It depends entirely on who you buy from, and the gap is larger than most buyers expect.

Buy from a licensed Manitoba dealer and you pay 5% GST plus 7% Retail Sales Tax. The RST is calculated on the net selling price, which means after your trade-in allowance is deducted.

Buy privately and there is no GST, but Manitoba Public Insurance or your Autopac agent collects 7% RST at registration on the greater of what you actually paid or the vehicle's average wholesale value in the Canadian Black Book. If you pay $12,000 for a truck the Black Book values at $18,000, you are taxed on $18,000, not $12,000. For motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs and snowmobiles the Canadian Blue Book is used instead.

That rule is the reason a private-sale price that looks lower on paper sometimes is not.

Yes, at a licensed dealer, and it is worth real money.

Manitoba RST Bulletin 012 sets RST on the net difference payable when the vehicle you buy and the vehicle you trade are "the same general kind." On a $50,000 purchase with a $20,000 trade, you pay 7% on $30,000 instead of on $50,000. That is $2,100 instead of $3,500, a $1,400 difference.

There is a private-sale equivalent most people never claim. If you buy and sell a vehicle of the same general kind within six months either side, an Autopac agent can apply a credit equal to the lesser of the RST you paid or 7% of the vehicle you sold. Two limits: the vehicle you register must also have been bought privately, and Autopac agents do not issue refund cheques, they net it against RST payable.

Only GST and RST. Everything else has to already be inside the advertised number.

Manitoba's Motor Vehicle Advertising and Information Disclosure Regulation has applied since 1 June 2015 and requires an all-in advertised price on both new and used vehicles. Freight, pre-delivery inspection, administration and documentation fees, the tire levy, air conditioning excise tax and any mandatory pre-installed product or service all have to be inside the price you see. The Consumer Protection Office's dealer bulletin puts it in one sentence: adding any fee above the all-in price is illegal.

Federally, the 2022 Competition Act amendments made drip pricing an explicitly deceptive practice, with government-imposed taxes as the only carve-out.

So the arithmetic is: advertised price, plus GST, plus RST. That is the number. If a Manitoba dealer's advertised price grows when you sit down, ask which line item they think the regulation permits.

We will walk you line by line through where every dollar of a Gauthier deal goes, before you sign anything.

It depends on new versus used, and none of it happens at the dealership.

New vehicle: the New Vehicle Information Statement plus the bill of sale.

Used vehicle, dealer or private: the signed Transfer of Ownership Document from the previous owner, a bill of sale showing the purchase date and the vehicle's year, make, model and serial number, and a valid Certificate of Inspection from a Manitoba inspection station.

Registration and Autopac coverage are completed at an Autopac agent, not at a dealership, and you must have coverage before you drive the vehicle. A Manitoba dealer can issue an Interim Registration Permit valid for seven days from purchase so you can legally drive to an agent.

On the Transfer of Ownership Document, the seller fills in the date and odometer reading, signs, keeps the left portion of the registration card and gives you the right portion.

In most cases, yes. MPI requires a Certificate of Inspection whenever the registered owner of a vehicle changes, and whenever any vehicle is brought into Manitoba from another jurisdiction.

If you buy a used vehicle from a Manitoba dealer, the dealer must issue you a valid COI. That obligation is on us, not on you.

On a private sale with no COI, you cannot legally drive the vehicle home. You either tow it, or you get a permit through an Autopac agent to drive it directly to an inspection station.

A COI is valid for one year for the purpose of transferring ownership. After a year, a new one is required. A vehicle with a "salvageable" write-off status cannot be driven or registered until that status is changed to "rebuilt."

Yes, and you should not be paying the other province's sales tax on it.

Manitoba's 7% RST applies to the purchase price plus any shipping charges, federal duty and excise taxes, excluding GST and excluding any tax imposed by the other jurisdiction. It is collected here, at registration, by MPI or an Autopac agent.

A Certificate of Inspection is required for any vehicle brought into Manitoba. If the vehicle carries a valid inspection from your former home province you may be able to use it, provided the vehicle was awarded a "Passed" grade.

If you are importing from outside Canada, you will need your Canada Border Services Agency documentation, form B15 or B3, showing the purchase price in Canadian dollars along with duty and excise tax.

One distinction people get wrong: the three-month window MPI describes for transferring a licence and registration applies to people moving to Manitoba. It is not a grace period for a Manitoban who buys a car in Alberta.

Not automatically, but it changes two things you should decide on purpose rather than discover later.

A longer term lowers your payment and raises your total cost of borrowing. It also keeps you in a negative equity position longer, meaning you owe more than the vehicle is worth for a larger share of the loan. That matters most if you tend to trade every three or four years.

Terms up to 96 months are available on approved credit, depending on the model year.

Two things make a long term safer: money down, and an open loan. Every loan we arrange is open, so you can make extra payments or pay the balance in full at any time with no penalty. You arrange that directly with the lender.

Before you sign anything, ask us to show you the total cost of borrowing at 72, 84 and 96 months side by side. For most people that single sheet of paper is the deciding factor, and we would rather you see it than not.

Manitoba Public Insurance finances up to $2,000 per vehicle at prime plus 2%, repaid over one to four years by monthly withdrawal.

It covers more than the tires. Rims, mounting and balancing, TPMS sensors, studding, seasonal storage or switchover, and applicable taxes and fees are all eligible.

To qualify you need to be an MPI customer with a passenger vehicle or light truck registered in your name, and no outstanding MPI payments or restrictions. The tires must carry the mountain and snowflake symbol. One Manitoba rule people miss: studded tires are illegal between April 30 and October 1.

Four things change, and only one of them is price.

• Tax base. At a dealer, RST is calculated after your trade is deducted. Privately, RST is charged on the greater of the price you paid or Canadian Black Book average wholesale value.
• Inspection. A Manitoba dealer must issue you a valid Certificate of Inspection on a used sale. On a private sale, obtaining one is your problem, and until you have it you cannot register the vehicle.
• Recourse. Manitoba dealers are regulated by the Consumer Protection Office under The Consumer Protection Act and The Business Practices Act, and hold a Dealer's Permit issued by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles. A private sale is as-is, with no regulator behind it.
• Financing. A dealer can arrange lender financing and apply manufacturer programs. A private sale means arranging your own, usually at a higher rate.

The private asking price is almost always lower on paper. Run the tax and the inspection through the arithmetic before you conclude it is actually lower.

They are separate stores with separate inventory, separate phone numbers and separate service departments.

Gauthier Buick GMC sells and services new and used Buick and GMC vehicles at 2400 McPhillips Street in Winnipeg. Sales 204-633-8833, service 204-813-9524, parts 204-813-0952.

Gauthier Cadillac is a dedicated Cadillac dealership at the same McPhillips address, opened September 2022 as Manitoba's first Cadillac Experience Centre. Sales 204-631-1260.

Jim Gauthier Chevrolet is a separate Chevrolet store.

The Gauthier Collision Centre is at 1100 Templeton Avenue, not on McPhillips. 204-697-1082. It handles all makes and models. If you are shopping a Sierra, Terrain, Yukon, Envista, Encore GX, Envision or Enclave, this is the store.