Ontario car dealerships adding extra fees and features, hidden cameras show: CBC’s Marketplace cheat sheet
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Buying a new car? Hidden cameras show some Ontario car dealerships adding extra charges and features
We’ve all seen advertisements from car dealerships offering a deal on a specific make and model of new vehicle.
But a hidden camera investigation by CBC’s Marketplace has revealed that some Ontario dealerships are adding costs to the advertised price when car buyers inquire about the vehicles in person.
The province’s car sales regulator, the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council (OMVIC), says the advertised price in a dealership ad must include all fees the consumer is expected to pay, except HST and licensing. In fact it’s been the law in Ontario since 2010 that dealership ads must set out the total amount.
Marketplace journalists went undercover posing as shoppers across the Greater Toronto Area to find out if they could get a car at the price advertised on the dealerships’ websites. Marketplace has received complaints from viewers who said they were being charged for add-ons like floor mats, rust protection and warranties while buying a car.
The team tried to get a quote on a new vehicle based on advertisements from 15 dealerships, which included some of Canada’s biggest car brands: Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota.
The investigation found six of the 15 dealerships charged more than the advertised price. Four of 15 dealerships showed a photo of a more expensive version of the vehicle in the ad than the one they were actually selling. And six of 15 included extra features the undercover shoppers didn’t ask for — though most of the extras were built into the advertised price and some dealerships agreed to remove them when we asked.
George Iny, director of the Automobile Protection Association, a consumer advocacy group, says that “cheating has become more sophisticated” in the average consumer’s car-shopping experience.
“Low-ball pricing has not disappeared,” he said. “They can’t seem to write an honest car ad that includes all the information you’ll need.”
Click here to see how all the dealerships and car brands responded to the investigation.
Read more from Bobby Hristova, Stephanie Kampf and Charlsie Agro.
Man billed $1,500 for vehicle he didn’t own, insurer says he still has to pay
When Darrell Nash sold his used SUV last spring, he thought the deal was done.
After all, the 66-year-old retired truck driver who lives near Langley, B.C., is a self-described “car guy” who says he has plenty of experience buying and selling vehicles.
A couple of months later, Nash says he was blindsided by a $1,500 towing and storage bill for a vehicle he no longer owned, thanks to what he calls a “terrifying loophole in how vehicle transfers are handled.”
“It’s a problem,” Nash told Go Public. “A very strange situation … I didn’t know what to do.”
Scott Stanley, an automotive insurance lawyer and partner at Murphy Battista LLP in Vancouver, said Nash’s case exposes a serious gap in most provincial vehicle laws — one that leaves honest sellers on the hook for someone else’s mess.
He said the issue is simple: only buyers are required to transfer the registration at the vehicle registry office. The seller doesn’t have to be there.
So if a buyer never completes the paperwork, the seller’s name stays on the registration — and with it, the responsibility for tickets, towing, insurance or possibly criminal liability, said Stanley.
In a statement to CBC News, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation said it’s not considering any changes.
Read more from Go Public’s Rosa Marchitelli.
Carney’s 1st budget calls for billions in new spending to prop up tariff-hit economy
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne presented his first federal budget Tuesday and it includes big-ticket items to prop up an economy grappling with major economic disruptions but also cuts to the public service to get the fiscal house in order.
Champagne’s document shows a deficit of roughly $78 billion for the 2025-26 fiscal year — a figure that is lower than some economists had expected but still much higher than what the last Liberal government said it would be before U.S. President Donald Trump launched his trade war.
All told, this budget calls for some $141 billion in new spending over the next five years, which will partially be offset by some $51.2 billion in cuts or a total of $60 billion in cuts and “savings.”
The 406-page budget paints a gloomy picture of the country’s economic outlook — unemployment is up, business uncertainty has spiked and productivity is weak.
The budget projects the economy will grow, but not by much — about one per cent a year for the next two years, well below projections made late last year.
To try and turn things around, the government is pitching massive investments in infrastructure, housing, the military and tax changes to spur business development as Prime Minister Mark Carney drives to bolster Canada’s self-sufficiency and put people to work.
Read more from CBC’s John Paul Tasker.
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