Air Care Colorado Testing Center

Quick and painless.
Rolled up with 2 cars in front of me, got in about 5 minutes later. Waited inside for about 15 minutes, paid my $ 25 in cash, and was done.
No complaints here.

This place is the best one I’ve been to. There is never a wait. Just show on up and your car is next, it’s great.

My oh my what a craptastic emissions testing racket (sorry, system) we have in Colorado. This Parker location is totally undersized for the population it serves. One lane for cars and one lane for all-​time 4×4 vehicles (rare). The one in Ft Collins has 7 lanes, just for comparison.
And, it’s cash or check only, which is absolutely ridiculous and shady and hell in this day and age. Make arrangements to come on a Tuesday around 2:00pm and you’ll only wait a half hour. Otherwise, bring a book.

How do you review a place that you HAVE to go? It’s not like I’m going «ooh! I LOVE the emissions place!» …but when you gotta go, it’s nice to know some info about where you’re goin.
As someone earlier posted, don’t go by Google Maps! Took me longer to get here as I made a few unnecessary detours thanks to them! Heading South on Parker, turn left at the Conoco station then follow the road around. It will be on your right, but the turn in isn’t well marked so keep your eyes peeled for it.
This location only has 2 lanes as opposed to 7 like the Aurora one. However, the website shows you the wait times and I opted to drive a few extra minutes to this location for the «28 min» wait rather than the «49 min» wait.
When I pulled up, the wait showed «31 mins». Because my car is AWD, I had to be in the Right lane. Even with all the extra AWD cars (this IS Colorado, after all), I was out of there in 20 mins. Had I even a non-​AWD car, it appeared some people were out of there in 10 mins!
This was on a Monday at 11:00, which is supposed to be a time to avoid as it’s usually busy!
The guys working there were all really nice and super efficient.
I’d say it was definitely worth the slightly out of the way trek to use this location.

I hate our Emission Testing laws here on the Front Range.
I think they are out-​dated and a huge waste of my time and money.
That being said, I spend too much time at these centers because of my job.
Most centers deserve only 1 or 2 stars, but this one is a 3.
Why?
It is small, only 2 lanes, but it is in Parker.
I live nearby and it is hardly ever busy.
The staff is friendlier (Maybe the suburb thing)
And, it doesn’t smell like a sewer inside the little box of a waiting room.
I use this location as much as I can.
Now, will someone get rid of this emission law… please!

Got here on a Monday after work and the wait was less than five minutes!
As we all know, going to get emmission/​VIN verification can be a pain! This experience was actually extremely painless and I was helped in less than five minutes and I was out of there in about 20. The only thing I would get a heads up about is if you want to get a VIN verification it costs $ 20 versus at the DMV it costs $ 12, however; they do it much faster here.

I know you only have to get emissions checked every two years, but it is still a total pain in the buttocks. The one in Parker is my closest one, but they always seem to be busy. Seriously, no matter if you come at 8am, noon, or 4pm, you always seem to be waiting (first in your car, then in the grimy, fumy waiting area). Because of this, I have sometimes gone to the one on Colorado, near County line. When I tried that recently, they were also super busy.
Despite my frustrations, my recent visit here was actually pretty good. There were 5 cars in line waiting to pull forward. Since I was in a 4WD, the guy waived me to the front of the empty line (score!). They actually got me in and out a lot faster than I expected. Having the forethought to bring exactly $ 25 in cash helped expedite the process. So, although this whole shebang seems antiquated and convoluted, it worked pretty well for me, this time.

Finding this place for the first time really sucks. Go prepared with a check or cash. For the amount of people that circle through here you’d think they could afford a nice seat or two everything is very much simply necessity. Had to come a couple of times and the wait was never too terrible, my biggest complaint is the workers leaving my manual in gear and just putting on the parking break when they are done with it.

Going to get an emissions test is about as fun as trip to the DMV (which usually goes hand and hand with this chore). It is a necessary evil if you want to legally license your car, but man do I dread it! I have lucked out and had newer cars for years and hadn’t been in to a testing center in forever. So when I needed one this year I had to research.
This testing center is off Parker Road, you actually turn left at the Conoco just past Lincoln (if you are going southbound/​towards Main St), that road is Park Glenn and if you follow it around you will find the entrance to the emissions place. I tell you this because google maps give you some really weird out of the way direction to go and believe me it is just as easy as I made it! I would suggest before you go to check out ACC’s website and see what the estimated wait time is for the location you want:

This is handy if you are between 2 shops and want to decide based on length of time of the wait. It is updated every 15m and pretty accurate as far as I can tell.
Now the center itself isn’t exactly luxurious, or even pleasant, it is basically about as nice as a 1970’s car wash. They don’t heat the waiting area and it is just glass and cement (and you can watch your car go through just like at the car wash). So it isn’t going to be comfy trip (especially in the freezing days of winter or sweltering days of summer). However, they are efficient about getting you in and out.
Reminder: it is check or cash only and it helps everyone if you write your check while you wait — it makes the attendants happy and so much easier to deal with! I know when I came out with check in hand I got a smile (other who did not got a scowl) Hey it’s the little things! :)