Cash grab

Yes to get that little Black 09 sticker that is no bigger than a stamp was A LOT of running around and time wasted. In Ontario you renew your driver’s license typically around your birthday. So it was time for me to renew. The renewal process itself is quick and painless (except for $80 governmental cash grab). The problem is Drive Clean. I think it is a great idea to regulate emissions but having to use Ministry ‘approved’ shops to repair cars with emission issues is brutal. I took my car in, it failed… it needed x, y, z done to it.

Now I’m sure *any* shop can fix x, y ,z but they can’t. Work done for emission repair for Drive Clean has to be done by an authorized shop. Sigh… So I start calling around to get the emissions repair work done on my car. First place is booking into December (what!), next place was the same, Toyota dealership can’t do the work… and so it went on. Eventually I just returned to the place that did the test and had them fix it. Fortunately the shop was able to clean my existing parts and get a pass without having to replace a bunch of expensive stuff. The labour was just under $200, but I figure it could have been a lot worse. They will get more of my business in the future. So I finally get my Drive Clean PASS down to the Ministry of Transportation, get my sticker, and it ripped as I was putting it on. *Joy*