MPI’s Vehicle Safety department is responsible for Manitoba’s vehicle inspection standards, and oversees administration of the vehicle inspection programs that are currently in place. Inspections help ensure vehicles are safe and meet the equipment standards and requirements set out in the Vehicle Equipment, Safety and Inspection Regulation.
These standards are important when buying or importing a vehicle, modifying a vehicle or rebuilding a write-off.
Vehicle Safety also looks after the licensing and control of vehicle dealers, to help ensure that dealers conduct their business within legislated requirements, and to maintain an orderly marketplace for Manitobans through investigation and arbitration of consumer complaints relating to the safe operating condition of motor vehicles.
Manitobans who wish to file a complaint about a dealership or government inspection station can contact Vehicle Safety at 204-985-0920 or toll-free at 1-866-323-0542.
About inspections
Some inspections are required as part of the registration process:
- A Certificate of Inspection (COI) ensures that a vehicle meets minimum equipment and performance standards before being operated on a roadway. Those standards are outlined in the Vehicle Equipment, Safety and Inspection Regulation.
- A Body Integrity Inspection Certificate (BIIC) is an additional structural safety inspection required when rebuilding a motor vehicle from the status of salvageable. See information on vehicle statuses and the Stolen and Wrecked Vehicle Monitoring Program.
Roadside inspections
Vehicles are required to meet certain standards to pass inspections for registration. However, the law also requires that vehicles always meet minimum standards.
Law enforcement agencies throughout Manitoba conduct roadside inspection programs to ensure vehicles are properly maintained and meet those minimum standards for safety. Vehicle Safety cooperates with law enforcement agencies in roadside vehicle inspections to inspect critical components and systems that may pose imminent safety concerns.
Periodic mandatory inspections
Certain commercial vehicles must undergo additional inspections.
Mandatory vehicle safety inspections are required every six months for:
- common carrier buses
- regulated passenger vehicles that are a school bus or rental vehicle
Mandatory vehicle safety inspections are required every 12 months for:
- trucks including truck tractors with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 4,500 kg or more
- ambulances with a GVWR of 4,500 kg or more
- stretcher transportation vehicles with a GVWR of 4,500 kg or more
- regulated passenger vehicles (that are not a school bus or rental vehicle)
- trailers, including semi-trailers, with a GVWR of 4,500 kg or more
- trailer converter dollies with a GVWR of 4,500 kg or more
Vehicles excluded from periodic mandatory vehicle inspection requirements include:
- farm trailers
- truck tractors registered as a farm truck with a GVWR that is less than 21,952 kg
- motor vehicles or trailers designed/modified for the purpose of mobile living accommodation
- regulated passenger vehicles that are owned by an individual and used solely for personal transportation
- new vehicles in transit from one facility of the manufacturer to another, or from a facility of the manufacturer to a wholesale distributor or dealer
- motor vehicles registered and restricted to use on highways in and adjoining a remote community
- motor vehicles registered as the antique vehicles registration category
- motor vehicles used in a public transportation system owned by or operated on behalf of the City of Winnipeg or City of Brandon
Use this search tool to find an inspection station for:
- Periodic Mandatory Vehicle Inspection (PMVI)
- Light Vehicle Inspection (COI)
- Body Integrity Inspection (BIIC)
- Motorcycle Inspection (Motorcycle COI)