Province seeking dealer and salesperson feedback on proposed changes to motor vehicle sales rules and regulations

The Ontario government wants to hear what dealers and salespersons think about proposed changes to the rules and regulations governing motor vehicle sales. On August 3, 2021 the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services (MGCS) posted a consultation paper on Ontario’s Regulatory Registry, seeking feedback on potential changes to the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act (MVDA), 2002 and its regulations.

The ministry is exploring changes that:

• Reduce burden for registrants;
• Protect consumers;
• Enhance registrant compliance and improve regulatory efficiency; and
• Address other issues such as housekeeping amendments.

The proposed changes can be found in the ministry’s public consultation paper, on Ontario’s regulatory registry. Feedback received will help the ministry shape its final recommendations to update the MVDA.

A few of the changes being explored in the consultation paper include:

• Allowing registrants to conduct business in locations outside of where they are registered to trade.
• Changing disclosures required in a sales contract under certain situations.
• No longer requiring registration certificates to be returned once a registrant leaves the motor vehicle sales sector.
• Requiring costs for repair, inspections and getting safety standards certificates to be included in the advertised price of “as-is” vehicles.
• Extending the time limit for dealerships to provide warranty sellers with required warranty documents and payments from seven days to 30 days.
• No longer requiring registrants to list a phone number in certain advertisements.
• Increasing fines for curbsiding, and increasing the number of disciplinary options for addressing registrant noncompliance.
• Removing requirements for wholesalers, exporters and brokers to post their registration certificates and a sign at each place they are registered to trade. Or alternatively, to remove this requirement only for wholesalers, exporters and brokers who don’t sell directly to the public.
• Allowing exporters to trade from a home office, or alternatively to only allow exporters who don’t sell directly to the public to trade from a home office.
• Refreshing the Code of Ethics to bring it in line with specific regulatory requirements.
• Cleaning up the MVDA by removing outdated sections carried over from an older, now defunct version of the Act.

Dealers and salespersons are invited to submit their feedback to MGCS no later than Sept. 17, 2021 at 11:59pm, either by emailing [email protected], or by filling in the comment box at the bottom of the consultation paper’s web page.