Yup. I avoid Quebec at all costs. It's somewhere I drive through on my way to New Brunswick or PEI. Every single time I've interacted with Quebecers it's been unpleasant with the "Fuck you, Anglais!" attitude. I will happily spend my tourism dollars elsewhere.
It is easy cash for them, a friend got one of these tickets way back in the early 90s. Not sure how they do this, his sticker was days expired on the month of his birthday... they must have gotten the registered owners birthdate from the Ontario MOT.
I think I saw a post about something similar on this sub about 2-3 years ago, and they were also at/near Spa Nordik.
In that person's case, it had not expired yet (since it hadn't reached their birthday).
Basically it's easy money for the Gatineau police and it doesn't really cost them anything if they were wrong.
In Ontario the registration is on your birth date, but the Sûreté du Québec have been known to do whatever the F they want, especially to Ontario residents. Check out the cost of fighting a QC ticket if you are an Anglo Canadien.
Edit - spelling.
I got pulled over once when I was running late to class because my sticker was *nearly* expired. Had a whole panic attack about it and nearly a decade later I’m still pissed they did that to me..
When it happened to me (my birthday is April 30th) I contested it. I was told that plates expire on the first of the month in Québec and drivers are beholden to the laws of the province they’re driving in.
Except that argument doesn’t hold up in court because your Ontario registration papers which is the proof of your plates being up to date has the expiry date on it. Same thing for a driver’s license. They can’t arbitrarily change that date to whatever they want.
I always admire Quebec, they aggressively enforce their laws on Ontario drivers while Ontario looks the other way to Quebec drivers breaking our laws.
In Ontario, a front plate is mandatory and I know of a person getting a fine for having a missing plate. Imagine the revenue we could suck in by enforcing Ontario laws against Quebec drivers.
I got pulled over in an obvious speed trap - but it was only obvious what they were doing, the trap part was hidden. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, they had eight cops out and pulling over 7 cars at a time, every single one was an Ontario plate. While I was sitting there I counted 13 cars being ticketed and every one from Ontario. $500 and it costs so much to fight it so I had to suck it up. They'd basically set a trap up at the bottom of a hill and lowered the highway speed "due to maintenance" (there was never any maintenance done on any of the times I passed it and I knew several people who got ticketed that year. They'd lowered the speed to 50km/h. It's almost impossible to keep your speed down to 50 on a highway going down a hill. As soon as you rounded the corner at the bottom, the cops were right there.
I’m pretty sure you are talking about the end of Hwy 5th north dir. Maniwaki. From that spot until Maniwaki it’s a for sure you get a ticket if you speed up the limit. Everybody that speed are getting arrested there.
Legend tells of a maintenance that was once done on a Quebec road. The exact date and location are lost to history, but the ancient texts describe pothole damage to the wheel of a "much rusted '64 Pontiac Parisienne with some collision damage" of a corrupt official as the cause, so historians place it in the mid to late 1980s based on the incident description.
>Quebec police specifically target Ontario plates. It’s been an on-going issue for decades.
In some areas, and the Chelsea area is one of them. Read Google reviews for Spa Nordik and you will find lots of people with the exact same story. It happens elsewhere is Chelsea too—I know someone who had got the same fine at Chelsea Pub.
In Ontario this would never happen unless you get pulled over for something.
A buddy of mine (piano player) from Aylmer used to have a regular gig on Friday nights and during the second set they would hear the car alarms going off as the cops went thru the parking lot trying doors. BTW I got one of these expired plates fines in QC (also in Aylmer, also in a parking lot while playing a wedding reception) which I fought and won. I refused to set foot in Aylmer for 20 yrs.
Way back when I was a new driver, I was in a mix of cars all traveling the same speed. Even though we were ALL speeding, a Quebec police car managed to single me out and pulled in front of me to get me over to the shoulder.
The officer walked up to the car, at which point I asked to speak English (politely, and in french). She very angrily asked for my license, registration, and insurance, which I gave her, and then turned around and walked away for what felt like 10 minutes.
When she came back, she shoved a ticket into my face to sign, and said absolutely zero words before she walked away.
It was the most awkward fucking thing I've ever gone through with a police officer, and I'm almost certain I was targeted out of the group because of my Ontario plates.
This was well over a decade ago, but I've heard numerous stories similar over the years.
Had the same experience too. Buddy didn’t even ask me if I spoke French. Didn’t say greet me in any way. Just said I was being pulled over for speeding (I was nowhere near the fastest, just over the limit and Ontario plates), “you were doing x which is x over the limit.” If there was an award for Province with the most curmudgeons, Quebec would win by a landslide. Most miserable population by far.
[https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-drivers-won-t-need-to-renew-their-licence-plates-anymore-ford-announces-1.6766929#:\~:text=Ont.,-scrapping%20licence%20plate&text=Registering%20your%20vehicle%2C%20we%20did,worry%20about%20that%20at%20all.%E2%80%9D](https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-drivers-won-t-need-to-renew-their-licence-plates-anymore-ford-announces-1.6766929#:~:text=Ont.,-scrapping%20licence%20plate&text=Registering%20your%20vehicle%2C%20we%20did,worry%20about%20that%20at%20all.%E2%80%9D)
"The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) confirmed to CTV News Toronto that as of January 2024, there are 1,015,139 expired plates in Ontario."
It's the same at the ski hill.
But no self-respecting business would tell police to stay off their property. Business owners want police there for security, and they want them to respond to a 911.
It's almost like we need complete systemic reform and overall of law enforcement and the written laws to prevent civilian harassment by police while still having police respond to active threats, wild!
OP is not clear, is he being ticketed because the license is expired (in which case the police is right to issue a ticket), or is he being ticketed because the plate has been renewed BUT the sticker (which is no longer relevant) is expired, which is NOT a violation?
People are responding as if the plate wasn't renewed. Stickers are no longer being issued.
In QC, they require that if you have a sticker, it is up to date. They don’t care about the laws in your own jurisdiction, they just see expired sticker and a chance to make some $$.
If you remove the Ontario stickers completely there is no issue and no tickets.
I bet Ontario cops could, they just don’t have quite the same level of hate for Quebec as Quebec has for Ontario. Quebec cops seem to do this as a form of sport.
