New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!)

   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!) #1  

3930dave

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A friend of mine just bought a CUT, 4 hours away from where he lives. In the course of researching trailer to buy, he came across this fairly new Ontario provincial legislation:

"If the gross vehicle weight rating of the truck, when added to the gross vehicle weight rating of the towed trailer exceeds 4500 Kg (9,920 lbs) THEN
both the truck and the trailer require annual safety inspections and the purchase of safety inspections stickers annually. "

Just what we need in Canada, another tax grab......

There may be some exemptions for SUVs, but not pickup trucks.

There also may be an exemption "when transporting personal effects".

What we are trying to figure out is does this only apply to commercial vehicles ?

Anybody out there have any experience with this, or insider knowledge ?

(I may be one day able to afford the truck/trailer I want.... but not the taxes..... :mad:)
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!)
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thnx Cinder,

(looked yesterday, but didn't find the Regional links (found today in drop down), will post a link to this in the Canada section - sorry Mods).

I will peruse those links.

My buddy is a pretty sharp guy... I think those links may have been what he went through recently. It sounds like the legislation is deliberately vague as to what extent this applies to personal use vs. commercial.

The base legislation could be old, but the enforcement may have been stepped up recently, or amendments added. (My buddy talked with a small fleet owner recently who had just spent $35,000C on getting his trucks (<15) outfitted with the now required "yellow tagged" chains - you either have to buy those ones, or pay a test lab to certify your existing ones - a few people are making big money off this). Thnx again 4 the links.

Rgds, Dave.
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!) #4  
Here in good old New Brunswick, we have had to have annual safety inspections on ALL vehicles - trucks, cars, trailers - for decades now. In fact at one time inspections were required every 6 months on trucks over 10,000 lbs. GVW . And don't think the local constabulary don't keep a sharp eye out for expired inspection stickers. Welcome to tax land.:(
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!)
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Yep HChkr.... I figure with the trajectory the taxes are on, I'll end up driving a horse - I'd like to see MTO emission test that one ! :D

ONT has light passenger safeties when you sell a vehicle, I think it is BC has little or nothing for safeties.... makes sense when you have the Rockies eh !

Cloaking tax grabs with Safety, or Environmentalism...... I'm not sure which one irritates me more. (No flames pls, I value both subjects, just waaayyyy tired of tax scams - all they do is give the govt. more $ to burn, and demean both subjects). :(
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!) #6  
Here in good old New Brunswick, we have had to have annual safety inspections on ALL vehicles - trucks, cars, trailers - for decades now. In fact at one time inspections were required every 6 months on trucks over 10,000 lbs. GVW . And don't think the local constabulary don't keep a sharp eye out for expired inspection stickers. Welcome to tax land.:(

Americans...Watch out. When congress and the states get wind of this, it'll come here. Money for nothing...
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!) #7  
i live in maine and we like to *occasionally* poke fun at some of our neighbors to the north for some slightly odd ways of thinking, but i don't think your system could be any more convoluted than ours. i dont think i can blame this on anything but our own brilliance.

i have a truck and 2 axle trailer. my trailer has to be registered, but it has no weight rating. my truck has to be registered for whatever weight it can carry, plus whatever weight the trailer carries. the truck registration is required to be a commercial one, due to the weight rating. the truck also requires a safety inspection, and i get a state mandated commercial checklist showing pass/fail for each category. however, the inspection sticker can be a non-commercail provided my total weight is under 20,000lb, i do not have air brakes, and i do not use the vehicle in commerce. if any of those were otherwise, i'd have to have an actual commercial tag on the sticker, even though it is no different that the commercial inspection i have on a regular sticker. if i did in fact use it in commerce, i would also need a commercial inspection on the trailer. same truck, same trailer, same cargo, but tons of different requirements, just based on how it is used. funny thing is, there are a lot of inspection stations that don't seem to know all the laws either. i've talked to people that were told by the inspection station that they needed it a certain way, while i have talked to the state police and been told differently.
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!)
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Tim - Money For Nothing - just like Dire Straits sang, it is wwwaaaayyyy to attractive to pass by..... likely to just keep going, at least up until most people can't afford to drive......

Hi Lostcause..... not trying to compete (this is a nightmare I wish I could wake up from :confused2:), but at this point, I suspect a similar goofy arrangement here. The focus of the legislation may likely be commercial, but the wording is vague enough that it is not very clear to what extent personal vehicles are affected. (Ex., I'm hearing there may be exemptions for RVs, so maybe I could buy an old 5'th wheel, gut it, and haul Ag equipment ? Nice option, if I had the money/time to do it).

After reading up, I'll try the local ace mechanic for an opinion.... he drives a 7.3L F250, and may be able to give me a reading on the chicken bones and bats blood involved in making sense of this.

I do expect to find a similar level of confusion amongst many of the enforcement people here. When I picked my tractor up at an auction 20km north of here, I ended up chatting with the police officer who was working there that day (big auction site). He asked how I was getting it home (not really as a challenge question, more just bored, as there wasn't much going on the day I picked it up) - he didn't realize what an SMV (orange triangle) was, or how it was used..... nice guy, and I was of course polite with my answer, but yes, we peasants just trying to do something safe/legal with our tractors aren't the only ones confused.

Rgds, D.
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!) #9  
I don't see what the fuss is about. I have to have registration and inspection on my truck and trailer here. Not that big of a deal.

What drives things like this as much as the money is almost always an accident, usually involving a busload of pregnant nuns or something where someones trailer fell apart and caused it or something like that.

I have lived places without state inspections, and I am here to tell you, they work. I have dodged mufflers, parts of bumpers and all kinds of other junk that fell off cars where we did not have inspections.
 
   / New trailer legislation in the People's Republic of Ontario (Canada eh!) #10  
I don't see what the fuss is about. I have to have registration and inspection on my truck and trailer here. Not that big of a deal.

What drives things like this as much as the money is almost always an accident, usually involving a busload of pregnant nuns or something where someones trailer fell apart and caused it or something like that.

I have lived places without state inspections, and I am here to tell you, they work. I have dodged mufflers, parts of bumpers and all kinds of other junk that fell off cars where we did not have inspections.

Pregnant Nuns. :laughing:

The problem I see with it is when it is only on commercial. Then it is just another business tax.
 
 
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