The State Repair Shops were so overloaded, they did not even answer their phones. Some people observed that after 10 days, nobody ever called back. In other words, bad estimating, bad planning, and too much bureaucracy. NOW if failing twice gets you into real trouble, then it is worth a lot of effort to make sure you do not fail. You want to get your car tuned up as carefully as possible.
Any failure is reported instantly.
So you can't even use a smog tester to tune up your car to make sure it will pass. No wonder that hundreds of motorists turned out at rallies in Sacramento to protest. If you go to a tune-up shop, or any good repair shop, you can get your car tested and checked to see if it is passing. If it is, then you can take it in to an official Smog Test Shop, and your car is likely to pass. However, if there is a little miscalibration between one sensor and the other, you could have your car pass at the tune-up shop, and fail during the official test.