The 2025 Annual Report from Ontario’s motor vehicle dealer regulator describes in great detail its measures taken to improve consumer protection.
The results of that organization’s annual ‘mystery shops’, however, indicate the message isn’t consistently reaching the province’s car dealers.
Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC) made consumer protection its top priority in its 2024 strategic plan. Consumer focus is its first listed value, consumer protection is the first listed strategic goal in the strategic plan, and the 2025 annual report is peppered with prominent sections about efforts to improve awareness of consumer rights, increased consumer compensation, efforts to combat curbsiders (unlicensed sales), ‘re-vinning’ (illegal use of vehicle identifications) and enforcement actions, both in statistics and small stories of egregious industry practices.
The annual report includes a top-level discussion of the results of the most recent ‘mystery shop’ campaign, in which trained staff pose as potential buyers and evaluate dealers’ compliance with regulations during the course of a typical sales call.
So observing where the rubber hits the road – where consumers encounter the actual practices of dealers OMVIC supervises – the 2025 results indicate some slippage in obeying rules.
More than one-third of dealers failed to properly comply with regulations, and about 10 per cent of sales calls resulted in dealer action that warranted disciplinary action, including summons for provincial offences.
“There is more work ahead in terms of education and awareness to improve these figures,” said OMVIC Director of Enforcement Sam Cosentino, in the release announcing the results.
OMVIC conducted 318 visits with dealers across the province – 50 with dealers for which past conduct in a mystery shop warranted continued monitoring, and 268 other dealer visits, selected randomly.
Of the 268 new mystery shops, 96 involved a compliance failure, 23 failures warranted some kind of discipline (9%) and four resulted in a summons for a provincial offence.
Of the 50 dealers with repeat problems, 16 (32%) failed to comply, 8 of the failures warranted discipline (16%) and one resulted in a summons.
The overall pass rate for new mystery shops (64%) was 8% lower than in the previous year.
The OMVIC report said the common problems included hidden fees and violations of Ontario’s all-in price rules, unregistered dealers, selling off-premises, advertising that neglected to label certain vehicles being sold ‘as is’ (not fit for immediate use) and financing information that lacked clarity.
Of the 112 dealers who ‘failed’ the mystery shop, most (69%) received a warning letter, 3% were issued an education order, 24% were recommended for discipline and 4% were summoned for Provincial Offences Court.