Retire Your Ride

What was Retire Your Ride?

Retire Your Ride was a national program designed and dedicated to effectively and efficiently retiring 1995 model year or older vehicles in an environmentally responsible manner, in an effort to improve air quality and encourage the use of sustainable transportation. This voluntary program was delivered nationally by Summerhill Impact, along with a network of partners, with funding from the Government of Canada. The program ended March 31, 2011.

If you already have an application in the system, please complete the "next steps" provided at the end of the application form. Retire Your Ride requires proof the vehicle you are retiring has been registered and insured for driving in your name for the past 6 consecutive months.
If you have questions regarding the next steps or about an application in process, please contact your local call centre via fax or email. Contact Us

Although Retire Your Ride has ended, we encourage responsible recycling of end of life vehicles. See what programs are available in your province for vehicle recycling as well as a list of recyclers who participated in Retire Your Ride and follow the Code of Practice. What to do now?

When did the program end?

Will the program be extended

The program was always planned to end on March 31, 2011. There are fewer model year 1995 and older verhicles remaining on the road than when the program began. These vehicles are now at least 16 years old and near their "natural" end of their life, reducing the need to offer incentives to accelerate their retirement.

On March 31, 2011, Government of Canada funding for the incentives to Canadians under the Retire Your Ride program ended. The program cannot accept applications received after that date.

The program end date has been included in Retire Your Ride communications and marketing material since the start of the program. Since the fall of 2010, the Retire Your Ride website included a countdown of the number of days remaining to applyto the program.

As of March 31, 2011 the program had accepted more than 130,000 vehicles into the program, surpassing our goal! This represents approximately 4,700 tonnes of smog-forming pollutants being removed from our atmosphere.

For more detailed information on program participation see our results .

The program was very successful. Retire Your Ride successfully retires over 130,000 vehicles resulting in a reduction of 4,700 tonnes of smog forming emissions.

For more information on program results, please visit the Retire Your Ride website atretireyourride.ca .

The program was always planned to end on March 31, 2011. There are fewer model year 1995 and older vehicles remaining on the road than when the program began. These vehicles are now at least 116 years old and near their "natural" end of their life, reducing the need to offer incentives to accelerate their retirement.

Once enrolled in the program, eligible vehicles were assigned and sent to a participating Retire Your Ride recycler. Auto Recyclers in the program followed the environmentally responsible Code of Practice. This approach ensured that each vehicle went through a methodical process designed to maximize the amount of material that could be reclaimed and to minimize the environmental impact. This included removing all liquids and mercury switches from the car, reclaiming the vehicle parts that were safe to reuse and that did not contribute to smog-forming emissions, thus reducing the need to manufacture new parts. For more details visit: Why Recycle .

Retire Your Ride ended on March 31, 2011. Program participants were owners of 1995 or older model year vehicles that were in running condition and had been registered and insured in Canada for the previous consecutive 6 months.

On average, 1995 model year and older vehicles produce 19 times more smog-forming emissions than 2004 or newer models. New emissions control technology was introduced in 1996 and then again in 2004 requiring auto manufacturers to meet more stringent emissions standards. Vehicles 1995 and older therefore lack the latest technology to cut air-pollution and reduce emissions. Retire Your Ride was an environmental program dedicated to removing these older running cars from Canada’s roads.