OMVIC Transaction Fee

SAMPLE LETTER FOR UCDA MEMBERS TO SEND THEIR MPP

May ____, 2025                               

MPP name and address _______________________________________     

__________________________________________________________

email *******************************

Re: OMVIC EXCESSIVE FEE INCREASES

Dear Mr., Mrs., Ms., _____________________________

We are writing to express our grave concerns with our regulator’s excessive fee increases which are threatening the health of our business. The Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) is the regulator for all new and independent motor vehicle dealers in Ontario. We have no choice but to be registered with them, and we are at their mercy in terms of the fees they charge us.

With OMVIC’s salary and Board benefits presently taking up almost of 90% of their revenue, we can’t afford OMVIC.

With pressures on us from all sides – Trump’s Tariffs, the Federal Government’s new FINTRAC requirements, inflation and lack of inventory – OMVIC’s timing for fee increases could not be worse. And yet, they are determined to proceed with ruinous fee increases.

TRANSACTION TAX INCREASES

Following an increase from $10 to $12.50 in 2024, OMVIC now want $22 for every vehicle we sell to a consumer. This is to come into effect on September 1, 2025, unless we can stop it. Even though it may appear that $22 is not a large sum by itself, when it is applied to all vehicles sold in Ontario, it amounts to millions of dollars for OMVIC and thousands of dollars out of dealer’s pockets. It should also be noted that ultimately the consumer will bear the cost of this increased fee. 

FEE INCREASES

Following across the board fee increases by as much as 75% in 2024, OMVIC now plans more fee increases to every fee category from renewals of dealer and salesperson registrations to dealer branch applications.

LATE FEE INCREASES

From $0, dealers now have to 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, OMVIC have still have not told us.

OMVIC say 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. The math is quite evident.

These costs, fees and expenses might very well spell the end of our business, and many others like ours. Many new Canadians are in this industry and will have to find another path to their Canadian dream.

The fact is these massive fee increases will increase the cost of buying a new or used vehicle for consumers as well, helped along by tariff pressure. OMVIC’s Google Rating presently sits at a woefully low 1.8, so one wonders where all this money is actually going?

If these ‘death by a thousand fee increases’ continue, OMVIC won’t have an industry left to regulate.

What OMVIC needs is some serious belt-tightening. It’s time for OMVIC to get their fiscal house in order.

• We call on OMVIC to do an open and honest third party audit to appraise where efficiencies might be found to cut some fat before they ask us for more money again
• We call on the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, who supervise OMVIC, to consider some other means of funding OMVIC operations. Perhaps taxpayer dollars should pay for consumer protection, because there is a limit to how much dealers can be expected to bear.

Whatever decision is made, dealers need relief and quickly. We are in a crisis and OMVIC is deaf to our pleas.

I would be pleased to meet with you at your convenience to discuss this issue. We also hope you will see fit to raise this with either or both the Premier or the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement.

Yours truly,

__________________________________________________________________

DEALERSHIP name and address