[95 S_Trucker]

She has to drive it to set readiness monitors.

Readiness monitors are the self tests the car does as it drives down the the road(Cat, EVAP, EGR, AIR, O2 sensor/heater).

When the codes are cleared, the readiness monitors are also cleared.

In states that have OBD emission testing, A car will not pass if a certain amount of the readiness monitors aren't set(depends on vehicle year and state)

It's hard to say if the shop is at fault for using bad terminolgy, or if it got lost in translation(she said he said). But the car will need driven a minimum of 30 miles before most of the readiness monitors are set. A little but of stop and go, and a little bit of cruising at 55(drive it like an old man, no sudden starts or stops).

I own a PA inspection/emission station.