Ontario licence plate sticker refunds expected to begin arriving at end of month

The province’s move to scrap licence plate stickers across Ontario came into effect on Sunday and it will soon begin issuing refunds to those who had re-upped over the past couple of years.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation’s office said cheques will start going out at the end of the month.

“Every eligible individual owner of a vehicle that has paid any renewal fees since March 2020 will be receiving a refund,” MTO spokesperson Dakota Brasier told Global News in an email.

“Vehicle owners will receive a cheque, mailed to the address the government has on file, starting at the end of March and throughout the month of April.”

The change, which was announced in February with a couple of months to go before the June election, will come at a cost of $1.1 billion to the province.

Over the past couple of years, the shadow of COVID-19 touched many places, including licence plates stickers, with the renewal process being waived in 2020.

But initially, the province lifted the waiver and gave Ontario residents until the end of last month to renew their stickers while also paying for the year they missed.

For passenger vehicles, the cost was $120 per year in southern Ontario while northerners got a 50 per cent discount.

Those fees are gone but owners are still required to renew their licence plates every year or two to confirm they have automobile insurance and to pay any outstanding road tolls or other fines.