Vehicle documents and permits

The paper trail that moves a vehicle from a dealer’s lot to a customer’s driveway is built almost entirely on the Highway Traffic Act and its regulations, not on the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002. The vehicle permit, the Used Vehicle Information Package, the Safety Standards Certificate, and the licence plate rules all live there. OMVIC enforces a few overlapping duties through the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002 and Ontario Regulation 333/08, especially around the safety certificate disclaimer that has to appear in a used vehicle contract, but the underlying machinery is the Ministry of Transportation’s.

Every registered dealer and salesperson in Ontario has to know who issues each document, when it is valid, what it actually proves, and how it transfers at the point of sale. Getting any one of these wrong can leave a customer unable to register the vehicle in their name, expose the dealer to a Highway Traffic Act fine, and trigger a Code of Ethics complaint to OMVIC.

What this category covers

This category tests the four documents that move at delivery: the vehicle permit (the green ownership), the Used Vehicle Information Package, the Safety Standards Certificate, and dealer or service plates. It also covers what a dealer has to do when the customer takes delivery: remove and retain plates, complete the transfer portion of the permit, and help the buyer register the vehicle within six days. The plate-misuse rules in section 12 of the Highway Traffic Act sit here too, because dealer plates are easy to abuse.

Key rules to remember

The vehicle permit splits in two at the point of sale

Section 7 of the Highway Traffic Act requires a currently validated permit and number plates for any vehicle driven on a highway. When the holder ceases to be the owner, section 11 sets out the choreography: the seller removes their number plates, retains the plate portion of the permit, completes and signs the transfer application on the vehicle portion, and gives that portion to the buyer. The new owner then has six days to apply to the Ministry for a new permit in their own name. Number plates stay with the seller; they do not transfer with the vehicle. A dealer trading a vehicle into stock must take the vehicle portion from the customer and surrender or transfer it through the dealer’s own records.

The Used Vehicle Information Package follows the vehicle, not the buyer

Section 11.1 of the Highway Traffic Act requires every person who sells, offers for sale, or transfers a used motor vehicle to provide a valid Used Vehicle Information Package for inspection by proposed purchasers and to deliver it to the buyer at the time of sale or transfer. Section 11.1(3) requires the buyer to deliver the package to the Ministry before obtaining a new permit. In practice, this duty matters most when a dealer is buying a trade-in or a consignment vehicle from a private seller: the package shows the Ontario registration history, the recorded odometer readings, and any liens registered against the vehicle in the province. The package does not show ownership or odometer history from outside Ontario, and it does not show accident history.

A Safety Standards Certificate is required to register a used vehicle as fit

A Safety Standards Certificate is issued by a vehicle inspection centre accredited by the Director of Vehicle Inspection Standards. This is recent law. Until April 1, 2025 the work was done by motor vehicle inspection stations licensed under Regulation 601, and Ontario Regulation 173/22 revoked that regulation on that date. The current rules are in the Highway Traffic Act at sections 100.2 and 100.4 and in Ontario Regulation 170/22. Section 100.4 says a certificate may be issued only where a registered technician carried out the inspection in an accredited centre and the vehicle met the prescribed standards, and it may be issued only on a form provided by or approved by the Ministry. The currency window sits in a different regulation again: section 2.0.1(2) of Regulation 628 says a permit indicating a fit status is not issued for a used motor vehicle unless the certificate came from an inspection completed within the preceding 36 days. The certificate only confirms the vehicle met basic standards on the day it was inspected; it is not a warranty. Section 40 of Ontario Regulation 333/08 under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002 forces every used vehicle sale contract that includes a current certificate to carry a 12-point bold statement saying exactly that, and prohibits a dealer from selling a vehicle as-is when a current certificate has been issued for it.

