Toronto, October 27, 2008
“Know Your Ride” education
program helps teenagers avoid
problems associated with
purchasing used vehicles
New research from Angus Reid
Strategies reveals that 73 per
cent of vehicle buyers in
Ontario purchased their first
car used. In light of the
popularity of used car sales,
the Ontario Motor Vehicle
Industry Council (OMVIC), the
industry regulator, launched a
new high school program to
educate first-time vehicle
buyers about the potential
benefits and pitfalls of buying
used. The program has been
approved by Curriculum Services
Canada (CSC).
“A car purchase is a lot of
money – especially for a young
person,” says OMVIC’s Brenda
McIntyre. “First-time buyers may
not know how to check a used
vehicle’s history, recognize a
suspicious private seller or
curbsider, or identify a stolen
or misrepresented vehicle. Know
Your Ride is an important first
step to educating these car
buyers and is approved by
Curriculum Services Canada.”
OMVIC is the Ontario regulator
for vehicles sales and, through
its investigations, has
identified the following issues
associated with vehicle sales:
Ownership and History Issues
- Stolen vehicles sold
with false ownership
- Insurance write-offs
sold at auctions, rebuilt
and sold
- Former rental cars sold
without disclosing history
- Outstanding liens from
former owners
Misrepresented Conditions
- Missing parts, especially
airbags
- Odometer tampering
- Corrosion – badly corroded
vehicles repainted and resold
- Flood vehicles from Hurricane
Katrina and Hurricane Ike
“Know Your Ride is designed to
be an integral component of the
Grade 10 civics curriculum in
Ontario and was evaluated by
Curriculum Services Canada,”
says Brenda McIntyre. The
program includes a student DVD,
a teacher’s guide and student
handouts filled with safety
tips. Teachers or schools
interested in a free copy of
Know Your Ride can call (416)
512-3167.
“An important part of Know Your
Ride is that students can take
the information home with them
and pass it along to family
members who may not be aware of
the pitfalls of purchasing used
vehicles. This may be especially
helpful to people who are new
Canadians or people who do not
know how to find this
information,” says McIntyre.
For more information or to order
a copy of Know Your Ride for
your class or school, contact
(416) 512-3167.
About the Research
From September 17 to September
21, 2008, Angus Reid Strategies
conducted an online survey among
a randomly selected,
representative sample of 1,193
adult Ontarians on behalf of the
Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry
Council (OMVIC). The
margin of error for the total
sample is +/- 2.8%, 19 times out
of 20. The results have
been statistically weighted
according to Statistics Canada’s
most current education, age,
gender and region Census data to
ensure a representative sample
of the entire adult population
of Ontario.
About OMVIC
OMVIC administers the Motor
Vehicle Dealers Act (MVDA) on
behalf of the Ministry of Small
Business and Consumer Services
and will oversee the
implementation of MVDA 2002 in
April 2009. OMVIC maintains a
safe and informed vehicle-sales
marketplace by regulating
dealers and salespersons,
regularly inspecting Ontario’s
8,600 dealerships, maintaining a
complaint line for consumers and
conducting investigations. OMVIC
is also responsible for
administering the Motor Vehicle
Dealers Compensation Fund on
behalf of a Board of Trustees.
About CSC
CSC is the Pan-Canadian
standards agency for quality
assurance in learning products
and programs. See
www.curriculum.org for the
full evaluation of “Know Your
Ride.”
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