Automotive Wholesale Inc. (Need A Car Used Car Superstores) fined $2,500 and Anil Puri $1,000 plus Key Elements, with a separate Thunder Bay referral still open

Anil Puri’s name sits on three separate proceedings on OMVIC’s enforcement table: a discipline outcome dated August 26, 2026, a referral to the Discipline Tribunal from July 2026, and a proposal to revoke from December 2025. The newest is the discipline outcome, a $2,500 administrative penalty against Automotive Wholesale Inc. (Toronto Auto Group, 2nd Chance Automotive, Need A Car Used Car Superstores) and $1,000 plus the MVDA Key Elements course against Puri. Neither row has a decision attached, so the findings behind the penalties are not published. The documents OMVIC has published concern a Thunder Bay dealer. They are a Notice of Referral dated July 19, 2026, and an Order to Cease and Retract dated April 26, 2026. Puri is a named party to the referral and appears in the April notice’s background particulars. Both documents describe an all-in pricing history that starts with a reminder in February 2023 and an education order in August 2025.

Which corporation was fined

The referral and the cease-and-retract order name Canadian Sterling Corp. o/a Need A Car Used Car Superstore, at 655 Memorial Avenue in Thunder Bay, a dealer first registered in or around October 2007. The August 26 penalty rows name Automotive Wholesale Inc., whose operating names on the table include Need A Car Used Car Superstores alongside Toronto Auto Group and 2nd Chance Automotive. Puri is named in the Thunder Bay documents and on his own August 26 row. The referral describes him as a salesperson registered since February 1996 and, at all material times, the general manager and Person in Charge of the Thunder Bay dealer. The Notice of Order that accompanies the cease-and-retract order dates that role to on or about February 10, 2012.

Nothing on the table links the August 26 outcome to the July referral. The referral’s rows for Canadian Sterling Corp. and Puri still read Active, and the table lists them under July 20 although the document is dated July 19. The referral contains allegations and the order is the Registrar’s. Neither has been adjudicated.

The all-in pricing file, 2023 to 2026

According to the referral, a representative of the Registrar told Puri on or around February 23, 2023 that the dealer’s advertisements, which quoted a price plus “taxes and fees,” were not compliant with s. 36(7) of O. Reg. 333/08. Under that rule an advertised price must be the total of the amount a buyer pays for the vehicle and all other charges related to the trade, including fees and levies. On or about August 29, 2025, the referral continues, after an OMVIC mystery shop found the same problem, the Registrar issued an education order under s. 14(4) requiring the dealer and Puri to complete the Advertising and Disclosure Presentation. The same subsection authorises referrals. The referral records that Puri completed it.

On or around January 6, 2026, according to the referral, the Registrar’s representative reviewed ads for six vehicles on the dealer’s website and on CarGurus: a 2021 Honda Civic at $21,995, a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado at $13,995, a 2019 Chevrolet Equinox at $19,995, a 2018 Jeep Wrangler at $26,995, a 2023 Ford Bronco Sport at $30,995 and a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee at $21,995. The Notice of Order describes the layout. Directly under each price on the website was a line saying HST and licensing were extra, and neither document takes issue with that line. A second line, in a smaller font and a separate location, read: “levy and other environmental or related levies, other taxes (including, where applicable, GST and PST or HST), additional options, license, insurance and registration are extra.” The CarGurus versions, according to the notice, mentioned no extra fees at all. The notice also raises a second problem the referral does not. Another small-font line said “this vehicle is not drivable, not certified. Certification is available for $695.” The notice states that the advertisements failed to indicate in a clear, comprehensible and prominent manner that the vehicles were being sold as-is, contrary to s. 4(2) of the Code of Ethics.

An order in April, a referral in July

On April 26, 2026, the Registrar, Maureen Harquail, ordered the dealer under s. 29 of the MVDA to cease and retract the use of advertisements making false, misleading or deceptive statements, with one enumerated particular: cease the use of false, misleading or deceptive statements regarding motor vehicle pricing. An order of that kind takes effect immediately under s. 29(3), subject to a stay from the Licence Appeal Tribunal. The Registrar’s Orders tab on OMVIC’s table lists it under April 28. Then on July 19, the Registrar referred the dealer and Puri to the Discipline Tribunal under s. 14(4), alleging that the prices were not all-inclusive and breached s. 4(1), 4(2), 9(1) and 9(3) of the Code of Ethics, and that Puri, as Person in Charge, had failed to ensure compliance and so personally contravened s. 6(2) and 9(3). The referral notes the $25,000 fine ceiling for each party, which sits in s. 17(4). Its Schedule A lists more than 70 OMVIC publications since 2008 that, in the referral’s words, reminded registrants of their all-in price advertising obligations.

The revocation proposal is still open

On December 19, 2025, the Registrar issued a proposal under s. 9 to revoke the registrations of Automotive Wholesale Inc. and Anil Puri. Both rows went up Active, with no hearing date and no document attached, so the grounds were never published.

Of the three proceedings that name Puri, only the August 26 outcome is closed.