With OMVIC salaries and Board benefits eating up almost of 90% of OMVIC revenue, who can afford OMVIC?
With pressures on dealers from all sides – Trump’s Tariffs, the Feds FINTRAC nonsense, inflation and lack of inventory – OMVIC thinks now would be a good time to slap more fee increases on dealers.
Transaction Tax Increases
Hot on the increase from $10 to $12.50 in 2024, OMVIC now want $22 for every vehicle you sell to a consumer. A 76% increase. This is to come into effect on September 1, 2025, unless we can stop it.
We estimate this will bring an additional 8 to 10 million dollars into OMVIC’s coffers, the new car dealers association thinks it might be much more.
In any event, it far exceeds OMVIC’s needs. The problem with that, is they will simply find ways to spend it all and come back asking dealers for more, in the way of all out of control bureaucracies.
Fee Increases
Following across the board fee increases by as much as 75% in 2024, OMVIC now plan more fee increases in every fee category from renewals to branch applications once again effective September 1, 2025.
Late Fee Increases
From $0, dealers now pay $300 and salespeople $150 as of Feb. 1, 2025.
Mandatory Education Costs Coming In 2026
We still don’t know what those costs will be because, despite asking, they have still not told us. Now we hear we may not know until the end of the year
OMVIC says they need more money, from dealers, their only source of funds.
Why?
Well, in 2022 OMVIC had about 140 employees. By 2026 they plan to have 180 of them. You do the math:
- OMVIC needs 180 employees to manage 38,000 registrants.
- Real Estate (RECO) has 170 employees for 112,000 registrants.
- Travel (TICO) manage 1,996 registrants with 28 employees.
Large new car dealer franchises and groups will find these fees eat into their bottom line, but for smaller one-person or mom and pop dealerships, these costs, fees and expenses might very well spell the end of their businesses. Many new Canadians will have to find another path to the Canadian dream.
Consumers will all pay more for new and used vehicles as a result of all this. Where does all this money go? With an abysmal Google Rating below 2, it seems neither registrants nor consumers are happy with OMVIC. Everyone but OMVIC loses, as they build their Empire bigger. Do they really need the population of a small Ontario town to do their job?
Meanwhile, OMVIC refuses to tell dealers which warranty companies are insured, so dealers can meet their MVDA requirements. OMVIC layers on cumbersome record keeping requirements to track transaction fees with a ledger which is completely unnecessary in light of the already existing garage register requirement.
If these ‘death by a thousand fee increases’ continue, OMVIC won’t have a an industry to regulate; they will all be curbsiders.
What OMVIC needs is some serious belt-tightening. It’s high time for OMVIC to get their fiscal house in order. We call on them to have an open and honest third party audit to appraise where efficiencies might
be found to cut some fat before they ask dealers for another dime.
We asked OMVIC to agree to this, they refused. So now we look for the means to FORCE THEM TO. Political means.
It might be time for the Ontario Government to consider some other means of funding OMVIC operations. Perhaps taxpayers should pay for consumer protection, because there is a limit to how much dealers can be expected to bear.
While UCDA has, and will continue to communicate its concerns to the Premier and the Minister, one effective way to bring your concerns about excessive OMVIC fees is for you to write to the Minister and the Premier.
Ask to meet with your local MPP to brief them on the impact of these fees on your operations, especially in light of the current economic uncertainty, and request that they communicate your concerns to the Minister.
We invite dealers to have their voices heard and let your representatives at Queen’s Park hear from YOU. If you need help with a letter, we drafted one for you at https://www.ucda.org/omvictransaction-fee/
Send it to your MPP:
https://www.ola.org/en/members/current
Contact Premier Doug Ford:
https://correspondence.premier.gov.on.ca/EN/feedback/default.aspx
Contact the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement:
The Hon. Stephen Crawford
Contact OMVIC