Blog · Guelph
Does My Pickup or Trailer Need a Yellow Sticker in Ontario?
If the registered gross weight on your permit is over 4,500 kg, the answer is yes — and a lot of Guelph trades don't find out until a roadside inspection.
Last updated September 4, 2026 · Reviewed by the Guelph Mechanic team
The rule
Ontario requires an annual safety inspection for most commercial motor vehicles, trailers and converter dollies with a registered gross weight over 4,500 kg, and for tow trucks at any weight, plus concrete pumps and mobile cranes. Vehicles with ten or more passenger seats, school-purpose vehicles and accessible vehicles are on a six-month cycle. The inspection is done at a licensed DriveON Vehicle Inspection Centre and recorded electronically; the yellow sticker on the vehicle is the visible proof.
Where pickups get caught
A three-quarter-ton or one-ton pickup is often registered at a gross weight above 4,500 kg on its own. Hook up a dump trailer or an equipment trailer and the combination almost certainly is. The trailer, if it's over 4,500 kg gross itself, needs its own inspection and its own sticker. The permit is the reference — check the RGW line.
Emissions
Heavy-duty diesel vehicles over 4,500 kg also need an annual emissions test once they're seven model years old (or when registered to a new owner). Light-duty vehicles and gasoline heavy vehicles are exempt.
What it covers
The commercial inspection goes deeper than a passenger safety: full brake system, steering and suspension, frame, coupling devices and hitches, tires and wheels, lighting, exhaust, fuel system and cargo securement. Trailers are checked for brakes, bearings, lights, hitch and frame.
Bonus
An annual or semi-annual inspection can stand in for a Safety Standards Certificate for 36 days if you sell the vehicle in that window — one inspection, two purposes.
For fleets
If you've got more than a couple of units, put them on a fleet account so the calendar is tracked for you. A lapsed sticker at a roadside check means fines and a truck that isn't working that day.