Need your vehicle’s AC fixed? How to get most of it paid for in Merced County
A California program is offering financial assistance to qualifying residents to repair their vehicle air-conditioning systems — and a couple of Merced County auto shops are participating.
Started as a pilot program in July 2024, the Cool Air Rebate Program officially launched statewide in May.
“We launched with five repair shops in the program, not knowing how it would be received by the public or how it would be received by the shops,” said Nathan Perrine, executive director of the Car Care Council — which administers the program.
After nearly a year, the program has paid out over $1 million to repair shops, he said, and nearly 200 shops now participate.
Here’s how it works.
Who qualifies for the Cool Air Rebate Program?
Financial assistance for vehicle AC repairs is available for low-income California residents who own a car manufactured between 1993 and 2019, or have an older vehicle that has been retrofitted with R-134a refrigerant.
For the purposes of the Cool Air Rebate Program, “low income” is defined as not exceeding 200% of the federal poverty line. Those participating in programs such as Medi-Cal, CalWorks, CalFresh/SNAP or Healthy Families automatically prequalify for the cool air rebate. For others, there is a calculation that’s based on income and the number of people in a household to determine eligibility.
To check whether you are eligible for the program, visit the Cool Air Rebate Program website and navigate to the “see if you qualify” tab.
There, information including income and number of people in the household is entered. The website then calculates whether you qualify. For example, a household of four people with an annual income of $64,300 or less is eligible if the vehicle qualifies.
.png "AC Repair Income Eligibility (1).png")
If you do qualify, the next step is to upload documents to verify your income.
“We’ve tried to make it easy in the sense that if the customer or the consumer is already enrolled in a low-income program such as CalFresh or something like that, those are automatic qualifiers for us,” Perrine said.
Those approved will receive a letter and can contact any of the participating auto repair shops to get started.
The repair process begins with free AC testing as well as a diagnosis to determine if the specific repairs are covered by the program, according to the CAR website. If the diagnosis results in repairs that don’t qualify for the program or the consumer declines the repairs, the program pays the shop 80% of the diagnostic fee.
How much of the repair will the program pay for?
The program pays auto repair shops 80% of the AC repair cost — up to $1,875 per vehicle. Customers are responsible for the remaining 20%. For example, if the total repair cost is $1,875, the program pays the shop $1,500 and the customer pays $375.
The program is funded through unclaimed deposits from R-134a automotive refrigerant cans sold in California.
“It’s not taxpayer money, it’s not state money,” Perrine said. “It’s consumer money going back to the consumer.”
People who buy R-134a refrigerant in the state pay a $10 deposit for the can and receive that deposit back when they take the can back to the store.
“People do that about two-thirds of the time,” Perrine said. “The remaining third of those deposits, the customers don’t come back to get that $10 for whatever reason.”
What happens when the existing funds from the unclaimed deposits run out?
“The answer is, we don’t know,” Perrine said. “We haven’t gotten to that bridge yet. We would love to get there. That means we’re doing our job and getting the funds back to consumers, but there’s nothing in the existing regulations that addresses that.”
Why the Cool Air Rebate Program was launched
Leaking air-conditioning systems can cause poor air quality, which affects everyone in the community by increasing the rate of asthma and other health issues, according to the CAR website.
R-134a contains a greenhouse gas that’s 1,400 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, Perrine said.
“So it’s not just consumer comfort,” he said. “That’s a lot of it, but there is an air quality element to this, that fixing these systems that are venting the refrigerant into the atmosphere keeps that greenhouse gas out of the air.”
The program is governed by California regulations, and there is a timeline for it.
The California Air Resources Board oversees the program. CARB has given the program a “sunset date” of the end of 2029 for completion, Perrine said.
Which Merced County auto shops are in the program?
The program gives an economic boost to local auto shops, Perrine said.
“This is a way to get customers in the door,” he said. “On the program website, we have a shop locator page, so if you are a participating shop, you are findable.”
Perrine said the program is looking for more shops to add to its list, and if consumers have shops they use and trust that are not in the program, they can suggest that the shops apply to join.
As of Thursday, there are two participating shops in Merced County:
Merced
- Pep Boys Auto Service & Tires, 1207 W. Main St.
Los Banos
- Youngs Automotive, 1117 F St.
.jpg)