Passing the Certification Course Does Not Equal Registration!

Originally published May 1, 2014

OMVIC regularly hears about individuals being allowed on the sales floor solely on the basis that they have passed the Automotive Certification Course: THIS IS AGAINST THE LAW – simply passing the course does NOT automatically mean the individual is OMVIC-Registered – he or she must still complete the registration process. In instances where this happens, both the dealer and the salesperson run the risk of being charged and if the unregistered salesperson is charged, he or she might never become registered.

OMVIC learns about these occurrences from inspections, complaints from customers, and most often, from other registered salespeople who report it – and so they should: if they went through the process to become registered, so should all sales staff. It is a salesperson’s ethical responsibility to let OMVIC know about illegal conduct.

So, unless a certificate of registration from OMVIC has been received or approval is confirmed on OMVIC’s website (http://www.omvic.on.ca/portal/DealersSalespersons.aspx), unregistered persons cannot be involved in any trade – this includes so-called “trainees”.

“Trainees”

There is no such thing as a training position (i.e. with customer contact) prior to becoming OMVIC-Registered. If dealership staff have contact with customers and are involved in any aspect of a trade, they need to be certified AND registered.

What is a trade?

According to the MVDA trades include: buying, selling, leasing, advertising or exchanging an interest in a motor vehicle or negotiating or inducing or attempting to induce the buying, selling, leasing or exchanging of an interest in a motor vehicle. Trading is not limited to the signing of contracts and is applicable regardless of whether or not the potential customer is a consumer or another registrant.

Remember, if staff are facilitating, inducing or attempting to induce a vehicle trade, they MUST be REGISTERED with OMVIC.

When in doubt, registrants are encouraged to contact the Registration Team directly at 1-800-943-6002 x5104.