

Vehicles newer than 1981 must be tested every two years. I fall into that category, so off I went to get my «check-​up». This location is close to work and easy to find. Luckily, before you go, you can view the wait times online. When I arrived, it took less than 15 minutes total to get in and out. I’ve gone to other stations that have taken much longer, so I was extremely happy it was so quick. The employees working were nice and made the entire experience pain free. I won’t say I’m looking forward to going back, but I won’t be dreading it either.

Absolutely terrible. The overweight, ugly, disgusting ‘manager’ of the store — I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman — sees that my check engine and ABS lights are on because my sensor chip in my car is messed up (note: The car is just fine. I take it to a mechanic every 3 months or less), and STILL charges me $ 20 without even conducting the full test. In fact, she knows it’s going to fail the whole time and does it anyways. This place is a scam and this location in particular — I’m filing complaints with all of the offices, both written and verbal (ADEQ) and I hope that this location in particular is shut down and that the ‘manager’ (who didn’t wear a name tag, which is either out of shame or the sure sign of a scam) is FIRED.
Private functions need to replace all State functions within the next 5 years. Scottsdale, we can be first — let’s kick public industry out of our city.

This was the first time I’ve needed to get my car tested in Arizona; quite a different experience from back East.
Drive up to the gate on the north side, take a number ticket, and drive through the gate to make a 180 degree turn. Hang on to that ticket because the inspector will ask you for it. Get in the appropriate lane for your vehicle (read the signs). Stay in your car until you drive it in the bay. You’ll need to turn off the A/​C and open your gas cap door. They’ll let you either stay in the car while they inspect it, or you can wait in this convenient little safety booth next to your car. It took about 5 – 7 minutes, and $ 20 later I was on my way.
A helpful sign tells you which lane to get in, depending on what type of vehicle you have. Another sign conveniently estimates the wait time, and it was pretty accurate. Supposedly your inspection information is uploaded to the AZMVD within a few minutes.

Emissions testing, nobody likes it, but a lot of people have to do it.
After searching online for emission testing centers, I realized two things: (a) this is the only location near me; and (b) I like how they have estimated waiting times and a camera for live view. Since I didn’t feel like driving out of the way I came to this location and was not happy when I first saw all four lines, I thought I was going to be here forever!
Luckily I chose to wait in one of the two far right lanes which allows for only ODB (on-​board diagnostic) readable vehicles. Little did I know theses lanes were the ones to be in because the test goes 1000x faster. There are yellow signs above each corridor informing you that ODB cars can use any lane, but those without that capability must be in the first or second lane. Unfortunately from where you first join the line of cars, you can’t read those yellow signs and by the time you can, no one will let you «cut» in front of them cause everyone wants to get out! Anyway, by luck I was in the better lane and moved up to the front of the line rather quickly. Sadly, Bacon (my car) failed the first time because of his gas cap and I was terrified of having to come back at a later date and retest. Luckily, the very friendly mechanic told me that the facility had gas caps and he would give it to me and retest me right then and there. I was ecstatic, but also scared because I thought the mark-​up would be crazy high due to the situation, but nope, it was free! Woot Woot!
I was able to get out in about 20 minutes from first wait to finish, impressive!

Well, getting the notice that you can’t renew your car registration until you get an emission’s test is never fun. However, at least ADEQ makes it as seamless as possible! You pull up, grab a number and wait in your car in line until it’s your turn. Once it’s your turn, they have you get out of your car for a quick minute while they check the car, then you pay, you (hopefully) get approved and you’re on your way! I like this location because it just a couple minutes away from the DMV so after my emissions test, I stopped by the DMV and used their automated system to renew my registration without having to wait in line. The emission’s test process took no more than 10 minutes and I think it was considered a busy day. Emission’s tests cost $ 28. Yes, even the emission’s testing deserves a Unilocal review!

Best time to come here is either right after they open or come right before they are going to close. If you come during lunch time, you’ll be waiting anywhere up to 30 minutes. They accept either cash or credit card, not sure about check as I’ve never pay with one before.

in and out in under 5 mins wow ! though I got there early about 930 am so go figure on a Friday. Its a bit tricky got lost on the north sight blvd loop around. after a 30 min drive time from fountain hills and not feeling good so happy no line. dont miss the e evans turn it comes at you fast.