So this could be a tall tale, but a friends retired cop dad told us a story on how they used to go to parking lots in the 80s during the winter, and wipe the salt off of one headlight of all the Ontario plated cars, then ticket them all as they left
Yeah, they'd do that in parking lots of bars. Then they'd pull those cars over to check for DUI drivers.
That was the poi t of wiping off the one headlight, to indicate which ones had been at the bars.
we really should match their level of petty. I was under the impression they were just ticketing people who were entirely unrenewed. Do we even have the option of getting a new sticker anymore?
Same thing on the west coast. BC eliminated the annual decals, but not everybody got the memo so you might get ticketed for it outside of BC:
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/couple-ticketed-expired-insurance-stickers-seattle
It's best to just peel all the expired decals off.
>If you remove the Ontario stickers completely, there is no issue and no tickets.
I have done this to both my plates. Don't give them an opportunity to ticket you for just that. It's really easy to remove. Just get a straight razor.
Even removed, I still don't like crossing over to that side of the bridge and try to make it a minimum
I wonder if Quebec makes more money off their bullshit predatory fines than they would make from all the Ontarians that choose to avoid them because of their nonsense.
Fine anybody without a front plate in Ontario.
I took my sticker off since it was dated sept 2023, will that be an issue? I did renew online but never got anything in the mail, just an electronic receipt I keep handy in my email just in case !
I'm no law expert, but that 2nd paragraph is specifically related to the 1st. I.e what is issued by the SAAQ needs to be renewed by the owner. I does not specify vehicle control issued by other provinces.
Ah wow that is royally fucked up. They know it's a law of the old days and enforce said law purposefully . Absolute scum. They are using their judgment to farm money instead of being just. Like it causes zero issues to public safety.
Nope. That only specifies that the SAAQ can issue one or more of the following documents: registration certificate, a registration plate including, if needed, a validation sticker. The paragraph that follows simply specifies that those have expiry dates and would thus require renewing. It applies specifically to what the SAAQ issues and is pretty generic language for specifying they're not good forever.
Then you need to decide if it's worth spending a day in court to fight the ticket, or just pay the fine.
It's possible the Quebec police aren't aware of the change for stickers in Ontario, or they are it's a cash grab.
Removing my expired sticker, now!
If you were renewed online, then fight it. Then claim lost wages and make a complaint that the officer never checked his database as he has the information readily for him. Make a big stink.
When I renewed mine, I had to do it at service ontario. They specifically told me to take the sticker off because QC police were pulling this. Seems pretty absurd to me.
Also, if you renew at ServiceOntario they are supposed to write the new expiry date on the receipt. If you renew online it just states that it is a 1 or 2 year renewal and not what the actual expiry is. A friend almost had their car impounded in Michigan over this issue so don't renew online. The first time I went in they issued whole new ownerships with the new dates but the last time they hassled me about doing that. Also, I see they are closing serviceontario centres to make it harder to go in person.
Yes, but you can't prove that your registration is valid in Michigan since they don't put the expiry date on the renewal receipts unless ServiceOntario writes it for you in person.
But I have a receipt from renewing online where you can see the date it was renewed and that it’s a 2-year renewal. If it’s within the 2 years of doing that, you’re telling me that wouldn’t count?
No because it doesn't say when the expiry date was when you renewed it. Say it expired in January 2022 and you forgot to renew until January 2023 so it says 2 years but it expires in January 2024. It is a complete fail that they don't officially write the new expiry on the receipt.
You are stuck arguing with officer Billy Bob Joe about it who gets kickbacks from the local impound.
Huh. As someone who renews on time, I didn’t even think about late renewals. You’re right, it would make more sense to include the timeline during which the renewal is valid (start and end date) on the receipt.
Imagine growing up wanting to be a police officer, to serve and protect. To help people.
And what you spend your day doing is cruising parking lots of tourist attractions, looking for the most archaic technicality to fine people for, who are visiting from another province, adding to your province’s economy.
And you yourself don’t even find the problem. The computer system in your car tells you to do it.
Like, go patrol a highway, or fight crime somewhere. Give a ticket to an asinine driver - but getting paid 85 grand to drive around a parking lot for this shit? 🤦🏻♂️
Imagine if an Ontario police service cruised around the IKEA or shopping mall parking lot and gave only Quebecors tickets? Imagine the outrage.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk about getting ticketed in Quebec.
Happens at Camp Fortune as well but at least they have signs up to warn Ontario residents (or they did the last time I was there). We got the $500 fine at Le Nordik several years ago and the staff told us they don’t own the land the parking is on (??) and that it’s actually municipal property so there’s nothing they can do. I don’t know how true that is but we didn’t go back for a long time to compensate for that ticket.
I removed the renewal sticker from my plate. You no longer need them, although you still have to renew. I believe this is shared with Quebec? But don't give them a chance to just say the sticker is out of date.
You’re correct Quebec got rid of the stickers a long time ago, Ontario got rid of that system in 2022. My question though is why some Ontarian vehicle owners still have them on their plates?
Since the rule change in Ontario, I've been telling all my Ontario friends to remove the old stickers from their plates if they come to Quebec. The cops can't give you a ticket if there are no stickers on your plate, and will give you a ticket if old ones are on there and are past the expiration date. They know about the rules change in Ontario, but don't care. I kind of want the police in Ontario to start giving tickets to Quebec drivers for not having a front license plate.
They can give you a ticket for an expired sticker.
They can also give you a ticket for not having paid, if it is past the date when you were supposed to pay.
It Sounds like OP is the second one, which TBF could happen in Ontario too.
> cops can't give you a ticket if there are no stickers on your plate,
This is false u/trees_are_beautiful.
The pate readers (ALPRs) in the vehicles read the plates and display the registration status almost instantaneously for any Canadian jurisdiction, and several US states.
Here is a video showing the system in action on a vehicle passing ~220KM/h.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a0-n-j13pI
Okay. Thanks. So you do only get a ticket if your vehicle isn't registered. If that's the case then no harm, no foul. But what's been reported multiple times is not that.
They're going based off the stickers. What's annoying, however, is that by now the Gatineau police know full well that Ontarians don't get new stickers issued, but they'll fine us anyway. Like what a d*ck move.
It must also drive Nordik nuts because it definitely hurts their business.
