OMVIC reminds dealers to keep their Person in Charge and business-role records current ahead of CPD renewal cycles

OMVIC’s November 14, 2025 dealer bulletin reminds registrants to keep their Person in Charge, director, and officer information accurate in the OMVIC portal. The bulletin frames the duty as housekeeping, but the consequences run through CPD obligations, the renewal pipeline, and the dealer’s ability to trade vehicles at all.

OMVIC uses the role information on file to identify which individuals must complete continuing professional development before a dealer’s registration can be renewed. A dealer whose recorded PIC has changed, whose director list is stale, or whose officers are out of date risks finding out at renewal that the people who need to complete CPD are not the ones the registrar has on file. The bulletin’s own language is direct: “Failure to maintain accurate records may cause renewal delays, since the correct individuals must complete CPD before the dealer registration can be renewed. Late requests may also slow processing and could delay renewals, halting the dealer’s ability to trade vehicles until renewals are approved.”

The five-day rule that sits underneath

The bulletin’s operational instruction (file a Business Change Notice through the portal) maps to a much older statutory duty. Section 24 of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002 requires every motor vehicle dealer to notify the registrar in writing within five days of any change in officers or directors. The five-day window also catches changes in address for service and the start or end of any salesperson’s employment.

Signing authority sits inside O. Reg. 333/08 rather than the MVDA proper. s. 60(3) of O. Reg. 333/08 says that if there is any change in the information a dealer provided about persons with signing authority, the dealer shall notify the registrar of the change within five days, in a form the registrar provides. The form, in practice, is the same Business Change Notice. The five-day clock is the same.

A dealer that files a BCN late, or not at all, has missed a statutory deadline even before the renewal pipeline catches up with them.

What the Person in Charge designation actually does

The PIC is OMVIC’s operational construct rather than a defined term in the Act, but it carries weight in two ways. The first is administrative. The bulletin describes the PIC as responsible for “day-to-day operations of the dealership and ensuring ongoing compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements through regular onsite oversight.” Each registered location must have its own designated PIC. One individual cannot serve as PIC for multiple locations without prior written OMVIC authorization.

The second is regulatory. When a discipline order finds a dealer in breach of the Code of Ethics, the PIC is usually the registered individual the order attaches the personal finding to. s. 6(1) of the Code of Ethics is the dealer’s positive duty to supervise its salespersons: “A registered motor vehicle dealer shall ensure that every registered salesperson that the dealer employs or retains to act as a salesperson carries out his or her duties in compliance with this Regulation.” MVDA s. 23 extends the same supervisory duty across the whole Act and the regulations. A dealer’s PIC is the human the registrar reaches when the dealer entity is found in breach. Recent discipline orders from CCC Motors, Beattie Chrysler, Riverside Chevrolet, and Pierson Motors each name the PIC individually, with a personal fine or remediation order in addition to the corporate one.

A dealer whose recorded PIC is no longer in the role has two problems at once. The recorded PIC may not be the person actually overseeing daily operations, which weakens the supervisory chain. And the actual PIC may not be on OMVIC’s records, which complicates any future personal finding and slows any renewal that hinges on the PIC’s CPD completion.

What the bulletin asks dealers to do

The bulletin lists three operational items:

• Review the OMVIC portal records for current PICs, directors, and officers at every registered location.
• File a Business Change Notice through the portal for any change.
• Confirm that each registered location has an active PIC and that no individual is serving as PIC for multiple locations without prior written OMVIC authorization.

The contact for follow-up questions is OMVIC’s Industry Standards & Conduct Department at 1-800-943-6002, extension 4.

What to learn

• The five-day notice requirement is statutory. MVDA s. 24(1)(b) and O. Reg. 333/08 s. 60(3) attach the same five-day deadline to officer, director, and signing-authority changes. The Business Change Notice is the form; the clock is the rule.
• A stale PIC record is a delivery risk at renewal. CPD obligations are tied to the individuals OMVIC has on file. A dealer whose PIC has changed and whose BCN has not been filed will discover at renewal that the wrong person was queued for CPD, and the registration may be held until the right person catches up.
• A dealership with more than one registered location needs more than one PIC. The single-PIC-for-many-locations arrangement is not the default; it requires prior written OMVIC authorization. A dealer that has grown into a multi-location operation without naming a PIC at each location has built a structural gap into its registration.