*torque2006: I was just pointing out that if you feel the center is being dishonest in failing you, you can double-check at another.

*jundogg and kurt02: From what I've seen, your car can be as dirty as sin and still pass... so if your car actually fails, don't take a shortcut and bribe the testers... you should actually go into the engine and find out what's wrong.

Our Highlander (we use it as a delivery vehicle) just failed emissions. Did I order the driver to bribe the emissions center? No. I did maintenance on it, instead.

Turns out, some of the valves were damaged, as the adjustment was off (140,000 kms and poor maintenance by the first owner). If I'd waited too much longer to fix it, I could have broken pieces of valve all over the engine.

The work done was expensive (top overhaul), but it would have cost me twice as much down the line (as in, full overhaul) if I'd just said "meh" and paid off the emissions testers and walked away.