When I mention this site to my friends, none of them have ever heard of it so maybe it will be of use to you. Before you buy a car, put in the plate or vin here and it will tell you the smog history of it. I use it when I see a for sale add with a pic of the plate, I put the plate through here then it gives you the vin. Then you can carfax it. You can also see what city the car was smogged in to give you an idea how far the car is from you if you haven't contacted the seller yet:

http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/vehtests/pubtstqry.aspx

Oh yeah, it's only for CA vehicles

 

cool my car is not listed

 

Sweet mine isnt either lol.