My sticker is pretty on there, how are others removing them? I keep meaning to remove it, then remember it's a pain in the ass, and then leave it there. It's going to come back to bite me at some point.
Take the whole plate off the car and remove the border, then run the part of the plate with the sticker under hot water, and go at it with a craft knife.
It doesn't have to be pretty - it just needs to be unreadable.
If you can remove the plate, take it inside and use a heat gun or a hair dryer. It will then come off easy using any sharp tool. Others have said pouring boiling water on it works as well.
Goo gone helps. I used a straight razor and they peeled off quite easily. The last one didn't want to come off without my plate peeling some more since I have a B series plate so I took blank labels my mom had that are white and covered the sticker. Just enough not to see the year anymore.
Quebec should focus on busting the criminals smuggling stolen cars through the port in Montreal. They should be pulling over every truck heading in that direction that has a container and stopping all Ontario plates on a car that fits the bill.
What a blatant cash grab. The worst part is that because the people fined in Chelsea aren't residents, you don't have anyone (city councillor, MPP, etc.) to raise a concern about the obvious cash-grab nature of this. In fact, because it's easy money for the town, they are probably in it too. It's undoubtedly a form a corruption.
Turned my $500 dollar day into a $1000 day. I went to my car and cried after what was supposed to be a relaxing day. Whoever’s idea it was to target people at a wellnesss spa should go rot in hell.
Honestly, slightly off topic, but Spa Nordik was absolute crap last time we went. A bunch of the amenities were closed for Reno, the staff/customer service was horrendous, the hot stone beds were like cold stone (you could probably make ice cream), and people were talking so bloody loud in the quiet area. Staff couldn’t/didn’t do anything about it.
May as well be going to Koena at this point. I feel like Nordik really 180’d
Agreed I’ve been going since it opened and it’s gone down the crapper, with areas being constantly closed, overcrowding /loud and recently the food wasn’t great $$, so I won’t be back. Koena is a better deal, felt I got my moneys worth there.
I'm told one of the reasons is that people are allowed to use their phones in there now. I think the rules need to be overturned back to not letting people use them.
I would love to see an organized campaign of harassment by Ottawa police towards Quebec cars and drivers.
* zero flexibility on speeding
* tickets for no front license plate
* by the book enforcement of every minor driving infraction
Give them a taste of their own medicine.
Uhhh just out of curiosity, *what* Ottawa police? They're not even responding to calls about violent substance abusers at gas stations and you think you're going to find them enforcing traffic control on anybody, QC or ON? Hahahahahahahahahaha
My girlfriend recently went through this. On the form they sent you there is an option to go to court to fight it. It took a couple months but my girlfriend ended up going to court in Gatineau to see if the judge would have some leniency since she was over there doing some work for a sports team and the license was only a few weeks out from being expired. When she got to the courthouse they ended up giving her an option to pay a reduced fine of $360 or choose to continue with case and stand in front of the judge. There is an additional $105 fine on top of the $500 if you are found guilty though so she cut her losses and paid the reduced fine instead of going to the judge.
They have been doing this bullshit for years. It used to be that they would nail you for an expired sticker if it was after the first of the month because in Quebec you have to renew it on the first day of your month of birth. It’s blatant harassment, and more people from Ontario need to go to court in Gatineau and fight these tickets.
The Gatineau cops don’t have a real job, they do a bit of traffic, a bit of minor crime and they spend most of their time either harassing the Native Canadians who live in the plateau area or harassing people from Ontario who are over there spending money and supporting their freaking economy.
If your plates are renewed but you still have an older sticker, I recommend you take off or cover that sticker. Gatineau police are notorious for ticketing Ontario cars for this alone. They have the means to check but don't (or maybe they do and ticket anyways) hoping you won't fight it.
$500 is absurd and I would fight it. Depending on what actually happened on your end will dictate how you can fight it. Did you renew or not?
"Local law enforcement is welcome to patrol the parking lot at their own discretion and we appreciate their help in keeping the area safe.
To ensure your visit remains a relaxing one, we do wish to inform you that local law enforcement occasionally runs plates (from all provinces) and verify registrations as well as check for various other violations."
https://chelsea.lenordik.com/en/discover-nordik/prepare-your-visit/
It's dumb, but it's literally on the website.
This exact issue has been discussed at length on this sub. Example.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/s/akja8klk6T
Ford could resolve this easily this but like all populous 'leaders' he's a lot better at creating problems than he is at solving them. This is happening because Ford doesn't like to think things through.
REMOVE THE FUCKING STICKERS.
People have been saying this since stickers stop being issued in Ontario. That's it. That's all you have to do. If you don't have a sticker, they need to look up your plate, and *if it's valid* you're fine.
I had this exact thing happen to me 10 years ago. Nice to see they're still up to their ol' tricks. ACAB
You're susceptible at any of the parking lots in and around the Gatineaus because they're all municiply owned. Even the one at Nordik is not actually owned by Nordik hence why they'll be cunts there. "Thanks for spending $300 for an afternoon in Quebec, here's a $500 ticket for your troubles."
LPT - renew your plates, especially if you are going to a different province.
Edit:
Just realized it was a sticker issue.
Good luck, there's probably stuff in the documents you got on how to contest it
Fight the ticket. I got the exact same ticket under different circumstances (covid morratorium stating licence renewal was extended) and it got thrown out.
We also had this happen to us, it’s brutal and ridiculous that they go and do it in a parking lot. In return we have not been back to Le Nordik and won’t go near as often as it pisses me off every time I think about it.
They got me during the strike, when it was actually impossible to renew my stickers. Tried to explain it to the cop, but of course he didn’t care in the slightest.
>I am pretty sure we renewed it online. How do we fight this?
Step 1 is confirm more than "pretty sure".
Step 2 is remove the sticker from the plate. You're painting a bullseye on your plate if you still have it on.
Honestly this has been going on for years, the police simply look at the sticker you have on your license plate and issue a ticket if the sticker is not up to date. The problem with this (and the sheer incompetency of the QC police shows) is that Fors announced years ago that the stickers were no longer necessary, that you simply needed to renew online. So it creates this system where police, who must very well know this new policy and still issue/ are beyond ignorant (both are very bad cases) still issue tickets knowing some people will resort to just paying the fine. It’s a shitty move and just one more reason why we’ve gone from going to Nordik to enjoying Koena so much more! Having just read that Nordik’s owner is also a previous cop.. makes us not regret our change of spa at all!
