Ontario owners: how long does it take to receive the government rebate?

Same situation here, e-Golf from VW Downtown in Toronto - my vehicle information wasn't on the secret list, too bad. Have been in touch with the dealership and the Ministry, and sent my details to Michelle.

 

CBC is working on it and are responsive. Thank you for sending your info to Michelle.

 

Ellen Roseman's story goes out tomorrow. Also received a note from my contact at the Ombudsman's office that they are continuing to have discussions with the Ministry about "the list". Nothing resolved yet, but they will be escalating internally within the Ombudsman's office, and hope to know further steps soon (but won't be until at least next week).

 

Thank you for the update!

 

Ellen's article

https://www.thestar.com/life/advice/2019/03/26/electric-car-buyers-still-fighting-for-rebates.html

 

Glad to have found this forum! I have been struggling alone for the past month on this same issue.

e-Golf ordered October 2017, arrived August 2018

In August 2018 I did call EHVIP (at that time administered by MFO) to ensure my eligibility for the $14,000 rebate before I purchased the car. The lady I spoke with told me about this "mysterious" order list and said I was not on it. She then said because I ordered the vehicle in 2017 that I would fit under the grandfathered pre-March 9, 2018 program and because the incentive value for the e-Golf had not changed I am not required to be on the grandfathered pre order list. I would have to include my order documents in the application. I asked the EHVIP representative to send this to me in writing and she did.

I had appealed my notice of denial using the above mentioned EHVIP email guidance multiple times in the last month with no concrete response apart from cookie-cutter messages saying I am not on the Ministry approved order list. I had a long conversation yesterday with a rep at EHVIP and he was disheartened that even my appeal case got turned down from higher levels. All indications to me point to them wanting people to tire out. I am curious whether people are considering filing a small claims lawsuit against the Crown and VW Canada? Or banding together for a class action on grounds individual applicants during the program wind-down were not being duly notified of a requirement between dealerships and the MTO? We all proceeded to pay for these vehicles with full understanding we qualified for the rebate. For e-Golf people this rebate is 35% of the vehicle after tax price. I certainly would not have paid an early adopters premium price for a car with a practical urban only range without ensuring qualification for the rebate.

As to why I was never on the list, no one is giving me an answer. VW Canada (who has my full order details from 2017 and a confirmation from April 2018 that I am indeed buying the vehicle) says it was the dealers responsibility and that they notified all dealerships. They will not however provide me with this evidence despite multiple attempts over the last 2.5 weeks to get this. My dealership says they were never notified of this requirement.

 

We are definitely considering legal action. We are waiting to hear from the MTO on our appeal, as well as our MPP and the Ombudsman.

 

Which dealership did you buy your e-golf from?

 

@jstephens @rbyow I think class action will be the best move forward. If we pursue this individually, lawyer fees will eat away at least around $2,000-$3,000 of the rebate. It's interesting that Tesla (although to save their sale numbers) stood behind it's clients, and all VW and the Dealers are doing right now seems to be nothing! They did sign the incentive form indicating that they "guarantee" the cars are eligible for the incentive: this makes them liable.

My understanding is that we only have until the end of the month to start any appeal process... seeing how it seems no one is getting a clear direction as to "how to" form the ministry. what are your next steps?

 

Good read, at least someone is paying attention, but it also kinda puts some responsibility on the buyers at the end of the article.

 

I have posted this on several social media sites and have been in contact with Michelle Cheung at CBC. I am also so glad we found this site and the Toronto Star article this morning makes it clear that we as consumers and the Ministry of Finance probably knew nothing about the SECRET LIST on July 12 and 13th.

Our application for the Electric Vehicle incentive was declined.

We entered into a purchase agreement on July 11th for a Bolt and purchased our car on July 13, 2018 in Quebec. On July 12 and 13th we contacted the Ministry of Finance (on the EVIP government website: If you have any questions regarding a vehicle's eligibility please contact the Ministry of Finance by Phone: 1 (866) 668-8297 ) to confirm that our vehicle would be eligible for the incentive. We were nervous about picking it up and paying in full because the incentive had just been cancelled.

