My daughter is thinking of living in California for a couple of years (a temporary job transfer), and I was interested in learning more about emission car regs in that state, as opposed to the other 49 states. You see, she's got a '93 Volvo 240 (that I passed down to her), and we are wondering if any of you know whether it would be possible for her to bring it into California and get it legally registered to use there.

California has a reputation, deserved or not, for not permitting cars from the other states to be registered there because CA requires stricter emission controls and standards than other states. We're concerned that if she drove her car to CA (we're in N.J.), it wouldn't pass CA's stricter testing and she'd be stuck with it there (and faced with the trouble of bringing it back here to hold while she's away), not to mention have to find another "CA legal" car for her there.

So concerning cars that are brought into that state, do they let cars that were built and sold in other states to be brought in and registered in California without expensive upgrades or modifications to the emissions systems? Her car was originally sold in New Jersey.

Also, speculating further, if she were to settle there long-term, and we (her parents) wanted to follow her there, we have some older cars, too (a 1984 Volvo 240 and a 1984 M-B 280GE, along with another '93 Volvo 240) -- do you know what we would face, getting these two '84's registered? Is there some age (for the cars, not for us :-), such as 20 years, that would lessen our emissions requirements for passing CA's regulations and be registered there?

Thanks.