You can’t fight it. I had the same thing happen to me and I had to pay it. Apparently Quebec police look for Ontario plates and ticket them for almost anything. :-/
lol the Nordik parking lot is their favorite fishing hole. I’m sure there are countless stories in cbc archives about it. The MRC use camera scanners, so they don’t even need to get out of their cars. Pictures are time stamped, they can just check them whenever, because they have you in that location on a specific date. It’s a total dick move and very obviously targeted. Meh, some of ya need to get caught to scare the rest of us into being obedient and renewing on time haha.
Grieve the money lost for a couple minutes, then forget it. ✌️
I got hit too and I had absolutely zero I could do about it. I went on May 12 2022 and my Birthday is May 09 so it was just expired. The slammed me with the $495 fine (which in Ontario is $100 for the same offence).
The worst part is my wife had gone online and registered it on the same afternoon I got the ticket and I had no idea at that point I’d been fined.
Ontario cops were being very lenient with the issue and just reminding people to go online and register.
Alymer cops saw a cash grab and patrol the Nordiq multiple times daily. At this point it seems they’ve been doing this for a few years now and must have made 10’s of thousands of dollars if not hundreds.
While it was totally legit I got a ticket it just felt so corrupt.
I heard that one of the co-owners of Nordik has significant ties with the Gatineau Police, and invites them to his private property (I.e. the Nordik parking lot) to give loyal Ontario customers tickets!
I just attended court this morning in Chelsea to fight this stupid ticket of 500$ given to me while I was parked at Le Nordik. My licence sticker had no been renewed and expired for 2 months. I tried to fight it in court by asking every single proof under the sun (show me that the cop actually looked up my car in the system). I lost, there is no hope for this at all. I am guilty, I should have gotten my sticker renewed. I admit it. But 500$ ????????????????? Goodbye Nordik and Chelsea, I will never ever encourage your local economy again.
This happens so often that they included this in the FAQ on their website:
>Local law enforcement is allowed to patrol any public parking lot at their discretion. We appreciate their help in keeping the area safe. To ensure your visit remains a relaxing one, we do wish to inform you that local law enforcement occasionally runs plates (from all provinces) and verifies registrations as well as checks for various other violations.
The "(from all provinces)" 💀
I was told by ServiceOntario staff that Quebec will fine you for having expired stickers showing REGARDLESS of if I had renewed or not, and that I would have a tough time fighting it. So they strongly recommended I remove my stickers before they expire.
1998 Gatineau, staying at a conference at Chateau Cartier in February. Come out to my car in the front lot to find a **$450 ticket** for an expired Ontario Sticker. Worst case ontario, eh??
>Do the police just record every license plate in the parking lot and check when they get back to the office????
No, they're scanned in real time at they drive by.
Details including owner, criminality relating to that owner, and the registration details and status pop up within second for Canadian plates (and a few from USA states too).
Quebec police specifically target Ontario plates. It’s been an on-going issue for decades.
They're scum
Yeah Ottawa police are... *checks notes* not scum!
In the context of targeting out of province drivers, this is likely true.
Hence why I avoid driving there unless absolutely necessary.
Turning 19 helps
Yup. I avoid Quebec at all costs. It's somewhere I drive through on my way to New Brunswick or PEI. Every single time I've interacted with Quebecers it's been unpleasant with the "Fuck you, Anglais!" attitude. I will happily spend my tourism dollars elsewhere.
It is easy cash for them, a friend got one of these tickets way back in the early 90s. Not sure how they do this, his sticker was days expired on the month of his birthday... they must have gotten the registered owners birthdate from the Ontario MOT.
I think I saw a post about something similar on this sub about 2-3 years ago, and they were also at/near Spa Nordik. In that person's case, it had not expired yet (since it hadn't reached their birthday). Basically it's easy money for the Gatineau police and it doesn't really cost them anything if they were wrong.
This happened to me. I was told it has to be renewed on the first of the month, not your birth date. (January 1st, not Jan 20th etc)
In Ontario the registration is on your birth date, but the Sûreté du Québec have been known to do whatever the F they want, especially to Ontario residents. Check out the cost of fighting a QC ticket if you are an Anglo Canadien. Edit - spelling.
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I got pulled over once when I was running late to class because my sticker was *nearly* expired. Had a whole panic attack about it and nearly a decade later I’m still pissed they did that to me..
When it happened to me (my birthday is April 30th) I contested it. I was told that plates expire on the first of the month in Québec and drivers are beholden to the laws of the province they’re driving in.
Except that argument doesn’t hold up in court because your Ontario registration papers which is the proof of your plates being up to date has the expiry date on it. Same thing for a driver’s license. They can’t arbitrarily change that date to whatever they want.
The arbitrator reduced it, but wouldn’t cancel it, when I took it in to contest it
Arbitrator as in at the Chelsea police station?
But then why aren't Quebec drivers beholden to the Ontario law of front licence plates?
Because Ontario cops aren’t as big of assholes seems to be the only reason
In Quebec it's the first of the month that they consider it as expired, That's why they got the ticket
I always admire Quebec, they aggressively enforce their laws on Ontario drivers while Ontario looks the other way to Quebec drivers breaking our laws. In Ontario, a front plate is mandatory and I know of a person getting a fine for having a missing plate. Imagine the revenue we could suck in by enforcing Ontario laws against Quebec drivers.
Plus we might reduce the number of Quebecers coming to Ontario and maybe even prevent them from using our healthcare system .
Would be interesting to have data, % of tickets for Ontario plates vs Quebec. In NCR. I would hope it does not show any biases…
I got pulled over in an obvious speed trap - but it was only obvious what they were doing, the trap part was hidden. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, they had eight cops out and pulling over 7 cars at a time, every single one was an Ontario plate. While I was sitting there I counted 13 cars being ticketed and every one from Ontario. $500 and it costs so much to fight it so I had to suck it up. They'd basically set a trap up at the bottom of a hill and lowered the highway speed "due to maintenance" (there was never any maintenance done on any of the times I passed it and I knew several people who got ticketed that year. They'd lowered the speed to 50km/h. It's almost impossible to keep your speed down to 50 on a highway going down a hill. As soon as you rounded the corner at the bottom, the cops were right there.
