CVIP and periodic truck inspections in Canada, province by province

What a CVIP or periodic inspection is

Canada’s commercial vehicle rules rest on the National Safety Code (NSC), a set of 16 standards that the provinces and territories either adopt by reference or mirror in their own laws. Standard 11 covers maintenance and periodic inspection. Part A sets out the maintenance program every carrier must run. Part B is the mandatory periodic motor vehicle inspection (PMVI): the standard a vehicle is inspected to, by an authorized technician at an authorized facility, at a set frequency, shown by a decal of compliance.

Carriers call it different things depending on where they are based. In BC and Alberta it is usually the CVIP. Ontario calls it the annual or semi-annual inspection, and Quebec the mandatory periodic mechanical inspection. They are the same national standard, applied by each province.

For the national program, a commercial vehicle is a truck, truck-tractor, semi-trailer or trailer, or a combination of them, with a registered gross vehicle weight above 4,500 kg (about 10,000 lb), or a bus with more than 10 seats including the driver. Provinces may exempt or add vehicle types, so the province where the vehicle is plated decides the details.

Inspection intervals and weight thresholds by province

Standard 11 requires trucks, truck-tractors, semi-trailers and trailers to be inspected at least once a year, and buses at least every six months. Each jurisdiction then sets its weight threshold and, in some cases, a shorter cycle. This is the table published in the standard:

In Alberta and Saskatchewan the higher threshold applies only to vehicles that operate solely within the province. A vehicle that travels to another jurisdiction must meet the inspection rules of the jurisdiction it travels in. Here is how the main provinces run their programs.

Ontario

Ontario requires an annual inspection, valid 12 months, for most trucks, trailers and converter dollies over 4,500 kg (total gross weight, registered gross weight or the maker’s gross vehicle weight rating), and for tow trucks of any weight. Buses and other passenger vehicles with 10 or more seats, school purposes vehicles and accessible vehicles are on a six-month cycle.

The inspection is done by a licensed technician at a certified DriveON Vehicle Inspection Centre. DriveON replaced the paper-based Motor Vehicle Inspection Station (MVIS) program, which ended on March 31, 2025. Ontario bases the inspection on NSC Standard 11, Part B, and an annual or semi-annual inspection can be used as a Safety Standards Certificate for 36 days. If a vehicle fails, it must be repaired and re-inspected; you can return it to the same centre within 10 days.

For plate renewals, Ontario also accepts an out-of-province inspection: valid evidence from another Canadian jurisdiction, or from an inspection done in the US under Part 396, no more than a year old for vehicles on the annual cycle and six months for the semi-annual cycle.

Alberta

Alberta’s Vehicle Inspection Regulation requires every commercial vehicle to have a valid inspection certificate and decal, and the driver must be able to produce the certificate when an officer asks. Trucks, tractors and trailers need an annual inspection when registered above 4,500 kg and operating outside Alberta, or above 11,794 kg when operating only inside it. Buses are inspected twice a year. Inspections are done by technicians and facilities licensed by the province.

British Columbia

BC’s program, run by Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE), covers commercial vehicles and trucks licensed above 8,200 kg, commercial trailers and semi-trailers, buses and several other classes. Inspections are done by authorized inspectors at designated inspection facilities, and the standard table puts BC trucks on a six-month cycle.

Fleets with 15 or more power units, all registered in BC and run under a BC National Safety Code certificate for at least 12 consecutive months, can apply for a Preventative Maintenance Program facility licence and inspect their own vehicles. Their decals carry a serial number starting with “P” and may expire 12 months after the month of inspection. If a vehicle needs time for repairs, an interim inspection certificate is valid for a maximum of 14 days.

Manitoba

Manitoba Public Insurance requires a periodic mandatory inspection every 12 months for trucks and truck-tractors, trailers and semi-trailers, and converter dollies with a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,500 kg or more. Common carrier buses, school buses and rental passenger vehicles are inspected every six months. Exclusions include trailers (not semi-trailers) owned by a farmer and used only in farming, and truck-tractors registered as farm trucks under 21,952 kg.

Saskatchewan

Power units registered in a commercial class at or above 11,794 kg that travel outside Saskatchewan need a periodic inspection every six months, and trucks in the same class every 12 months. For vehicles that stay in Saskatchewan, SGI sets the threshold at 22,000 kg rather than the 11,794 kg in the national table, with the same six- and 12-month terms. Commercial trailers, dollies, jeeps and boosters with air brakes are inspected every 12 months. Power units inspected under Saskatchewan’s preventive maintenance program get a 12-month term. Where SGI and the national table differ, follow SGI.

Quebec

The SAAQ requires a mechanical inspection at least once a year for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,500 kg or more, and at least every six months for buses and minibuses. An authorized mechanic at a mechanical inspection centre does the inspection, and a vehicle that complies gets a sticker valid for 6 or 12 months. After a minor defect, the owner has 48 hours to make the repair and get the sticker; a major defect takes the vehicle off the road immediately.

