Dealers are at risk by participating in the illegal Coast 2 Coast vehicle auction in Barrie July 6‐9,

2023.

Coast 2 Coast Collector Car Auctions, legally referred to as Associated Auto Auction Ltd., has

been notified by the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) that this auction is

unlawful. Any participation in this auction puts you at risk!

THIS IS AN ILLEGAL AUCTION!

Coast 2 Coast Collector Car Auctions, legally referred to as Associated Auto Auction Ltd., has

been put on notice by the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) that this auction is

unlawful. OMVIC investigators are on site to inform participants about the risks associated with

taking part in this auction.

As the regulator of motor vehicle sales in Ontario, OMVIC’s mandate is to maintain a fair and

informed marketplace by protecting the rights of consumers, enhancing industry

professionalism, and ensuring fair, honest and open competition for registered motor vehicle

dealers. Auctions that sell motor vehicles directly to consumers are considered motor vehicle

dealers and must be registered with OMVIC. That’s the law.

COAST 2 COAST COLLECTOR CAR AUCTIONS IS NOT REGISTERED TO SELL OR TRADE MOTOR

VEHICLES IN ONTARIO!

Coast 2 Coast Collector Car Auctions is operating illegally and does not meet the requirements

in the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act (MVDA) to sell vehicles in Ontario. By participating in their

auction, you are putting your dealership at risk. Don’t let yourself become a victim of their

illegal activities.

CONTACT OMVIC.

If you have any information about the Coast2Coast auction that you would like to provide to

OMVIC to support our investigation and efforts to protect consumers, please contact our

Curbsider Hotline: 1‐888‐NO‐CURBS (662‐8727) or at nocurbs@omvic.ca

You can also contact OMVIC’s dealer support team at dealers@omvic.ca or 1‐800‐943‐6002

ext. 4 if you have any questions.

Dealers are legally required to be closed on Canada Day, Saturday, July 1^st. If that is normally a day your staff work, then that’s a paid holiday for them, if not, you would normally choose Friday or Monday as the paid day off for staff who do not work on a Saturday.

Dealers located in an area designated by their local municipality as a Tourist Area may be open on Canada Day if they wish and provide employees with another day off instead.

The UCDA search facility will be closed on Saturday, July 1^st and on Monday, July 3, 2023. It will be open as usual from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4^th.

Members will still be able to access UCDA online services on Canada Day and Monday at www.ucdasearches.com

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has advised us, just today, that the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) is modernizing their driver and vehicle systems.

During Quebec’s system updates from today Monday, January 30 to Thursday, February 16, 2023 the link between their registration system and MTO’s will be unavailable.

As a result, the MTO are pausing vehicle registrations and driver’s licence exchanges from Quebec during that time. Customers are being advised to return to Service Ontario centres to complete transactions when the system is back online on February 17.

Residents of Quebec may drive vehicles registered in their home jurisdiction on Ontario roads for a period of up to six months. People who have moved to Ontario from Quebec have a period of 30 days to register vehicles in Ontario. Quebec customers can contact the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec at 1-800-361-7620 for assistance.

The problem, of course, for members who have bought vehicles in Quebec is that they will not only be unable to register them to their name in Ontario until Feb. 17, but you will be unable to get those vehicles on the road for your customer in that time period. Temporary permits and the like will not solve that difficulty.

The MTO have no work-around for dealers apparently, the best recommendation MTO has for dealers is to book appointments to transfer vehicles for February 17th, and that can be done online at https://www.ontario.ca/page/book-serviceontario-appointment

You may have received an email from OMVIC (HERE) on November 28, 2022 mentioning OMVIC Board changes planned by the Ministry. You may have found it a bit confusing, which is mostly due to what was not said in that email.

Here is the rest of the story.

As matters presently stand OMVIC is overseen by a Board of 12 Directors. 9 are elected motor vehicle dealers and 3 are consumer representatives appointed by the Ministry. The Ministry intends to reduce the number of dealers to a minority by way of a “Minister’s Order”.

The Ministry’s plan would effectively end dealer self-management.

A Minister’s Order means dealers will have no say, as they normally would have to vote on such changes.

We do not support the Ministry’s plan and are actively meeting with Ministry officials, along with other stakeholders who oppose it.

It is early days and we have asked for consultation. We expect an answer on that in the early New Year.

We will keep you informed.

Times are tough.

The price of gas rises, so does gas theft.

The price of new and used cars is on the rise, so vehicle theft is rising as well.

A specific kind of distraction theft is on the rise, and it’s affecting dealers.

Two people, could be men or women, will drive on to a dealer’s lot in a nice car, an Escalade, BMW or a Jag. The plates are usually stolen and, as things turn out, the car probably is too.

They ask about a nice car, and either they are handed the keys, or in some cases they just grab them, in either case, most dealers report being distracted or even physically assaulted.

So far, the calls are coming from the GTA and Southwestern Ontario.

Be alert, especially be aware of where those keys are and consider going with the customer on test drives.