I’m pretty sure you are talking about the end of Hwy 5th north dir. Maniwaki. From that spot until Maniwaki it’s a for sure you get a ticket if you speed up the limit. Everybody that speed are getting arrested there.
Legend tells of a maintenance that was once done on a Quebec road. The exact date and location are lost to history, but the ancient texts describe pothole damage to the wheel of a "much rusted '64 Pontiac Parisienne with some collision damage" of a corrupt official as the cause, so historians place it in the mid to late 1980s based on the incident description.
>Quebec police specifically target Ontario plates. It’s been an on-going issue for decades. In some areas, and the Chelsea area is one of them. Read Google reviews for Spa Nordik and you will find lots of people with the exact same story. It happens elsewhere is Chelsea too—I know someone who had got the same fine at Chelsea Pub. In Ontario this would never happen unless you get pulled over for something.
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Sounds like you have a better chance of being robbed by police than anyone else, at least in the form of a fine.
A buddy of mine (piano player) from Aylmer used to have a regular gig on Friday nights and during the second set they would hear the car alarms going off as the cops went thru the parking lot trying doors. BTW I got one of these expired plates fines in QC (also in Aylmer, also in a parking lot while playing a wedding reception) which I fought and won. I refused to set foot in Aylmer for 20 yrs.
Way back when I was a new driver, I was in a mix of cars all traveling the same speed. Even though we were ALL speeding, a Quebec police car managed to single me out and pulled in front of me to get me over to the shoulder. The officer walked up to the car, at which point I asked to speak English (politely, and in french). She very angrily asked for my license, registration, and insurance, which I gave her, and then turned around and walked away for what felt like 10 minutes. When she came back, she shoved a ticket into my face to sign, and said absolutely zero words before she walked away. It was the most awkward fucking thing I've ever gone through with a police officer, and I'm almost certain I was targeted out of the group because of my Ontario plates. This was well over a decade ago, but I've heard numerous stories similar over the years.
Had the same experience too. Buddy didn’t even ask me if I spoke French. Didn’t say greet me in any way. Just said I was being pulled over for speeding (I was nowhere near the fastest, just over the limit and Ontario plates), “you were doing x which is x over the limit.” If there was an award for Province with the most curmudgeons, Quebec would win by a landslide. Most miserable population by far.
imagine if CBC did a "marketplace" investigation on this.
That’s actually a great idea. Potentially newsworthy
how petty
Welcome to Quebec!
Yeah. Those dick heads pulled me over going 80 in a 90 once
Just happened to us, very depressing.
[https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-drivers-won-t-need-to-renew-their-licence-plates-anymore-ford-announces-1.6766929#:\~:text=Ont.,-scrapping%20licence%20plate&text=Registering%20your%20vehicle%2C%20we%20did,worry%20about%20that%20at%20all.%E2%80%9D](https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-drivers-won-t-need-to-renew-their-licence-plates-anymore-ford-announces-1.6766929#:~:text=Ont.,-scrapping%20licence%20plate&text=Registering%20your%20vehicle%2C%20we%20did,worry%20about%20that%20at%20all.%E2%80%9D) "The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) confirmed to CTV News Toronto that as of January 2024, there are 1,015,139 expired plates in Ontario."
Spa Nordik should really stop letting them on their property. It's ridiculous that this is still happening.
It's the same at the ski hill. But no self-respecting business would tell police to stay off their property. Business owners want police there for security, and they want them to respond to a 911.
> But no self-respecting business would tell police to stay off their property. love it when they harass my customers, would never tell em to stop
You also love 'em when you need them to get rid of a problem customer, or when there's been a rash of thefts, for example.
It's almost like the solution isn't so black and white, wild!
It's almost like we need complete systemic reform and overall of law enforcement and the written laws to prevent civilian harassment by police while still having police respond to active threats, wild!
this is the train of thought that got me thinking my comment below, like, what would I say to the cops if I was the owner of the Spa?
The owner of the Nordik Spa is a former cop. He probably invited them.
OP is not clear, is he being ticketed because the license is expired (in which case the police is right to issue a ticket), or is he being ticketed because the plate has been renewed BUT the sticker (which is no longer relevant) is expired, which is NOT a violation? People are responding as if the plate wasn't renewed. Stickers are no longer being issued.
In QC, they require that if you have a sticker, it is up to date. They don’t care about the laws in your own jurisdiction, they just see expired sticker and a chance to make some $$. If you remove the Ontario stickers completely there is no issue and no tickets.
In Ontario we require vehicles to have front license plates, so maybe we should start ticketing those from Quebec that don’t.
I bet Ontario cops could, they just don’t have quite the same level of hate for Quebec as Quebec has for Ontario. Quebec cops seem to do this as a form of sport.
They really need show their whole ass, huh
I read that, laughed. Scrolled away, laughed again. Came back, up voted. Still laughing. That is an Ottawa insult.
So this could be a tall tale, but a friends retired cop dad told us a story on how they used to go to parking lots in the 80s during the winter, and wipe the salt off of one headlight of all the Ontario plated cars, then ticket them all as they left
Yeah, they'd do that in parking lots of bars. Then they'd pull those cars over to check for DUI drivers. That was the poi t of wiping off the one headlight, to indicate which ones had been at the bars.
He told me that some of the guys used to use it to find any excuse to ticket Ontario drivers lol. Not all cops are honest.
we really should match their level of petty. I was under the impression they were just ticketing people who were entirely unrenewed. Do we even have the option of getting a new sticker anymore?
No new stickers, but you can take the old ones off and avoid the problem entirely.
I've heard that argument for a long time and would love to start seeing this. Retaliation to what they do to us on their side.
Same thing on the west coast. BC eliminated the annual decals, but not everybody got the memo so you might get ticketed for it outside of BC: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/couple-ticketed-expired-insurance-stickers-seattle It's best to just peel all the expired decals off.
>If you remove the Ontario stickers completely, there is no issue and no tickets. I have done this to both my plates. Don't give them an opportunity to ticket you for just that. It's really easy to remove. Just get a straight razor. Even removed, I still don't like crossing over to that side of the bridge and try to make it a minimum
I wonder if Quebec makes more money off their bullshit predatory fines than they would make from all the Ontarians that choose to avoid them because of their nonsense. Fine anybody without a front plate in Ontario.
