There are few gifts you can receive as a new driver like your first car, but unfortunately it’s not quite as simple as handing over the keys. To truly give someone a car you need to transfer ownership which is a slightly complicated process. But worry not, this article will walk you through the steps.
Who’s Eligible
The first thing to figure out is if it’s even eligible to gift a car to, well you can gift a car to anyone but they’ll have to pay retail sales tax (RST) on the transfer, for a free transfer it has to be between direct family members like siblings, parents, children and grandparents. No gifts for cousins unfortunately.
To a non-family member this will just work like a regular sale, except you’re not getting any money from the recipient, to a family member there’s a whole bunch of paperwork you’re going to need.
Sworn Statement
The first document you’re going to need is a “Sworn Statement for a Family Gift of a Used Motor Vehicle in the Province of Ontario form”, they could do with an abbreviation on that one, but it is descriptive. This form just states that the recipient of the gift is a valid family member. You can download the form here, or get it in person from a Service Ontario.
Safety Standards Certificate
The next document you’ll need is a safety standards certificate, this is a document that proves that the vehicle meets the minimum Ontario safety standards. You can get this one by taking the car in for a checkup at an MTO (Ministry of Transportation Ontario).
For some reason this one isn’t required if you’re giving the car to a spouse, but you do need a spousal declaration form, basically the same as the family form, just a document declaring that this person is your spouse, you can find that one here.
Plate Transfer Declaration
Technically this one isn’t a requirement, but the car does require plates and you’ll have to pay for new ones if you don’t transfer the plates. For this one you’ll need to complete a plate declaration form which you can get here, but you can only transfer plates between parent’s children and spouses, no grandparents or grandchildren this time.
Other Factors
You’ll also of course need your driver’s license and proof of ownership, and you need to make sure you fully own the car, you cannot transfer ownership if you’re still paying off a car loan.
Once you have all of your documentation sorted, you can take them all to a Service Ontario center and get the car’s ownership properly transferred, now you can hand over the keys and see the light in their eyes of a gift well given.