A person can apply for registration (or renewal) as a dealer if:

• The required fee is paid.
• The applicant is at least 18.
• The applicant, interested persons and associated persons are not in default of retail sales tax.
• The Motor Vehicle Dealers Compensation Fund has not paid out a claim for the applicant for which the Fund has not been reimbursed or a suitable repayment plan is in place.
• The "person in charge of the day-to-day operations of the dealership" and other persons (an officer, director, partner or sole proprietor if different from the person in charge of day-to-day operations) have successfully completed the certification course or are exempt from having to take the course because he or she was the "person in charge" of a dealership on January 1, 2007 (note that "Lease Finance Dealers" and "Fleet Lessors" are exempted).
• The applicant has equivalent registration in another jurisdiction and will be registered as an "Outside Ontario Dealer."

Under the MVDA, there will no longer be branch registrations. If the dealer trades from more than one location, he or she is registered as one dealer only, but the registration lists all of the authorized places of business.

Salesperson Registration

A person can apply for registration as a salesperson if:

• The required fee is paid.
• The applicant has successfully completed the Automotive Certification Course.
• The applicant is employed or retained to act as a salesperson by a registered dealer.

A salesperson who has earlier completed the course but who has been out of the industry for two years may be required to complete the Certification Course again.

Unfortunately OMVIC investigations or inspections sometimes find unregistered salespersons actively selling vehicles. Some of the common reasons for this occurrence are:

• The salesperson has told the sponsoring dealer that he or she is registered with OMVIC, when he or she is not.
• Applications are completed by the salesperson, but not sent in by the dealer.
• Responsibility for completing and submitting applications is delegated to the individual salesperson who fails to complete the process.
• The dealer or salesperson submits an application to OMVIC, but does not check to confirm that it has been approved before allowing the salesperson to work.

The MVDA places the onus on both the dealer and the individual salesperson to ensure that the salesperson is properly registered. Accordingly, dealers are responsible for ensuring all their salespeople are properly registered with OMVIC.