The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has advised us, just today, that the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) is modernizing their driver and vehicle systems.

During Quebec’s system updates from today Monday, January 30 to Thursday, February 16, 2023 the link between their registration system and MTO’s will be unavailable.

As a result, the MTO are pausing vehicle registrations and driver’s licence exchanges from Quebec during that time. Customers are being advised to return to Service Ontario centres to complete transactions when the system is back online on February 17.

Residents of Quebec may drive vehicles registered in their home jurisdiction on Ontario roads for a period of up to six months. People who have moved to Ontario from Quebec have a period of 30 days to register vehicles in Ontario. Quebec customers can contact the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec at 1-800-361-7620 for assistance.

The problem, of course, for members who have bought vehicles in Quebec is that they will not only be unable to register them to their name in Ontario until Feb. 17, but you will be unable to get those vehicles on the road for your customer in that time period. Temporary permits and the like will not solve that difficulty.

The MTO have no work-around for dealers apparently, the best recommendation MTO has for dealers is to book appointments to transfer vehicles for February 17th, and that can be done online at https://www.ontario.ca/page/book-serviceontario-appointment

You may have received an email from OMVIC (HERE) on November 28, 2022 mentioning OMVIC Board changes planned by the Ministry. You may have found it a bit confusing, which is mostly due to what was not said in that email.

Here is the rest of the story.

As matters presently stand OMVIC is overseen by a Board of 12 Directors. 9 are elected motor vehicle dealers and 3 are consumer representatives appointed by the Ministry. The Ministry intends to reduce the number of dealers to a minority by way of a “Minister’s Order”.

The Ministry’s plan would effectively end dealer self-management.

A Minister’s Order means dealers will have no say, as they normally would have to vote on such changes.

We do not support the Ministry’s plan and are actively meeting with Ministry officials, along with other stakeholders who oppose it.

It is early days and we have asked for consultation. We expect an answer on that in the early New Year.

We will keep you informed.

Times are tough.

The price of gas rises, so does gas theft.

The price of new and used cars is on the rise, so vehicle theft is rising as well.

A specific kind of distraction theft is on the rise, and it’s affecting dealers.

Two people, could be men or women, will drive on to a dealer’s lot in a nice car, an Escalade, BMW or a Jag. The plates are usually stolen and, as things turn out, the car probably is too.

They ask about a nice car, and either they are handed the keys, or in some cases they just grab them, in either case, most dealers report being distracted or even physically assaulted.

So far, the calls are coming from the GTA and Southwestern Ontario.

Be alert, especially be aware of where those keys are and consider going with the customer on test drives.