Owners can instead have a preventive maintenance program (programme d’entretien préventif, or PEP) recognized by the SAAQ, which exempts their vehicles from the periodic inspection. They must follow the maintenance schedule and fill out and keep the maintenance sheets, and a vehicle withdrawn from the program must have a periodic inspection within three months. Separately, every heavy vehicle in Quebec needs mandatory mechanical maintenance at least every six months, which does not replace the periodic inspection.

What the inspection checks

The Part B standard has 10 sections organized by vehicle system, plus an appendix on alternative fuel systems. For each item it gives the inspection method and the “reject if” criteria: a condition that fails the vehicle, with no decal until it is corrected.

• Power train: accelerator, exhaust, emission controls, drive shaft, clutch, engine mounts, fuel system
• Suspension: frame attachments, axles, springs, air suspension
• Brakes: hydraulic and electric systems, and air brakes
• Steering
• Instruments and auxiliary equipment
• Lamps
• Electrical system
• Body: cab, frame, cargo body, doors, glass, mirrors, seats and seat belts, landing gear and rear impact guard on trailers
• Tires and wheels
• Coupling devices: fifth wheel, pintle hook and other hitches, safety chains

Most of the inspection is visual, but some items require tests, measurements or taking parts apart. Internal brake components are meant to be inspected and measured, which can mean pulling wheels. The standard notes that a carrier who has carefully documented brake measurements and kept repair invoices during normal maintenance may qualify for alternative inspection methods and avoid that cost.

The decal, the report and the records to keep

After a pass, the inspector gives the operator a report and puts a decal on the vehicle. Standard 11 says the report should be carried in the vehicle (check with your province), copies of every completed report should be kept at the carrier’s principal place of business and at the inspection facility, and another copy goes to the jurisdiction within 15 business days.

The old decal comes off when the new one goes on. The decal shows either the date of inspection or the month and year of expiry, and CCMTA policy is moving jurisdictions to month and year of expiry. The agreed locations are:

• Trucks and truck-tractors: the left-hand corner of the windshield, or a conspicuous spot on the left side of the cab.
• Trailers and converter dollies: the left side, as close to the front as practicable.
• Buses: the lower right-hand corner of the windshield, or near the right front of the vehicle.

If the vehicle fails, the repairs must be done before a decal is issued. Most jurisdictions let you repair it at the inspection facility, or tow or transport it elsewhere and bring it back.

Records

Enforcement happens on the road and in facility audits. Standard 11 warns that proof of periodic inspections may have to be kept for up to four years, and that you should keep every proof of repair, such as invoices showing the parts replaced, because auditors check them when they evaluate your maintenance program. Ontario’s regulation, for example, lists copies of annual and semi-annual inspection certificates, and equivalent documents from other jurisdictions, among the records an operator must keep for each vehicle.

File the report with the unit’s maintenance records, note the expiry month, and set a reminder well before it. Our guide to truck maintenance records covers how long each record must be kept, and TruckerPro’s trucking compliance tools keep the carrier side of the file, such as driver and safety records, in the same TMS.

Reciprocity with other provinces and the United States

Between provinces

All participating jurisdictions recognize each other’s inspections, and except in rare cases accept the host jurisdiction’s inspection as equivalent to their own, so a truck that is away from home when its inspection falls due can be inspected where it is. Trucks and trailers plated in a 12-month province do not need reinspection in a six-month province: the 12-month decal is accepted. Recognition may be limited to six months for vehicles plated in a six-month province.

Canadian trucks in the United States

US rules accept the Canadian inspection. Under 49 CFR 396.17(f), a vehicle that passes a periodic inspection performed under the authority of a Canadian province or the Yukon, meeting the minimum standards in Appendix A to Part 396, is treated as having passed the US annual inspection for twelve months, counted from the last day of the month in which it was inspected. Section 396.23 adds that where a vehicle is subject to a mandatory program FMCSA considers as effective as its own, the carrier meets the US requirement through that program, including inspections at facilities a province has authorized.

Standard 11 records that the US recognized the inspection programs of every Canadian jurisdiction as equivalent in 1991, so Canadian vehicles with a valid decal from any province do not need a US inspection. The reverse does not hold: a Canadian-registered vehicle with only a US compliance sticker does not get Canadian reciprocity.

In the US the proof must be on the vehicle: the inspection report, or a decal or sticker showing the inspection date, where the report is kept, the vehicle’s identity if it is not clearly marked, and a certification that it passed.

US trucks in Canada

Canadian jurisdictions accept a US-plated vehicle’s inspection done to the FMCSA standard or in a state whose program meets it. A CVSA roadside inspection decal is not accepted as proof of the annual inspection, and US buses entering Canada need an inspection done in the previous six months. For the US side of the rules, see our DOT annual inspection guide.