Uninsured Vehicles (UV) Project

The UV Project is an initiative that is led by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) that will provide an electronic means of determining whether a vehicle carries mandatory insurance coverage to MTO when vehicles are queried at the time their license plates are being renewed. The vehicle identification number (VIN) and mandatory coverage status of each insured vehicle are maintained in a database by Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) on behalf of the insurance industry. When the license plate is being renewed, MTO will automatically check the VIN against the insurance industry’s online database to determine whether the vehicle carries mandatory insurance coverage.

Scope (effective November 29, 2010)

A phased rollout approach has been adopted to be certain that customer inconvenience is kept to an absolute minimum. This will allow time to resolve issues that may arise and fine-tune the process before the full scope of the project is implemented.  In the future, the initiative may be expanded so that the police will be able to access the insurance database from their vehicles.

• License plate renewals only

The following vehicles are in scope:

• Vehicles manufactured in 1983 and newer
• Passenger-plated vehicles
• Privately owned or leased passenger vehicles

(Each vehicle must fit all three criteria, above).
The following MTO transactions are out of scope for UV:

• Vehicle transfers
• New registrations

The following vehicles are out of scope:

• Passenger vehicles registered in the name of corporations
• Motorcycles
• Motorhomes
• ATVs
• Commercial vehicles (including those with MTO’s Personal Use Only (PUO) designation – for instance: black-plated pickup trucks)
• Pre-1983 private passenger vehicles

License Plate Renewal Process

• License plate renewal involves a number of associate transactions, such as 407 ETR, Drive Clean, etc. and not only insurance verification.  Failure of the motorist to comply with any of the associated transactions may result in the license plate not being renewed by MTO
• Customers renewing their license plates in person at a Service Ontario location are required to provide proof of insurance at the time they renew their license plate. 
• MTO requires the original pink card as proof of insurance: emails, photocopies and faxes will not be accepted
• MTO will search based on plating only, subject to the defined scope of the project.
• It is important to note that there is no correlation between MTO’s plating categories for “passenger” vs. “commercial” and the insurance industry’s underwriting and rating definitions for “personal” vs. “commercial.”
• To alert vehicle owners to possible insurance or VIN issues, MTO will send a letter to all vehicle owners whose insurance could not be confirmed in the database, approximately 120 days before their license plates expire.
• Owners will be urged to contact their insurance agent or broker to resolve the issue before attempting to renew their plates.
• MTO will send motorists their license plate renewal package approximately 60 days in advance of the renewal date.
• Motorists may attempt plate renewal through four channels:
• Internet
• Kiosk
• In-person at a Service Ontario location
• Mail
• Should any issues arise in renewal process due to the Uninsured Vehicles portion of the plate renewal, MTO is advising customers to proceed to a Service Ontario location.
• For more information of the license plate renewal process, please follow this link to the Ministry of Transportation:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/stkrenew.shtml

For Further Assistance

For consumers:

• If you have experienced an issue in renewing related to your insurance coverage, please contact the person who placed your insurance for you (i.e. your broker, agent or direct response insurance company)
• If you have experienced an issue in renewing your plate that is NOT related to your insurance coverage, please contact Service Ontario at 1-800-267-8097
• If you have any questions about the Uninsured Vehicles project, please contact Service Ontario

For brokers and agents:

• If you have received a request for an investigation related to an insured’s renewal of their license plate, please investigate and contact the insurance company involved to get the matter resolved as quickly as possible
• Please refer to the customer resolve procedures that were sent to you by the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO) on November 11, 2010

For insurance companies:

• If you have received a request for an investigation related to an insured’s renewal of their license plate, please investigate and contact your firm’s Customer Complaints Officer (CCO) or equivalent or UV Coordinator to get the matter resolved as quickly as possible
• Your IBC Data Quality Analyst is available to assist you

Please also refer to the following FAQs:

• Ministry of Transportation UV FAQ
• IBC UV FAQ

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