what "sold as-is" means in Ontario

some vehicles we sell are sold as-is. the words are not decoration: Ontario requires a dealer to say them, in a set form, on any vehicle sold that way. here is the wording, and here is what it means for you.

the statement, exactly as the law requires it

this vehicle is being sold "as-is", unfit, not e-tested and is not represented as being in a road worthy condition, mechanically sound or maintained at any guaranteed level of quality. the vehicle may not be fit for use as a means of transportation and may require substantial repairs at the purchaser's expense. it may not be possible to register the vehicle to be driven in its current condition.

that paragraph appears on the vehicle's page and in its description wherever the listing is published. it is the same on every as-is vehicle because the wording is prescribed, not written by us.

what it means in practice

no safety certificate comes with it. a vehicle sold as fit comes with the Safety Standards Certificate Ontario requires to plate it in your name. an as-is vehicle does not. before it can be registered to drive, it has to be repaired to the standard and certified, and that is at your expense.

no financing. we do not arrange financing on an as-is vehicle, so its page shows no payment and it never appears in a payment search. it is a cash purchase.

no Arrow Certified mark. the certification says work was done to make the car right; the as-is statement says the opposite. we never put both on one vehicle.

the price is still plus HST and licensing, like every price on the site.

why we sell some vehicles as-is

usually because the car is older or has higher kilometres, and the cost of bringing it to the safety standard would be out of proportion to what it is worth. selling it as-is, honestly described, lets somebody who can do the work themselves buy it for what it is.

what we still show you

the vehicle page still carries the photographs, the specifications, and any reconditioning that was filed on it. what it does not carry is any claim about its condition, because the law is clear that no such claim is being made.

if you are looking at an as-is vehicle, come and see it, bring somebody who knows what to look for, and ask us what we know about it. we will tell you.

the other side of this

what Arrow Certified means is the mark on the vehicles that went through the shop, and how we recondition a car is what that involves.