By Staff
February 16th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Toronto Star reports that more than a million Ontarians have yet to renew their licence plates and are facing fines up to $1,000 — even though doing so is now free.
How did that happen?
In 2022, premier Doug Ford scrapped the $120 annual licence plate renewal fee. The Star reports that charges for people with expired plates have skyrocketed, from 5,341 tickets in 2022 to 15,631 in 2023, according to Ontario Provincial Police. What’s the state of your plate?
· Removing the renewal charge was a signature policy of Ford’s after he campaigned on keeping costs down — but the act would cost the provincial treasury more than $1 billion a year.
· There was some confusion after licence plate renewal stickers were scrapped alongside the annual renewal fee, leading some motorists to think they no longer have to renew at all. Others, forgetting to remove the 2022 renewal sticker from their plates, wound up getting ticketed outside the province by police thinking their plates were expired.
· Get it done: One’s licence plate expiry date is usually the birthday of the owner; motorists can check their licence plate status and renew it online. You can see here if your licence plate has expired and renew your plate online here.
Thanks for the reminder, a good public service.
Very simple process and I don’t miss standing in line and forking out about a $1000 every other year near my birthday (I have a daily/cross country driver and 3 collector cars and would pay 2 years at a time).
Clunkers were no longer seen as an issue when we stopped doing silly emissions tests that was becoming a money grab for certain garages. Sticker renewals did not serve this purpose. Clunkers are removed from the road when people try to sell them and the cost of repairs for a safety exceeds the value.
If anyone misses standing in line, I would suggest volunteering that time for community service.
If anyone misses paying the fee, I will set up a crowdfunding site and donate the money to the Salvation Army (or you can do this yourself).
Another questionable decision from the gang that can’t shoot straight…or lead responsibly!
Auto registration helps authorities confirm who owns what. It is also a simple revenue generator. It’s also an incentive to get clunkers off the road. While registration costs were increased too quickly under the Wynne government, the fact is that it generates income for the province, just as the LCBO does. I’m all for paring back unnecessary expenses and automating where necessary to reduce costs, but eliminating revenue sources was a short-sighted election ploy that created a significant revenue hole.
I wish Premiers were like professional athletes. I would love to send Doug Ford down to the minors, put him on waivers, or better still, just trade him!
PSA: check your driver’s license and make sure it has not expired. The province decided to stop mailing out the renewal notices for your driver’s license. You have to go online and sign up for online reminders. You can sign up for online renewal notices here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-serviceontario-renewal-reminders?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAz8GuBhCxARIsAOpzk8zhBLEjBlT5LqEz0xu99P4PeNR_2kU78gKXEnZsEKgHTNS5YPFw06MaAiXpEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
My birthday is in April and I recently received a notice in the mail that my plate expires on my birthday this year and though there is no cost and no sticker, I was directed to the website to renew and still choose either one or two years. The note states that police can tell that it’s been renewed. I also got a confirmation which I printed and put in my glove box.
I did not get this notice in prior years so I think they have perhaps just begun to send the notices again because of all the complains and confusion. This is good because it is hard to remember when you last renewed and if you chose one or two years without the sticker. I miss the sticker!
Ontario has more than 12.8 million registered vehicles.
Divided by number of months per year = 1 million vehicles registered each month.
So if a million drivers are due to register next month or else face penalties… that’s pretty much normal business as usual.
At least drivers no longer need to take a day off work and line up for hours at the Service Ontario office.
Amen to that.