OMVIC orders Toyota on the Park to cease and retract Autotrader advertising over a $1,000 surcharge for paying cash

Five of Toyota on the Park’s Autotrader listings did the hard part right, on the Registrar’s own account: a 2023 Tacoma at $47,995, a 2024 Tundra at $61,495, a 2025 Corolla at $30,888, a 2025 Sienna at $65,495 and a 2022 Rav4 at $37,995, each price in large bold text noting taxes and licensing extra. The Registrar’s concern sat lower on the page. According to the Registrar’s notice, small non-bold text under the “vehicle description” heading added $1,000 to the price if the purchaser was paying with cash. On August 14, 2026, the dealer, 1754672 Alberta Ltd. of 1077 Leslie Street in Toronto, was issued an order under s. 29 of the MVDA to immediately cease and retract false, misleading or deceptive statements regarding motor vehicle pricing.

An order under s. 29 is a belief instrument, not a finding after a hearing. The Registrar needs reasonable grounds to think a registrant’s advertising contains false, misleading or deceptive statements, and can then order cessation, retraction or a correction of equal prominence to the original publication, or both at once. Under s. 29(3) the order operates from the moment it is made, and only a stay from the Licence Appeal Tribunal suspends it while it is contested. The notice gave the dealer 15 days from service to appeal under s. 9(2).

Small print under the vehicle description

On or around June 15, 2026, OMVIC received a public complaint about breaches of the all-in price rule under s. 36(7) of O. Reg. 333/08, and two days later staff reviewed the dealer’s Autotrader advertising and found the five listings above, each carrying Autotrader’s “good” or “great” price indicator. In the Registrar’s assessment, the $1,000 cash condition meant the advertisements did not present every charge “in a clear, comprehensible and prominent manner,” so the advertised totals failed s. 36(7) and the advertisements were false, misleading or deceptive.

This order differs from its predecessors in the direction of the charge. The usual all-in pricing case buries a fee everyone pays, like Georgetown Kia’s pop-up OMVIC and gas fees. Here the stated surcharge fell only on cash buyers, and in the Registrar’s view a charge that applies to some buyers belongs in the advertised presentation like any other, while small print under a description heading does not make it prominent.

The notice also records who holds the registration: the dealership since October 2013, and Alistar Baxter, a salesperson registered since 1987, as its Person in Charge and general manager since February 2023.

The order itself is signed by Thaya Gengatharan as Deputy Registrar, acting as Registrar under s. 3(3) of the Act, the provision that lets a deputy exercise the Registrar’s powers in the Registrar’s absence.

The third cease order since mid-June

CarHub North York Chrysler received a cease order on June 16 and Georgetown Kia a cease-and-retract on July 6. That makes this the third cease order on OMVIC’s Registrar’s Orders table since mid-June, each against a franchise store in or around Toronto over pricing or advertising claims. Two of the three pair the cease with a retraction, and as the Georgetown post sets out, the retraction half is the heavier half, because a correction of equal prominence puts the fix in front of the same audience the advertising reached. A s. 29 order imposes no fine.

If the case carries one lesson for the exam, it is that s. 36(7) reads the whole advertisement. A bold, taxes-extra headline price, even one wearing Autotrader’s “good” or “great” badge, does not answer for small print lower down that adds $1,000 for the buyer paying cash.