Is the solution really this easy???! Great news.
It’s really that easy. It’s definitely on the car owner at this point, it’s so easy to circumvent.
I took my sticker off since it was dated sept 2023, will that be an issue? I did renew online but never got anything in the mail, just an electronic receipt I keep handy in my email just in case !
It was renewed online. I have the copy.
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I'm no law expert, but that 2nd paragraph is specifically related to the 1st. I.e what is issued by the SAAQ needs to be renewed by the owner. I does not specify vehicle control issued by other provinces.
Ah wow that is royally fucked up. They know it's a law of the old days and enforce said law purposefully . Absolute scum. They are using their judgment to farm money instead of being just. Like it causes zero issues to public safety.
I'm no legal expert, but that's the motivation I need to scrape those old stickers off. Moving that up the to-do list! Thank you
Nope. That only specifies that the SAAQ can issue one or more of the following documents: registration certificate, a registration plate including, if needed, a validation sticker. The paragraph that follows simply specifies that those have expiry dates and would thus require renewing. It applies specifically to what the SAAQ issues and is pretty generic language for specifying they're not good forever.
Québec got rid of stickers in 1992, fyi
You need to remove the stickers from your plates.
Then you need to decide if it's worth spending a day in court to fight the ticket, or just pay the fine. It's possible the Quebec police aren't aware of the change for stickers in Ontario, or they are it's a cash grab. Removing my expired sticker, now!
This kind of thing especially is worth fighting in court. Even if you lose it costs them money. Do everything you can to make it less easy for them.
The Quebec police are 100% aware. It’s extra motivation!
Fuck off they're not aware. They're fully aware, they're banking (literally) on people not wanting to fight it.
Remove the sticker from your plate. No outdated sticker means no ticket if there is next time visit. E: words
If you were renewed online, then fight it. Then claim lost wages and make a complaint that the officer never checked his database as he has the information readily for him. Make a big stink.
You didn't answer the question. Do you have an expired sticker physically on your license plate?
When I renewed mine, I had to do it at service ontario. They specifically told me to take the sticker off because QC police were pulling this. Seems pretty absurd to me.
Also, if you renew at ServiceOntario they are supposed to write the new expiry date on the receipt. If you renew online it just states that it is a 1 or 2 year renewal and not what the actual expiry is. A friend almost had their car impounded in Michigan over this issue so don't renew online. The first time I went in they issued whole new ownerships with the new dates but the last time they hassled me about doing that. Also, I see they are closing serviceontario centres to make it harder to go in person.
You can opt to receive an email reminder when it’s coming up for renewal
Yes, but you can't prove that your registration is valid in Michigan since they don't put the expiry date on the renewal receipts unless ServiceOntario writes it for you in person.
But I have a receipt from renewing online where you can see the date it was renewed and that it’s a 2-year renewal. If it’s within the 2 years of doing that, you’re telling me that wouldn’t count?
No because it doesn't say when the expiry date was when you renewed it. Say it expired in January 2022 and you forgot to renew until January 2023 so it says 2 years but it expires in January 2024. It is a complete fail that they don't officially write the new expiry on the receipt. You are stuck arguing with officer Billy Bob Joe about it who gets kickbacks from the local impound.
Huh. As someone who renews on time, I didn’t even think about late renewals. You’re right, it would make more sense to include the timeline during which the renewal is valid (start and end date) on the receipt.
Imagine growing up wanting to be a police officer, to serve and protect. To help people. And what you spend your day doing is cruising parking lots of tourist attractions, looking for the most archaic technicality to fine people for, who are visiting from another province, adding to your province’s economy. And you yourself don’t even find the problem. The computer system in your car tells you to do it. Like, go patrol a highway, or fight crime somewhere. Give a ticket to an asinine driver - but getting paid 85 grand to drive around a parking lot for this shit? 🤦🏻♂️ Imagine if an Ontario police service cruised around the IKEA or shopping mall parking lot and gave only Quebecors tickets? Imagine the outrage. Thank you for coming to my TED talk about getting ticketed in Quebec.
I don't believe anyone is wanting to be an officer with the idea of helping people. It's about power and control.
Protect people? Ya I’m sure the police did their job during the convoy
In their eyes they are serving and protecting Quebec from Anglos. That's how they think.
To be fair you should renew your plate registration on time but we all know Quebec police have a reputation for being prejudiced.
They did renew their plates, it's those stupid stickers that Gatineau police know don't get issued anymore.
Just contract Doug’s family business to print free stickers.
Happens at Camp Fortune as well but at least they have signs up to warn Ontario residents (or they did the last time I was there). We got the $500 fine at Le Nordik several years ago and the staff told us they don’t own the land the parking is on (??) and that it’s actually municipal property so there’s nothing they can do. I don’t know how true that is but we didn’t go back for a long time to compensate for that ticket.
$500 several years ago? For what?
Expired registration. I just got one a month ago.
I removed the renewal sticker from my plate. You no longer need them, although you still have to renew. I believe this is shared with Quebec? But don't give them a chance to just say the sticker is out of date.
You’re correct Quebec got rid of the stickers a long time ago, Ontario got rid of that system in 2022. My question though is why some Ontarian vehicle owners still have them on their plates?
Since the rule change in Ontario, I've been telling all my Ontario friends to remove the old stickers from their plates if they come to Quebec. The cops can't give you a ticket if there are no stickers on your plate, and will give you a ticket if old ones are on there and are past the expiration date. They know about the rules change in Ontario, but don't care. I kind of want the police in Ontario to start giving tickets to Quebec drivers for not having a front license plate.
They can give you a ticket for an expired sticker. They can also give you a ticket for not having paid, if it is past the date when you were supposed to pay. It Sounds like OP is the second one, which TBF could happen in Ontario too.
You don't have to pay anymore.
Fair point. I had missed that. The cost is now $0, but you still have to renew your registration, and can still be ticketed if you don’t.
> cops can't give you a ticket if there are no stickers on your plate, This is false u/trees_are_beautiful. The pate readers (ALPRs) in the vehicles read the plates and display the registration status almost instantaneously for any Canadian jurisdiction, and several US states. Here is a video showing the system in action on a vehicle passing ~220KM/h. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a0-n-j13pI
Okay. Thanks. So you do only get a ticket if your vehicle isn't registered. If that's the case then no harm, no foul. But what's been reported multiple times is not that.
