The government says that this move will save vehicle owners more than 900,000 hours every year. Pictured: MPP Donna Skelly and Ministers Todd McCarthy and Prabmeet Sarkaria. Photo Credit: Donna Skelly/X.
Automatic license plate renewal is now in effect for drivers across Ontario. The new process will impact eight million Ontario drivers.
Ontario became the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce automatic licence plate renewals. The policy change was first implemented on July 1.
“The introduction of automatic licence plate renewals will be one less barrier for busy drivers and families in Niagara,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West. “This plan is part of our government’s plan to reduce fees and provide better services for people across the province.”
The government says that this move will save vehicle owners more than 900,000 hours every year.
Licence plates for passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds will now renew 90 days before they expire so long as the owner has valid insurance and no outstanding tolls or fees.
If a license plate cannot be renewed automatically, the vehicle owner will be notified and that driver will have to manually apply for renewal, either online or at a Service Ontario location. These individuals will be notified by mail 90 days before expiry and again three days after expiry.
Those who have digital notifications enabled will be sent messages 90, 45 and 10 days before expiry, and again three days after expiry.
This move follows the Ford government’s decision in March 2022 to end licence plate sticker fees. However, over the past two years, because drivers no longer had to pay to renew their license plates, the number of Ontarians neglecting to renew their license plates skyrocketed. The automatic process is a means of avoiding that problem.
More than one million Ontario drivers neglected to renew their license plates between March 2022 and this past spring. Driving with an expired plate comes with a $1,000 fine, and thousands of Ontarians found themselves facing that reality because they simply forgot that license plate renewals were still required.
License plate sticker fees used to cost most Ontario drivers $120. Those living in the northern part of the province were charged a $60 fee.
Ontario drivers are saving roughly $1 billion a year thanks to the Ford government’s move to scrap license plate sticker fees.
The shift toward automatic renewal was supported by industry groups, including the Motor Vehicle Retailers of Ontario (MVRO) and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).
MVRO Director of Government relations Frank Notte said in a release that “Ontario’s 1,100 new car and truck retailers applaud Premier Ford and his government for driving efficiencies and removing unnecessary bureaucracy for vehicle owners.”
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
