Will the end of AirCare mean more junk cars on the road?

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Are you driving a beat-up junker? A local mechanic who specializes in exhaust issues thinks you’ll be getting some more company now that the AirCare program is being scrapped.

Bernie Pawlik believes what we’ll likely see is people spending less money to fix their car.

“Say your check engine light comes on in your car and it runs fine, you go ‘Well, I don’t feel like spending any money on it. It seems to work fine. I’ll just keep on going.’ At that point, the car could be putting a lot of pollutants out into the air and nobody knows,” he explains.

He also thinks getting rid of the program is a bad idea.

“Keep a few open for old cars for maybe the next five years, and then have independent, certified shops test them,” he suggests. “People [could] come in once a year, make sure the light’s off… do whatever tests they need to do.”

Pawlik doesn’t expect people to go out and buy older cars, but he does fear drivers won’t fix things as quickly.

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