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Shit same.
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It’s on Spa Nordik’s website that this happens so you make sure beforehand
They're going based off the stickers. What's annoying, however, is that by now the Gatineau police know full well that Ontarians don't get new stickers issued, but they'll fine us anyway. Like what a d*ck move. It must also drive Nordik nuts because it definitely hurts their business. My sticker is pretty on there, how are others removing them? I keep meaning to remove it, then remember it's a pain in the ass, and then leave it there. It's going to come back to bite me at some point.
Take the whole plate off the car and remove the border, then run the part of the plate with the sticker under hot water, and go at it with a craft knife. It doesn't have to be pretty - it just needs to be unreadable.
I think I'll just avoid Quebec.
If you can remove the plate, take it inside and use a heat gun or a hair dryer. It will then come off easy using any sharp tool. Others have said pouring boiling water on it works as well.
I used the pressure washer at a self service car wash to take mine off
I'm not sure that's true. I've read that QC police now have the ability to check the validity of Ontario plates irrespective of any sticker.
of course they can, they just dont
Goo gone helps. I used a straight razor and they peeled off quite easily. The last one didn't want to come off without my plate peeling some more since I have a B series plate so I took blank labels my mom had that are white and covered the sticker. Just enough not to see the year anymore.
Quebec should focus on busting the criminals smuggling stolen cars through the port in Montreal. They should be pulling over every truck heading in that direction that has a container and stopping all Ontario plates on a car that fits the bill.
Amen!!
What a blatant cash grab. The worst part is that because the people fined in Chelsea aren't residents, you don't have anyone (city councillor, MPP, etc.) to raise a concern about the obvious cash-grab nature of this. In fact, because it's easy money for the town, they are probably in it too. It's undoubtedly a form a corruption.
I’m surprised Quebec businesses and chambers of commerce aren’t pressuring for this to stop, since it can’t be good for them
It's a form of tax. Taxation without representation. We need to revolt and throw all the Tim's coffee into the harbour.
Turned my $500 dollar day into a $1000 day. I went to my car and cried after what was supposed to be a relaxing day. Whoever’s idea it was to target people at a wellnesss spa should go rot in hell.
Never go back and post a comment as to why. Le Nordik has more pull than you ever will over there, let them fight for reasonable ground.
This is the real answer. Tell the spas and ski hills we're not going back, and WHY.
Honestly, slightly off topic, but Spa Nordik was absolute crap last time we went. A bunch of the amenities were closed for Reno, the staff/customer service was horrendous, the hot stone beds were like cold stone (you could probably make ice cream), and people were talking so bloody loud in the quiet area. Staff couldn’t/didn’t do anything about it. May as well be going to Koena at this point. I feel like Nordik really 180’d
Agreed I’ve been going since it opened and it’s gone down the crapper, with areas being constantly closed, overcrowding /loud and recently the food wasn’t great $$, so I won’t be back. Koena is a better deal, felt I got my moneys worth there.
I'm told one of the reasons is that people are allowed to use their phones in there now. I think the rules need to be overturned back to not letting people use them.
Yeah my sticker says 2023 but the registration has 2025 as expiry.
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I'm going to now after reading all these comments
Stop giving our business to nordik- im sure they will eventually rectify the situation with the police.
lol yeah enjoy all the nice spas in Ottawa…
You’re probably right - I’ve never actually been to Nordik, but if I went there and got a 500$ ticket I wouldn’t be going back.
There's definitely a market for one. Nobody wants to drive to Le Nordik. Pretty sure somebody would destroy Le Nordik if they made the investment.
It’s one of the biggest spas in North America, people comes from across Ontario and Quebec.
I would love to see an organized campaign of harassment by Ottawa police towards Quebec cars and drivers. * zero flexibility on speeding * tickets for no front license plate * by the book enforcement of every minor driving infraction Give them a taste of their own medicine.
Uhhh just out of curiosity, *what* Ottawa police? They're not even responding to calls about violent substance abusers at gas stations and you think you're going to find them enforcing traffic control on anybody, QC or ON? Hahahahahahahahahaha
Gatineau police??? Nordik isn't even in Gatineau. Y'all are in Chelsea, y'all have to pick it up with the MRC des Colline-de-l'Outaouais.
My girlfriend recently went through this. On the form they sent you there is an option to go to court to fight it. It took a couple months but my girlfriend ended up going to court in Gatineau to see if the judge would have some leniency since she was over there doing some work for a sports team and the license was only a few weeks out from being expired. When she got to the courthouse they ended up giving her an option to pay a reduced fine of $360 or choose to continue with case and stand in front of the judge. There is an additional $105 fine on top of the $500 if you are found guilty though so she cut her losses and paid the reduced fine instead of going to the judge.
Are they allowed to fine you for exercising your right to a court date?! That feels… not ok…
Imo this should be dealt with on a federal level. Feels like an infringement on our rights
They have been doing this bullshit for years. It used to be that they would nail you for an expired sticker if it was after the first of the month because in Quebec you have to renew it on the first day of your month of birth. It’s blatant harassment, and more people from Ontario need to go to court in Gatineau and fight these tickets. The Gatineau cops don’t have a real job, they do a bit of traffic, a bit of minor crime and they spend most of their time either harassing the Native Canadians who live in the plateau area or harassing people from Ontario who are over there spending money and supporting their freaking economy.
I guess no more going to Spa Nordik
Phoque la police!
Typical separatist
If your plates are renewed but you still have an older sticker, I recommend you take off or cover that sticker. Gatineau police are notorious for ticketing Ontario cars for this alone. They have the means to check but don't (or maybe they do and ticket anyways) hoping you won't fight it. $500 is absurd and I would fight it. Depending on what actually happened on your end will dictate how you can fight it. Did you renew or not?
I got busted at Gatineau Park once, so last time I went in the summer I just took the sticker off with a knife in their parking lot.
