This rule change will result in a minor positive fiscal impact to small businesses, specifically automotive repair shops that conduct emissions inspections of which the majority are small businesses.
Inspection stations typically charge between $30 and $50 per emissions test, including the county administrative fee ($3.25). Utah County's average price for an emissions test is $45. The inspection station retains $41.75 after the county fee. Based on 6,358 model year 1995 and older vehicles tested in Utah County in 2024, this corresponds to approximately $265,000 in gross revenue associated with these tests.
However, this revenue does not reflect profitability. Testing older vehicles requires specialized emissions testing equipment and additional technician training, both of which have become increasingly costly. At the same time, the number of vehicles requiring this type of test has steadily declined, resulting in low utilization of the required equipment. As a result, many inspection stations incur ongoing equipment and training costs that exceed the revenue generated from testing these vehicles.
Because equipment and service arrangements vary by vendor and by shop and depend on factors such as shop size and testing volume, quantifying these costs is not practicable.
However, based on stakeholder input from small businesses requesting this change, it is reasonable to conclude that these tests were operating at a net loss for some inspection stations.
Accordingly, eliminating the requirement to test model year 1995 and older vehicles is expected to reduce or eliminate these losses, resulting in a net positive fiscal impact to affected small businesses.
The overall fiscal impact to small business will be estimated as a net zero because of the lack of quantifiability.
