Automatic Ontario licence plate renewals start Canada Day

Ontario drivers in good standing won’t have to worry about renewing their licence plates starting Canada Day.

The measure, previously announced as part of the omnibus bill dubbed the Get It Done Act, removes the requirement for drivers to manually renew their plates online or in person at a ServiceOntario location.

The Ford government previously did away with licence plate stickers and the costs associated with renewing in 2022. Before that, drivers paid $120 to renew the plates for every car they own.

Despite the removal of fees, earlier this year the Ministry of Transportation said there were as many as 1,015,139 expired plates in the province, highlighting a need for an automatic system.

The government said it is the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce automatic licence plate renewals and estimates the move will save Ontario’s eight million drivers 900,000 hours per year.

“Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is making life more affordable and convenient for drivers,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said in a news release issued Wednesday. “Now, we’re saving drivers valuable time and making their lives easier by automatically renewing licence plates.”

The automatic renewal process applies to all passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds. Plates for those vehicles, assuming the owner has valid insurance and no outstanding fines or rolls, will renew automatically 90 days before expiry.

If a licence can’t be renewed automatically, the province said the vehicle owner will be notified through email, text, voicemail or mail and be required to renew manually online or in person at a ServiceOntario location.

The new process doesn’t take effect until July 1, so vehicle owners with expired plates will need to renew manually before then. Drivers can check the status of their licence plate here.