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Ontario Prii Exempt from Emissions (Canadians take note)

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by canuckican, Jun 2, 2005.

  1. canuckican

    canuckican New Member

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    Of particular interest to Ontario Prius drivers and of general interest to others, I just recently got a letter in the mail, along with a new ownership form (title) from the ministry of transportation telling me that because the Prius is a manufactured hybrid vehicle (as opposed to a retrofitted or converted vehicle) I now have a lifetime exemption from getting the obligatory emissions testing. (lifetime of the car, not me, obviously)

    Woo-hoo!! I was very happy about this and stunned that they actually contacted me without me having to do anything!

    Now if only Ottawa or Toronto will give us a tax exemption...
     
    #1 canuckican, Jun 2, 2005
  2. FlyingJoe

    FlyingJoe New Member

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    I know you were joking, but on the off-chance you didn't know, there are two provincial tax sales tax rebates for the Prius in Ontario, one for $100 when the mileage is better than 6.0L/100 km and the other for $1,000 for alternative fuel cars and hybrids, which may be changed to $2,000.

    You can find info on it here :
     
    #2 FlyingJoe, Jun 2, 2005
  3. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    In B.C. your exempt the provincial sales tax. 7% nice break. Unfortunatly not retroactive before the last budget. And the local dorks at the testing station say the Prius has to be checked just like any other car.
     
    #3 Frank Hudon, Jun 2, 2005
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    yeah but it's 7% up to $2,000. So anything HCH and up is at $2,000, the Insight is about $1,700?

    Frank, isn't AirCare phasing out next year?
     
    #4 Tideland Prius, Jun 3, 2005
  5. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    apparently not according to one of the people who works for AirCare. AirCare website still say's there not exempting them.
     
    #5 Frank Hudon, Jun 3, 2005
  6. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Ok. Well we have 3 years before our first inspection. Darn, that means we have to get our Camry inspected next year
     
    #6 Tideland Prius, Jun 3, 2005
  7. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    if you go to their web page and click on about us and select all the questions down near the bottom is thier explanation.
    http://www.aircare.ca/
     
    #7 Frank Hudon, Jun 3, 2005
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    True. I checked "What pollutants does AirCare test for?" They test for CO, HCs and NOx. That's pretty good as opposed to UK's stupid CO2 taxes that favour diesels.
     
    #8 Tideland Prius, Jun 3, 2005
  9. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    "If you have seen an excessively smoking vehicle and you wish to report it, please call 604-435-SMOG (7664)."

    Boy would that number have come in handy! I've seen 2 or 3 in the past 2 weeks
     
    #9 Tideland Prius, Jun 3, 2005
  10. canuckican

    canuckican New Member

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    Flying Joe,

    I wasn't joking actually. I was unaware of any tax incentive given to Ontario Prius drivers. I will have to do a little checking on the info you provided. Are you sure it is actually in law? They did a lot of talking about these things, but never seemed to get around to enacting them. Can you provide a link?
     
    #10 canuckican, Jun 3, 2005
  11. FlyingJoe

    FlyingJoe New Member

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    Yep. As absolutely certain as someone can be without actually having yet applied for the rebates, :) because here's the links to the forms. (HEV).

    As I am picking up my Prius tomorrow afternoon (WooHoo!), I will soon get to go down the old paperwork path too.

    You're absolutely right about
    . Because they had sent out a press release that said
    but I have been unable to find anything that follows through on the increase to $2,000...
     
    #11 FlyingJoe, Jun 3, 2005
  12. c4

    c4 Active Member

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    The HST rebate applies to both new and used vehicles, but the TFFC is only for new vehicles.

    Make sure you read the forms carefully and obtain all the requisite documentation- I bought my car privately, and then had to go into a dealer to get documentation, but they had never heard of the tax rebate until I pointed it out to them....

    Currently, the tax rebate is still only $1000 max. and covers not just hybrids, but a number of different types of alternative fuel vehicles as well.. The increase to $2000 was proposed for the next budget with the last Tory government, but the election of "Tax Hike" McGuinty and the Liberals killed that, and there's no signs that the this government is about to bring it back.. (which is why I was somewhat surprised to see them give up the revenue from the Drive Clean program by exempting hybrids)..

    The rebates are supposed to take about 3 months to process; I'm into my second month now, so hopefully, I'll see my check in the next few weeks..
    I already got the Drive Clean exemption notice in the mail and a new set of vehicle registration forms from the MOT in the mail that now designate the vehicle as a Hybrid ("L") vs. Gasoline ("G")..
     
    #12 c4, Jun 6, 2005
  13. canuckican

    canuckican New Member

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    Well, paint me yellow and call me corn...

    You boys are right!! This is great news. I do wish, however, that someone at the dealership had told me about this. I will be applying soon, but as I am moving to a different town in about a month or so, I am leary of the 6-8 week waiting period that c4 claims is more like 3 months. I might just wait until I have a new address and apply then. It looks like you have up to 4 years from when the RST was paid.

    A question. For the three things requireed as proof, what about #3: "A signed statement from the licensed mechanic who issued the safety Standard Certificate, on company letterhead, stating the type of power used to operate the vehicle when the inspection was done."

    I bought the car new from a dealer and as far as I know didn't have an inspection. I sure never took it to get inspected, the dealer took care of all licensing and inspection work. Anyone have any ideas on what I am supposed to do about that item? I don't think I have it. Just ignore it?

    Thanks again for the advice. What a great forum!!!
     
    #13 canuckican, Jun 7, 2005
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