OMVIC's 2025 numbers: enforcement actions doubled, $1.5M paid from the Compensation Fund

OMVIC published its 2025 Annual Report on May 4, 2026. The numbers reported show enforcement actions roughly doubling against 2024 and the Compensation Fund paying out at scale.

For dealers and salespersons preparing for renewal, certification, or CPD, the report doubles as a map of what OMVIC currently treats as priority risk. The categories that drove the 2025 numbers line up with the recent discipline cases and LAT appeals covered on this site.

What the numbers say

• Proposals to revoke, refuse, or suspend more than doubled. 79 in 2025 versus 34 in 2024. These are the Notice of Proposal (NOP) actions OMVIC issues under s. 9 of the MVDA. Once issued, the registrant can request a hearing at the Licence Appeal Tribunal; if the registrant does not, the proposal becomes the order.
• Immediate Temporary Suspension Orders rose from 3 to 26. Nearly nine times the prior year. ITSOs are the s. 10 tool the Registrar uses when waiting for an NOP hearing would put consumers at risk. An ITSO takes effect the day OMVIC serves it. The most recent ITSO post on the site walked through the Tribunal’s authority limits at this stage in Montero Auto Center.
• 2,332 charges under the Provincial Offences Act. Total fines from those POA charges came to $1.9 million. The charges hit dealers, registered salespersons, and unregistered sellers (curbsiders). Curbsiders are subject to MVDA s. 4 registration requirements; selling without registration is the breach the POA charges enforce.
• $825,552 returned to consumers through dealer-driven compensation or refunds, separate from the fund.
• $1.5 million paid from the Motor Vehicle Dealers Compensation Fund on consumer claims. The Fund is the safety net under MVDA Part VIII; it pays approved claims when a registered dealer has caused a financial loss the consumer cannot otherwise recover.
• Mystery shops up 25% across the province. These are the unannounced inspections OMVIC uses to test compliance with all-in pricing, disclosure, and advertising rules. The Bolton Honda discipline decision released April 2, 2026 traces back to inspection findings of exactly this kind.

OMVIC CEO and Registrar Maureen Harquail summarised 2025 as the year that ran “from returning $1.5 million to consumers to holding over 2,300 offenders accountable.”

What this signals for registrants

The 9x jump in ITSOs is the most important number in the report. The ITSO is the regulator’s “stop now, ask later” lever. A 79/26 NOP-to-ITSO ratio in 2025 (versus 34/3 in 2024) suggests OMVIC is not waiting on hearings before acting in cases that involve unregistered sales or curbsiding. The recent LAT decisions on this site track that shape: ITSO-stage logic in Montero Auto and NOP-stage revocation in All Gear Auto, Leon’s Fine Cars, and Maceka.

The mystery-shop increase is the second signal worth noting. A 25% rise in unannounced-inspection volume means more dealers were tested on advertising and disclosure compliance in 2025 than in any prior year. The Bolton Honda decision turned on exactly the kind of error a mystery shop is designed to catch: undisclosed prior damage, falsified records on follow-up.

$1.5 million in approved consumer claims is the amount registrants funded indirectly through the annual $324 Compensation Fund fee, which did not change in this year’s fee notice. Consumers do not pay into the fund; dealers do, and the fund’s solvency depends on enforcement preventing the bigger losses.

What to learn

• An NOP under s. 9 and an ITSO under s. 10 are different instruments. The NOP starts the process; the ITSO is interim relief. The Tribunal’s powers differ at each stage. Know which one a registrant is facing before drafting a response.
• Mystery shops drive most disclosure and pricing discipline. The all-in pricing rule in O. Reg. 333/08 s. 36(7), the truthful-representation duty in Code of Ethics s. 4(2), and the contract-content disclosure rules in s. 42 are the provisions OMVIC tests in the field. Treat them as live.
• The Compensation Fund is statutory, not optional. Part VIII of the MVDA makes the fund the consumer’s last-resort recovery route, and the $324 dealer fee is what keeps it solvent.