Need your 09 or older ride checked for smog emission? Live in northern East Valley? This is your place, folks!
Guys (sorry, not being sexist — didn’t see any female EEs) that work here are friendly and quick-​moving. This I love as I don’t wish to spend too much time here or at MVD, post office, dentist, u get the picture, right?!
Great jobby-​job!

The crazy State of Arizona has this stupid rule that you have to get a smog check from one of their ADEQ centers (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality). Well, I took one of my cars there to go through the tests… it failed because the Service Engine light was on… what?! Why? What does that have to do with anything?
Ok, so I go to a mechanic and he fixes it and resets the light. 3 days later, I go back to the ADEQ center and it fails again! Why? Because they said that the computer in the car is «not ready»…what? What’s that?! To get an answer, I have to park my car and go inside an office… out comes a manager and he says that the computer in my car is not «reset and ready» and so I have to wait until it is before I come back.
Perplexed, I asked…“how will I know when it’s ready”?
He says…“I don’t know, ask the mechanic”.
I say…“wait, I have to go back and ask him when it’s ready”?
He says…“well, that’s the only way you will know for sure. The other option is that you drive around for a few days and hope that the car’s computer is ready and then bring it back in for a test. However, if it fails again, you will have to take it to a location in downtown Phoenix and have a mechanic check it out… it’s not convenient or cheap”.
I leave extremely frustrated and angry. Smog Checks are a scam.
Return Factor — Unfortunately, I’m forced to do this every time my car registration is due…100%

Great location to check your carbon footprint and do the global warming /​global cooling dance. It is mandated that you get your vehicle tested once they turn 5 years old or older so you can then shell out some serious ducats for a new shiny sticker.
I have been to several locations throughout the valley with company vehicles as well as my own and this one so far is the best. My older Mercedes turbo diesels were like a couple of mosquito foggers and no longer could bare this «do si do» and they were happy to let me know. Sadly I miss my 300TD and 300TDT built in Stuttgart with over 2 tons of bulldozing madness. Auf Wiedersehen!
I arrived at 4pm and was out the door in 10 minutes. Maybe I just got lucky this time but they say luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Good luck and hope your ride passes with flying colors.

As much as I disagree with e-​check I’m usually here and gone in a relatively short period of time. My biggest issues are signage, which lane as I supposed to be in? and someone telling me what I’m supposed to do if I fail.
My last visit involved a rather old Jeep. If failed, I was told go around to the side, park, go inside and someone would assist me. I’m sure that would have happened, eventually. I actually had to open the door to the test area and ask for help. I was shown what failed and proceeded to fix the issues and was retested the next day (at no charge :)) and passed.
It would have been nice had I not been forced to wait until I asked for help.

Came here to get an emission check. Everything was fast, service was good. No complaints.
Good place to go get your car’s emission checked for vehicle registration.

Vehicle Emissions testing is a necessary evil. So every year I bring the three family cars to the station. This year it took what seemed like 2 minutes for my 1999 and 2001 cars to go through the grind.
But there seemed to be a problem with my 1993 Mercedes Benz. It took about 20 minutes of testing on those insane rollers. Later, my mechanic told me that they are not supposed to put that model car on the rollers, apparently this shop didn’t get the memo.
The guy at the shop asked me if the car was rear wheel drive. How about having this stuff computerized based on the make, model and year or even by the VIN number as to how to properly test each car. They even checked out the undercarriage with those security mirrors you see being used at military check points. Talk about overkill. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that my air conditioning started blowing out hot air after the test the last two years I’ve been using this facility.
Yes, my car passed, or they were so incompetent that they passed it to get it out of the facility so that the considerable queue behind me could get tested.

One of our cars needed an emission inspection recently and we came here on a Saturday afternoon. That’s right! Saturday afternoon!
We had three cars ahead of us, and after a short stay inside, we gave our small contribution of $ 27.75 to Gov. Brewer folks at Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and we were on our way. No fuss, no muss.
Nice!