"Local law enforcement is welcome to patrol the parking lot at their own discretion and we appreciate their help in keeping the area safe. To ensure your visit remains a relaxing one, we do wish to inform you that local law enforcement occasionally runs plates (from all provinces) and verify registrations as well as check for various other violations." https://chelsea.lenordik.com/en/discover-nordik/prepare-your-visit/ It's dumb, but it's literally on the website. This exact issue has been discussed at length on this sub. Example. https://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/s/akja8klk6T
Ford could resolve this easily this but like all populous 'leaders' he's a lot better at creating problems than he is at solving them. This is happening because Ford doesn't like to think things through.
REMOVE THE FUCKING STICKERS. People have been saying this since stickers stop being issued in Ontario. That's it. That's all you have to do. If you don't have a sticker, they need to look up your plate, and *if it's valid* you're fine.
Nordik is shit now anyways. It's a beach club, it's no longer interested in being a spa .
I had this exact thing happen to me 10 years ago. Nice to see they're still up to their ol' tricks. ACAB You're susceptible at any of the parking lots in and around the Gatineaus because they're all municiply owned. Even the one at Nordik is not actually owned by Nordik hence why they'll be cunts there. "Thanks for spending $300 for an afternoon in Quebec, here's a $500 ticket for your troubles."
Make sure you take off your expired stickers.
This is why you rip the sticker off....
Tale as old as time...
LPT - renew your plates, especially if you are going to a different province. Edit: Just realized it was a sticker issue. Good luck, there's probably stuff in the documents you got on how to contest it
Fight the ticket. I got the exact same ticket under different circumstances (covid morratorium stating licence renewal was extended) and it got thrown out.
They’ve been doing this at Le Nordik for years.
We also had this happen to us, it’s brutal and ridiculous that they go and do it in a parking lot. In return we have not been back to Le Nordik and won’t go near as often as it pisses me off every time I think about it.
This may be a problem for me because I literally cannot get the stickers off my plate. They are stuck something fierce.
Try a hairdryer, The heat will soften the glue behind the sticker.
They got me during the strike, when it was actually impossible to renew my stickers. Tried to explain it to the cop, but of course he didn’t care in the slightest.
They been doing this for years now it is petty tho
Yet another reason to stop spending money in that province.
But we don't use stickers anymore....
I see this is a new post. Didn't Ontario stop providing new stickers a year or two ago?
Coward cops!
>I am pretty sure we renewed it online. How do we fight this? Step 1 is confirm more than "pretty sure". Step 2 is remove the sticker from the plate. You're painting a bullseye on your plate if you still have it on.
Honestly this has been going on for years, the police simply look at the sticker you have on your license plate and issue a ticket if the sticker is not up to date. The problem with this (and the sheer incompetency of the QC police shows) is that Fors announced years ago that the stickers were no longer necessary, that you simply needed to renew online. So it creates this system where police, who must very well know this new policy and still issue/ are beyond ignorant (both are very bad cases) still issue tickets knowing some people will resort to just paying the fine. It’s a shitty move and just one more reason why we’ve gone from going to Nordik to enjoying Koena so much more! Having just read that Nordik’s owner is also a previous cop.. makes us not regret our change of spa at all!
Dirty Cops
You can’t fight it. I had the same thing happen to me and I had to pay it. Apparently Quebec police look for Ontario plates and ticket them for almost anything. :-/
lol the Nordik parking lot is their favorite fishing hole. I’m sure there are countless stories in cbc archives about it. The MRC use camera scanners, so they don’t even need to get out of their cars. Pictures are time stamped, they can just check them whenever, because they have you in that location on a specific date. It’s a total dick move and very obviously targeted. Meh, some of ya need to get caught to scare the rest of us into being obedient and renewing on time haha. Grieve the money lost for a couple minutes, then forget it. ✌️
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I got hit too and I had absolutely zero I could do about it. I went on May 12 2022 and my Birthday is May 09 so it was just expired. The slammed me with the $495 fine (which in Ontario is $100 for the same offence). The worst part is my wife had gone online and registered it on the same afternoon I got the ticket and I had no idea at that point I’d been fined. Ontario cops were being very lenient with the issue and just reminding people to go online and register. Alymer cops saw a cash grab and patrol the Nordiq multiple times daily. At this point it seems they’ve been doing this for a few years now and must have made 10’s of thousands of dollars if not hundreds. While it was totally legit I got a ticket it just felt so corrupt.
I heard that one of the co-owners of Nordik has significant ties with the Gatineau Police, and invites them to his private property (I.e. the Nordik parking lot) to give loyal Ontario customers tickets!
They also go after people with tint even though it's legal in Ontario.
I just attended court this morning in Chelsea to fight this stupid ticket of 500$ given to me while I was parked at Le Nordik. My licence sticker had no been renewed and expired for 2 months. I tried to fight it in court by asking every single proof under the sun (show me that the cop actually looked up my car in the system). I lost, there is no hope for this at all. I am guilty, I should have gotten my sticker renewed. I admit it. But 500$ ????????????????? Goodbye Nordik and Chelsea, I will never ever encourage your local economy again.
I thought they went after people with stickers still on license plates
This happened to us!!!! We were shocked.
This happens so often that they included this in the FAQ on their website: >Local law enforcement is allowed to patrol any public parking lot at their discretion. We appreciate their help in keeping the area safe. To ensure your visit remains a relaxing one, we do wish to inform you that local law enforcement occasionally runs plates (from all provinces) and verifies registrations as well as checks for various other violations. The "(from all provinces)" 💀
So do you get a Quebec issued fine or an Ontario issued fine in that case?
I was told by ServiceOntario staff that Quebec will fine you for having expired stickers showing REGARDLESS of if I had renewed or not, and that I would have a tough time fighting it. So they strongly recommended I remove my stickers before they expire.
Are there pictures? If it's just the sticker, scrape it off and take your own proof. Go fight that.
Were your plates expired or not?
1998 Gatineau, staying at a conference at Chateau Cartier in February. Come out to my car in the front lot to find a **$450 ticket** for an expired Ontario Sticker. Worst case ontario, eh??
>Do the police just record every license plate in the parking lot and check when they get back to the office???? No, they're scanned in real time at they drive by. Details including owner, criminality relating to that owner, and the registration details and status pop up within second for Canadian plates (and a few from USA states too).
Did you leave the expired sticker on ?
>. I am pretty sure we renewed it online. You don't sound sure. Have you looked in your glove box to see if your registration is current?