During our recent meeting with the AMVIC Team we had a discussion around some “low hanging fruit” to improve our performance on inspections. The first opportunity that came up was Business Licensing, which is showing a failure rate of 17% so far this year, or 23 businesses who were not properly licensed when the inspection was completed. This seemed odd in the case of franchised dealerships as these would virtually all be related to renewals.
AMVIC indicates that in most cases, the issue comes up when a renewal includes some kind of change relating to the ownership structure or a change in directors. We are told that when nothing changes, the renewal is usually seamless with minimal lapses in the license.
For context, here are the various license classes within AMVIC’s scope:
Automotive Sales
- Retailer (new and/or used) – authorized to sell to consumers.
- Sell new or used vehicles to the general public.
- Display vehicles for sale.
- Purchase vehicles from the general public.
- Wholesaler – NOT authorized to sell to consumers.
- Sell, consign and exchange vehicles only with other automotive businesses and never to consumers.
- Export vehicles outside of Canada.
- Purchase vehicles from consumers only to sell to an automotive business.
- Businesses may be required to provide a $50,000 security to AMVIC in the form of cash, irrevocable standby letter of credit or surety bond. Please contact licensing to inquire.
- Agent or broker – NOT authorized to sell to consumers.
- Negotiate or conduct on a consumer’s behalf an agreement in which the consumer buys, sells or leases a vehicle.
Automotive Leasing
- NOT authorized to sell to consumers.
- Leasing vehicles when the term of the lease is for more than 120 days.
- In order to complete a sales transaction on a lease buy-out to a consumer after the lease agreement ends, the business must have a sales licence as well.
Automotive Consignment
- Authorized to sell to consumers.
- Sell vehicles on behalf of consignors to consumers as per a signed consignment agreement.
- Business must provide a $300,000 security to AMVIC in the form of cash, irrevocable standby letter of credit or surety bond. Please contact licensing to inquire.
Automotive Repair
- NOT authorized to sell to consumers.
- Subcategories: Garage, Service Station, Auto Body, Specialty, Mobile & Recycling/Dismantling
- Repair, service, install parts or equipment to vehicles.
- Dismantle and recycle vehicles for parts.
- Automotive repair licence class businesses may be required to have a certified service technician on site. Click here for more information.
- Learn more about the different activities under the automotive repair licence class.
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