Vehicle registration

Purpose of registration

All vehicles driven on Ontario roads must have registered licence plates and ownership documents. Registering a vehicle allows government of Ontario to know the:

person(s) who owns the vehicle
person(s) responsible for driving and operating the vehicle
identity and state of the vehicle

The government uses this information to protect citizens, enforce laws in Ontario and North America, and fix the roads by collecting money from the people who use them.

Majority of vehicle registrations and transfers of ownership are processed when people buy, sell, or lease a vehicle.
_{— ServiceOntario}

A shift to digital for dealers in Ontario

8,000+

Certified dealers can register vehicles on behalf of their customers in Ontario, according to OMVIC.

87%

Dealers registered new vehicles in 2019. The rest were general population.

68%

Dealers helped transfer ownership (from buying, selling, or leasing used vehicles) in 2019. The rest were general population.

The process of registering vehicles has traditionally been paper-based. Dealers would need to:

fill in paperwork properly to avoid delays in vehicle delivery.
visit ServiceOntario frequently to drop off paperwork and pick up plates and permits.
spend a lot of time on the road.
wait a long time at ServiceOntario if the office is busy.

Shifting to digital processes would help dealers:

reduce travel time to and from ServiceOntario.
confidently submit the required information with ease.
discover blockers that may impact sales early in the process.

Interviews with dealerships

We conducted interviews to understand how different dealers license vehicles on behalf of their customers.

U

N

U

N

U

N

U

N

U

N

FL

R

A

Dealership types

U

Sell used vehicles (9)

N

Sell new vehicles (5)

FL

Fleet selling large volumes of vehicles to companies (1)

R

Rental company (1)

A

Auction company (1)

Dealership experience survey

A survey was sent out to registered dealers to evaluate if insights from qualitative research were statistically significant.

619

Respondents completed the survey from different areas of Ontario.

61%

Had five employees or less. Less than 2% of dealerships had 100 employees or more.

42%

Dealerships sold new cars with higher volume of sales compared to used cars.

Customer experience survey

To understand the end-to-end experience, a separate survey was sent to customers who have purchased a vehicle from dealerships in the past 3 years.

650

Customers completed the survey from different areas of Ontario.

93%

Said their dealers completed their registration paperwork.

87%

Bought passenger vehicles. The rest bought large SUVs or trucks for personal use.

Customer purchases vehicle Friday at 4:00pm and wants new plates to pick up vehicle on Monday 9:00 am. This is not possible! Earliest would be Monday afternoon and even at that, we would have to ensure the licence office completes it that day.
_{— Dealer}

Customer wait time from purchase to vehicle delivery

Reasons

Getting ownership and licence plates

Safety check

Cleaning and detailing

Customization and upgrades

Bar graph that shows 1 hour or less, same day, 2-4 business days, 1-2 weeks, and 2 weeks and more.

Getting ownership and licence plates are the most common reasons for wait times.
When wait times were longer than 2 weeks, it was usually because the dealership didn’t have the vehicle in stock.
8.8% of customers were dissatisfied with their wait times.

How often could dealers immediately deliver vehicles if registration was not an issue?

Frequency

Never (10%)

Rarely (8%)

Sometimes (29%)

Often (38%)

Always (15%)

Majority of dealerships said they could provide immediate delivery if licensing was not an issue.

Summary of personas

Tracy

Licensing coordinator

Developed processes and learned how to license through experience over time.
Registers high-volume vehicle sales daily.
High organization, time management, and contract literacy skills.
Has long term rapport with ServiceOntario staff.

Photo by Maria Lupan on Unsplash

Drew

Business manager

Any process that doesn’t make profit is troublesome.
Loves selling and finds the licensing process an inefficient use of time.
Relies on licensing coordinator for most deals, but may occasionally register vehicles himself if needed.

Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash

Bob

Owner of a small dealership

Is involved in all aspects of the business.
Wants to minimize the time he leaves the dealership because he’s the main person watching the shop.
Finds the licensing process tedious with greater concern making his customers wait.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Many paper forms and duplicate asks

We discovered that there could be up to 11 files that dealers need to provide per sale. Within the 11 files, there are many possible variations of submitting paperwork depending on the circumstance.

Here’s an overview of the most common form fields and how many times we ask them across multiple files:

Name

6

11

Address

5

9

Driver's licence number

3

5

Date of birth

3

5

Signature

4

6

Plate number

2

6

Dealer number

3

4

Vehicle identification number (VIN)

3

4

Odometer

4

5

Date

5

8

and more...

The amount of paperwork required for everything [...] It feels like killing a tree every time.
_{— Dealer}

Reimagine data structure

We prototyped what the information architecture would look like for dealers to submit vehicle registration online.

Example of system logic and user flow

Prototyping a simpler, faster, better licensing process

Each step of the application process was written in plain language, asking only necessary questions once. This enhanced comprehension, reduced likelihood of errors, and saved time for dealers.

Mobile screen of dashboard options including ownership, vehicle, insurance and plates, fines and fees, and review.

Screen that asks who will own the vehicle. Options include one individual, two individuals, a company or organization, a leasing company, my dealership, and next.

A screen that says "Who will the plates be registered to?" The plate registrant is responsible for future registration renewals and fine payments. Options include: same as vehicle owner, different from vehicle owner, and no one. Then next.

Example of our prototype

I think this is a really nice hybrid product that let us get the paperwork out of the way and don’t have to wait in line.
_{— Dealer}

Takeaways

We benefited a lot working in agile way, as it helped us adapt quickly and develop in small increments. Beyond the digital experience, this project revealed many opportunities for improvement in:

operational policies
environmental impacts
security compliance
data management
employee experience

This project was transitioned to a different team from ServiceOntario, where they were responsible in rolling out the shift from paper to digital process.

Launched in March 2022, the Digital Dealership Registration program was first made available for new vehicle registration, then for trade-ins and then for used cars in 2023.