What an OMVIC licence costs and how long it takes

An OMVIC salesperson licence in Ontario costs $637.94 in published fees, plus a background check nobody prices in public, and the part of the timeline anyone can plan around is the course rather than the application. The two published amounts are Georgian College’s $288.94 for the Automotive Certification Course for domestic and permanent resident students, effective September 1, 2026, and OMVIC’s $349 new salesperson application fee under the fee schedule effective May 1, 2026. The third cost is the BackCheck report, which OMVIC requires and prices on neither its registration page nor its fee schedule. On timing, Georgian College allows 12 weeks from course registration to write and pass the test and sends results within five business days, and OMVIC allows two years from passing to apply. OMVIC publishes no processing time and no service standard for the application, so anyone quoting you one is guessing.

Registration is mandatory before any trading: section 4(1) of the MVDA prohibits acting as a motor vehicle dealer or as a salesperson without being registered in that capacity.

What does an OMVIC salesperson licence cost in total?

Cost	Amount	Source and date
Automotive Certification Course, domestic and permanent resident	$288.94	Georgian College, effective September 1, 2026
Automotive Certification Course, international student	$563.97	Georgian College, effective September 1, 2026
New salesperson application	$349	OMVIC fee schedule, effective May 1, 2026
BackCheck background report	not published	OMVIC requires it and prices it nowhere
Published total, domestic applicant	$637.94	course plus application

One caution on the course fee. Georgian College’s OMVIC page carries a fee-increase notice giving $288.94 and $563.97 effective September 1, 2026, and further down the same page a standing self-study fee block still showing $286.08 and $561.08 from September 1, 2025. The increase has taken effect and the older block has not been updated. Georgian College asks applicants to submit the correct fee and says a form submitted with the wrong amount will not be processed, so confirm the number on the registration form before paying.

OMVIC states that the cost of the Automotive Certification Course is not included in the OMVIC registration fee. Neither OMVIC nor Georgian College publishes any rule about who pays for the course, and nothing in the MVDA or O. Reg. 333/08 obliges a dealership to reimburse it. Reimbursement is an employment term. Settle it in writing before you register and pay.

After registration the recurring costs are $209 to renew every two years and a $99 REVS fee per continuing education cycle, also every two years for a salesperson. The May 2026 fee change has the full before-and-after schedule, and the $99 CPD fee bulletin covers the education fee.

What are the steps, in order?

OMVIC’s becoming a dealer or salesperson page sets the steps out in this order, and two of them gate the rest.

1. Review the individual application form in the online services portal to see what documentation is required.
2. Request a BackCheck report. Results go directly to OMVIC within 24 hours, and OMVIC will not accept a report more than six months old.
3. Register for and complete the Automotive Certification Course. Put the ABSC student ID in the relevant section of the application so Georgian College sends the result straight to OMVIC. An application cannot be approved until the course is complete.
4. OMVIC requires notice within five business days of any change to what you filed, and asks applicants to keep a copy of the completed application and every attachment. An application cannot be accepted unless the certificate of dealer, section F, has been completed.
5. Submit the application online with the attachments and pay the fee.
6. Check the status in the portal. A processed application stays visible for 30 days.

Step 4 is where the sponsoring dealership signs. The MVDA defines a salesperson as an individual employed by a motor vehicle dealer to trade on the dealer’s behalf, and a dealership may not retain the services of an unregistered salesperson under section 4(3), nor may a salesperson trade for a dealer they are not registered to under section 4(5). Neither section says when the course has to be taken. The course sits where it does because of section 13(1) of O. Reg. 333/08, which prescribes, as one of three ways a salesperson can meet the education requirement, that the applicant has completed the designated course “at the time of the application”. The other two cover applicants previously registered under the old Act or under this one. OMVIC states an application cannot be approved until the course is complete. Neither instrument requires a dealership for the course or the test: you register with Georgian College yourself and write the test alone.

How long does each step take?

The course side carries the published deadlines. Course material ships by UPS on the date of registration, and you have 12 weeks from that date to write and pass the test. Miss the 12 weeks and the enrolment is cancelled with a grade of zero, and re-writing means re-registering and paying the full fee again. You may attempt the test four times within one academic term; after a fourth failure you wait for the next term. The terms are January 1 to April 30, May 1 to August 31, and September 1 to December 31. Results arrive by email up to five business days after the test date, and Georgian College sends them to OMVIC as well.

