Ontario Shops: What’s your DriveOn experience?

editor 19 June 2024

0 1 3 minutes read

Ontario Shops: What’s your DriveOn experience?

A single digital program has been established in Ontario for emissions and safety inspections for heavy-duty diesel commercial, light-duty and passenger vehicles.

That program, DriveOn, is billed as being able to reduce fraud, ensure the safety of vehicles on roads, reduce emissions and save money for commercial vehicle owners. It started in July 2022 with facilities that previously tested emissions only. Motor vehicle inspection stations that currently perform safety inspections and issue yellow safety stickers (commercial inspections were able to apply starting May 9, 2024).

The current motor vehicle inspection program ends on Dec. 31. But to purchase and receive equipment before then, the DriveOn enrolment process was to be completed by June 1. An information session is available through the provincial government’s website.

The program, advocates say, will ensure the safety of vehicles on Ontario roads. Some hope that it will push out nefarious players and ensure legitimate safeties are given to qualifying vehicles.

“The idea that you can have a tractor-trailer that pulls 150,000 lbs. down [Highway] 401 that got inspected [in exchange] for two cases of beer is wrong,” said John Cochrane, interim executive director with the Automotive Aftermarket Retailers of Ontario, which has been helping Ontario shop owners move to the new program with guidance and regular updates.

There are further hopes that it may eventually lead to mandatory safety inspections of Ontario vehicles, whether every year or bi-annually, not just when vehicles are sold.

Cochrane explained that DriveOn will operate in the same manner as the now-defunct Drive Clean and operated by the same group, Parsons. Drive Clean started in 1999 and was scrapped in 2019.

“The idea is to modernize and computerize the inspection of vehicles,” Cochrane said in an interview, adding that nothing is changing as to how shops will certify a vehicle is safe. “What the province and Parsons want to make sure what happens is that vehicles that are inspected are properly inspected.”

That means the checks will be done the same way as before, just with a digital twist added by way of photos to verify the findings.

“You’re still going to be doing the physical inspection for play on the ball joints and play on the tie rods,” Cochrane explained. “There is going to be basically no change of a vehicle inspection. But what there is, is the recording of the vehicle inspection.”

There will be areas where technicians can note body defects, he added.

However, Auto Service World has received negative feedback from Ontario shop owners. They point to the Drive Clean program and wonder if their investment in DriveOn will end up like the one many shops made in Drive Clean, which was all lost following the end of the program.

For instance, the cost of digital equipment to perform inspections can be thousands of dollars. Many shops will need to upgrade their wi-fi capabilities to have coverage in testing areas, a requirement of the program.

For some shops, safeties don’t make up enough of their business so they told Auto Service World that they don’t plan to move over to this new program.

Cochrane called it a business decision shops need to make. But he believes it will be positive for a shop’s bottom line.

“I think that you’re going to have a lot more vehicle safety inspection business because a lot of the vehicles that have not been inspected properly are going to get inspected properly, and it will generate thousands of dollars of repairs,” he said, noting that for every 10 safety inspections his shop performed, about eight of them required mechanical repairs.

“So do you want to not get the mechanical repairs that are generated from an inspection?” he asked.

One shop owner questioned how many shops would invest in the program given that they already have a hard enough time finding technicians — are they prepared to pull a tech off the floor to perform these tests?

Nevertheless, Cochrane wants all Ontario shops to be part of the system that keeps vehicles safe on the province’s roads.

“I would like everybody to embrace this program,” Cochrane said. “It is going to have a learning curve. There’s no question about that. But once you’ve got through the learning curve, it’s going to make driving on Ontario highways safer.”

Speak up

Auto Service World has had shop owners reach out and ask if we’ve heard from others about the program — so we’re turning the floor over to you. Whether you have started the program, are in the process of getting equipment or staying out, let us know your thoughts in the comment section. Your fellow shop owners are looking for your insights.

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