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Drive Clean emissions program is an albatross for dealers
Many consumers believe that new-car dealers love the Ontario Drive Clean emissions program, and that it?s a cash cow for dealers. Let me set the record straight ? our customers don?t like it and we don?t like it.
Although the Drive Clean program was initiated by the Ontario Conservative Government under Mike Harris, in 1999, it would be in everyone?s interest if Premier Dalton McGuinty were to scrap the program, altogether. The Ontario Drive Clean emissions program requires that all vehicles be tested every two years, for exhaust emissions, in accordance with provincial standards. The testing begins in the third calendar year after the model year of the vehicle, and continues up to and including the 19th calendar year after the model year.
All Ontario repair shops charge customers the government-set fee of $35 for an emissions test. One third of that amount ($11.67) is forwarded to the government-appointed company that runs the program. The remaining $23.33 is left for the repair shop.
Out of that whopping $23.33, approximately $10 goes to the technician, leaving $13.33 left for us to pay for all of the Drive Clean overhead costs. Most vehicles pass, and so there is very little repair income.
Today?s vehicles contain much more emission equipment than cars and trucks manufactured a decade or more ago. At our dealership, we have conducted more than 10,400 emissions tests that have resulted in a pass rate of almost 98 percent.
In just over five years, our dealership, alone, has collected from the public about $340,000, to identify approximately 200 polluting vehicles! Of those 200 vehicles, many of them received ?conditional? passes and are still on our roads.
What are we really accomplishing here? I fully support efforts to clean up the environment, but the Drive Clean program is costly for both consumers and dealerships, and I believe it has had little effect on the environment, regardless of what the government?s spin doctors tell us.
Every day, repair shops throughout the province keep testing vehicles that are equipped with the latest emission systems, while so many non-automotive sources of pollution remain unaddressed. Of the few vehicles that fail the emissions tests, most garages will admit (if they?re not too embarrassed) that they often don?t know what repairs are required to get the vehicles to pass.
Why did dealerships sign up for Drive Clean in the first place? We did it to provide a service for our customers and also to test our pre-owned vehicles prior to sale.
Since we installed the Drive Clean testing equipment, it has proven to be more costly to operate than we ever imagined. The initial price of the equipment is between $70,000 and $80,000, which does not include the annual cost of repair parts and software. In 2004, maintenance costs at our dealership exceeded $5,000. Personally, if I had to do it all over again, I never would have invested in the program. Most dealers share my sentiment.
Not only does a dealer lose the revenue of a productive service bay to a big, noisy dynometer, but the Drive Clean equipment constantly breaks down. Customers usually prefer to wait on site for their tests to be performed. At our dealership, when making Drive Clean appointments, we make a point of recording customers? phone numbers so that we can cancel their Drive Clean appointments when the equipment breaks down, as it invariably does.
As an additional headache for dealerships, all Drive Clean technicians must re re-certified every two years. During the last re-certification, our Drive Clean technicians learned nothing new; it was just a money grab that cost $129.00 per technician. By the way, some of these technicians also hold full Ontario technician licenses for which they do not have to be re-tested.
Perhaps you are thinking that I should present these concerns to the government. On April 30, 2001, I met with Ed Gill, then Manager of the Drive Clean program, on behalf of our TADA members. Nice man, nice meeting ? no change.
Okay, I?ve vented my feelings about Drive Clean, and I now feel a little better.
Ken Shaw Jr. is President of the Toronto Automobile Dealers Association and is a new-car dealer in Toronto. E-mail comments to president@tada.ca
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