Dealer plates and service plates are not the same

A dealer plate is issued by the Ministry of Transportation under section 7(24)(g) of the Highway Traffic Act, and the rules that govern its use are in section 13 of Regulation 628. It is a single portable plate a registered dealer can move between vehicles in the for-sale inventory. What the dealer may do with the vehicle depends on what kind of vehicle it is. Section 13(2) covers an ordinary motor vehicle in that inventory and allows private use in Ontario as well as purposes related to the sale, so personal driving is permitted there. Section 13(3) narrows a commercial motor vehicle to purposes related to the sale, and section 13(4) bars a dealer plate from any vehicle kept for private use or for hire. The one carve-out is section 13(6): a pick-up truck may be driven privately in Ontario, provided it tows or draws nothing. A service plate, issued under section 7(24)(h) of the Act and governed by section 13.1 of Regulation 628, goes to repairers, customizers, and transporters; section 13.1(2) lists the purposes it may be used for, and section 13.1(4) bars it from any vehicle kept for private use or for hire. Section 12 of the Highway Traffic Act makes it an offence to deface, alter, or misuse a plate or permit, and to use a plate on a vehicle other than the one authorized.

Records under section 60

Section 60 of the Highway Traffic Act requires every person who buys, sells, wrecks, or otherwise deals in second-hand vehicles to keep the prescribed records, often called the dealer’s garage register. Buying or dealing in a vehicle whose VIN has been obliterated or defaced is a separate offence under the same section.

Common mistakes

• Letting the customer drive off with the dealer’s number plates still on the vehicle. Plates do not transfer with the vehicle; section 11 says the seller removes them.
• Treating the Used Vehicle Information Package as a substitute for a vehicle history report. The package shows Ontario data only and does not record collisions.
• Selling a used vehicle as-is when a current Safety Standards Certificate has been issued for it. Section 40(3) of Ontario Regulation 333/08 prohibits that combination outright.
• Relying on a Safety Standards Certificate from an inspection completed more than 36 days earlier. Section 2.0.1(2) of Regulation 628 blocks the fit-status permit, so the buyer is turned away at ServiceOntario.
• Putting a dealer plate on a vehicle that is not part of the for-sale inventory, such as the owner’s own car or a customer’s vehicle in for service. Section 13(2) of Regulation 628 ties the plate to a motor vehicle the dealer owns as part of the inventory offered for sale, and section 13(4) bars it from any vehicle kept for private use or for hire.
• Accepting a vehicle from a private seller who hands over only a signed permit with no Used Vehicle Information Package. That is a classic curbsider pattern; the dealer should pull the package directly from ServiceOntario.
• Forgetting to enter the trade-in or sale in the section 60 garage register within the time the regulation requires.

How OMVIC enforces this

OMVIC inspectors check the dealer’s records, sale contracts, and as-is contracts on every routine inspection, looking for the prescribed safety certificate statement and the missing-or-mismatched permit transfer. Where a dealer has sold a vehicle as-is over a current certificate, or issued a contract with a stale certificate, the inspector usually opens an investigation file and the registrar can refer the matter to the discipline committee under the Code of Ethics. Plate misuse, false certificates, and obliterated VIN files often go to police as Highway Traffic Act prosecutions because the underlying offence sits in that Act, not the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002. Convictions on the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002 side can also drive a registration proposal that the dealer would have to defend at the Licence Appeal Tribunal.

Where to learn more

The permit, transfer, plate, and Used Vehicle Information Package rules are in the Highway Traffic Act at sections 7, 11, 11.1, 12, 59, and 60. Who may issue a Safety Standards Certificate, and on what form, is in the same Act at sections 100.2 and 100.4, with the accreditation and technician rules in Ontario Regulation 170/22. The fit and unfit permit rules, the 36-day certificate window, and the dealer and service plate rules are in Regulation 628. The contract-side disclosure rule is in section 40 of Ontario Regulation 333/08. Lifetime access on this site opens the full bank, and it carries a wider pool on these documents. See the price and the pass guarantee.