My husband called on July 12th and I called again and spoke to someone else on the 13th. Both times they confirmed that it would be eligible and we were told not to worry about getting this in writing because lots of people had purchased their cars outside the province and received the incentive. While we don't have documentation of the calls made to the ministry, we do have the text messages that went back and forth between Todd and I when he was on his way to get the car and I was waiting for the ministry to call me back to re-confirm that the car was in fact eligible despite being purchased in Quebec. At the time we purchased the car, there was nothing released publicly about the vehicles having to be on lots in Ontario and on a Ministry list provided by Ontario dealers. We had a working car at the time, were in no rush for a new one, and could have even purchased a slightly higher model Bolt in Ontario. However the model we liked we found in Quebec.

So, after the ministry of finance confirmed it would be eligible (for a second time), we purchased a $54,000 Bolt in Quebec. We met all of the criteria posted on every website. We plated it in Ontario. We filed for our incentive and waited. We followed all of the rules. We dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s. Then 2 weeks ago, our incentive was declined for a reason we didn't even know existed until it was declined. Unbeknownst to the us and the rest of the public (and the ministry of finance), at the time we purchased and plate our car, Ontario dealers had been asked to put all vehicles on their lots on a ministry approved order list. We have contacted the ministry and have been told it is unlikely that the decision will be changed. We are frustrated, and feel robbed. We have never spent more than 25k on a car before and we feel cheated by the current Government. #fordowesus14k

 

For the time being, we are still communicating with our dealer on potential outcomes and waiting for a final answer from our MPP and the Ombudsman. I will report back on any developments but if this isn't resolved by month's end, we plan on speaking to a lawyer to determine if class action or individual is the way to go and determining if there is enough of a case.

 

Zina from the Program Compliance MTO (MTO) <[email protected]> got back to me this morning (in response to my request for appeal from a few weeks back) to ask my dealership's name. Did anyone else get responses from anyone at Program Compliance MTO?

 

This doesn't help
https://news.ontario.ca/ene/en/2019/03/ontario-closes-the-book-on-cap-and-trade-carbon-tax-era.html

 

We have not. Should we reach out Zina specifically? Did she offer anything helpful?

 

No sign of anything helpful yet, but at least it's a response. Will see what she does with my dealer's name. TBH, I think she'll just confirm that they didn't send the order info on time, and tell me my claim is denied. I will keep you posted.

 

Same situation here..... ordered and put a deposit on a 2018 Nissan Leaf. Since our closest dealership doesn’t have the licence to sell EV we had to make the purchase from Quebec. Needless to say, our car arrived on Aug 3, was plated Aug 4 and incentive application sent Aug 8.... all within the required timeframe AND with the previously established rules. Well on Feb. 28 we received a notice of denial email stating that we weren’t eligible for the incentive because our vehicle wasn’t on the approved Ministry list! After spending an hour on the phone with the MTO to be told all EV manufacturer’s were notified of the changed on July 11. When I prompted to know how Nissan was notified and which office was notified the gentleman couldn’t give me that info. I then spent another 1.5 hour on the phone with Nissan Canada trying to figure if they were notified and my dealer screwed up.... they started with I understand i will help you to finish with in sorry mamm you will have to call your dealership! My dealership has NO idea of a list, were never notified by Nissan Canada....complained to the Ombsudsmen and filed an appeal notice with the MTO..... still waiting to hear back from anyone... but very frustrated that Im now stuck paying a 14K loan that we took while our incentive was being processed...

 

How did you all file appeals? What email addresses did you send your appeals to? What did you include? Sean "told" use that what we have sent in constitutes an appeal but I no longer trust anything I don't have in writing. Has anyone received a receipt for their appeal?

 

CBC story is here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rebate-electric-vehicles-1.5072736

 

Just email the addresses mentioned in this thread. No receipt received, but I got a response from "Program Compliance MTO"