The test itself is 60 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes, with a minimum of 80 per cent to pass. It can be written online or in person at an authorised testing site. Our certification exam page has the format in detail, with free practice questions to rehearse it with.

Georgian College’s deadlines are published. OMVIC’s are not, apart from the two-year window: after passing, you have up to two years to apply for registration, and anyone who waits longer has to retake the course. OMVIC publishes no service standard for processing, and its page says only to check status in the portal, where a processed application stays visible for 30 days.

What the statute says about the wait is more useful than a guess at it. An applicant who meets the prescribed requirements is entitled to registration unless a ground in section 6(1) applies. If the Registrar proposes to refuse, section 9 requires written notice with reasons, and the applicant may ask the Licence Appeal Tribunal for a hearing within 15 days of service.

What does a dealer registration cost instead?

More, and on a different cadence. A new dealer application is $699 and the renewal is annual at $401, against a salesperson’s biennial $209. The REVS continuing education fee is $99 for a dealer too, but yearly rather than every two years. The fee schedule also carries a $324 Compensation Fund fee and the $22 transaction fee a dealer remits per motor vehicle sold or leased. The Compensation Fund payment is not a renewal charge. Section 75(2) of O. Reg. 333/08 makes it payable when an application for registration as a general dealer, broker or lease finance dealer that is not a renewal is granted. A general dealer or broker pays it for each place it is authorised to trade from, and section 75(3) charges it again on each place added later; a lease finance dealer pays it once. The figure in the regulation is $300; the $324 on OMVIC’s schedule is set under the authority section 75(1) reserves. A salesperson pays none of it.

The course requirement reaches further on the dealer side. OMVIC requires the Automotive Certification Course from the Person in Charge of day-to-day operations, from officers, and from partners and sole proprietors unless exempt, so a single dealership application can carry several course fees.

A new business application also carries individual applications. OMVIC requires one from each of:

• Officers, directors, owners and partners.
• The Person in Charge.
• Signing authorities.
• Anyone who will trade on behalf of the proposed dealership.

The business application is not ready for review until those are in. A signing authority added later sits under a softer rule: OMVIC’s Business Change Notice says those individuals may be required to submit an individual application, as interested or associated persons. Which class a dealer applies in, and what each one allows, are set out in the registration guide.

Budgeting for a dealer application also has to account for the business plan and the premises. OMVIC requires a detailed business plan with every new business application, so the Registrar can confirm reasonable knowledge, financial stability and responsibility. Premises come later: OMVIC states that an applicant does not need a business premises before submitting the business application, and does not have to provide location information and supporting documents until the final stage of the review, so an applicant is not committed to rent before the file has been looked at.

What does OMVIC not publish?

The BackCheck fee is absent. OMVIC requires the report and names the provider, and prices it on neither the registration page nor the fee schedule, so the figure has to come from BackCheck before you order.

So is any processing time: no service standard exists on any OMVIC page. So is the individual salesperson application form, which sits inside the online services portal, so no public source describes its fields, including what its employment history section asks for. Sponsorship, the BackCheck and the application itself are taken question by question on the answers page.

The rules governing what OMVIC does with the application are public even where the timing is not. Section 9 of O. Reg. 333/08 requires the form to be completed in full, and the MVDA lets the Registrar refuse an applicant who makes a false statement in an application. A past conviction bars nobody by itself: under section 6(1) the Registrar may refuse where past conduct affords reasonable grounds for belief that the applicant will not carry on business in accordance with law and with integrity and honesty, and section 8 lets the Registrar register on conditions instead of refusing.

DealerPrep is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by OMVIC or Georgian College. OMVIC registers salespeople and dealers; Georgian College administers the course and the test.

The course and application fees in the table above carry the date each took effect, because both bodies moved their fees in 2026: Georgian College on September 1 and OMVIC on May 1. Georgian College will not process a registration form submitted with the wrong amount, and its own page still shows the superseded figures further down.