fivetoes,
I live in upstate NY, and my SPF went through the DMV "Custom" process, and received a new VIN and Title describing it as a (year) 2005 (make) Custom (model code) N/A and has the NY assigned VIN beginning NYxxxxx.
My reg/title does not state *NYMA*, but as you stated, rules may be different for downstate (high emission) and upstate (low emission)...
I have managed dealership service departments for over 25 years, and have a good deal of 'real world' experience with the NY DMV. If this is going to be a problem, fortunately I have some DMV contacts so we can get some answers.
One concern I have is that our cars are now over *2* years old as far as the DMV inspection process is concerned (which is computerized/automated at all NYS Inspection stattions). As of 2007, all 2005 and older (thru 1996) vehicles undergo an OBDII connection (and test) as part of the inspection process. All current and previous to current year vehicles (now 2007 and 2006) only undergo a safety inspection. When they turn over 2 years old, they must have the OBDII inspection, for which our "Custom" vehicles will not have an OBDII connector for.
For the first 2 years, my SPF comes up on the state inspection machine as a 2005 Custom (the VIN can be scanned from the registration sticker on the windshield or manually entered using the VIN on the BRIGHT YELLOW tag applied to the vehicle by the DMV when they inspected the car), and only required the safety inspection. I don't know from experience (yet) what will happen for this year's inspection - it SHOULD continue to bypass the OBDII connection part of the inspection because of the "Custom" VIN in the title. This is what I was told back in 2005 when I titled and registered the car in NYS.
Has anyone here passed a NYS Inspection this year (2007) with a 2005 or older "Custom" title? If not, I will run mine through to see what happens (it is not due until September of this year) and give you the results here....
FYI, I have heard from the DMV that (soon) the downstate inspection will no longer use the dyno, and will be basically the same as our upstate inspection (OBDII connection and test for readiness monitors only). If this hasn't happened already, when it does it should make life much simpler for the Metro areas.
My question (for the NY DMV, if you are listening) is, did my/our cars pass the NYS inspection the first 2 years because it was running "safety only inspections" - because of the year, or did it bypass the emissions phase because of the "Custom" make in the title?
One last question for fivetoes....
Is your FFR legitimately titled as a "Custom" because it went through the DMV "Custom" process (inspected by the DMV, assigned a VIN by the state, ect), or is that simply the make and year you used to register the vehicle?
If you went through that whole DMV process, this is not good....
Jim Kellogg
Breesport, NY