How to get a certified driver's abstract in Ontario, and what the seal changes

A certified driver's abstract is the ordinary 3-year driver record printed and sealed by the Ministry of Transportation. ServiceOntario issues it against the driver's licence number, and states that the order "will be processed within 15 business days and then sent by regular mail via Canada Post". It carries exactly the same information as the uncertified record that is emailed immediately; what the seal adds is that a court or an official body can rely on it without checking with the ministry. Through us it is $46.00 all in, posted by the ministry to the name and address you give.

What you need, and what the ministry needs

The driver's licence number of the person the record is about - fifteen characters, one letter then fourteen digits - and a name and mailing address for the envelope. The ministry states that anyone can order a 3-year driver record if they provide a driver's licence number, and the certified copy is that same record with a seal, so the requester rule is the same.

The record itself does not carry the driver's address. That is the ministry's rule for the 3-year record, certified or not: a record that includes an address may only be ordered by the driver themselves or by an authorised requestor under contract with the ministry. The address you give when ordering is only where Canada Post delivers the envelope.

How long it takes, and why nobody can speed it up

The ministry quotes 15 business days of processing, then regular mail. Fifteen business days is three calendar weeks; allow a week on top for Canada Post. If someone has given you a deadline shorter than that, the certified copy cannot meet it, and you should ask them whether the uncertified PDF - which the ministry emails immediately - will do. What the seal actually changes is worth reading before you accept the three weeks.

Ordering through a third party does not change any of this. We place the same online order the ministry offers everyone; the fifteen business days are the ministry's. We say so on the product page, next to the price, because a service that implied otherwise would be selling a promise it cannot keep.

Ordering it here, and what happens to your address

On our form for the certified record you give the licence number, a name for the envelope and a Canadian mailing address. The address is passed to the ministry's order form and nowhere else, encrypted with the licence number while the order is open, and deleted on the same 30-day clock after it closes. The envelope goes from the ministry to that address. It never comes to us: we do not receive mail, and the system refuses to type our own address into any form.

The price is $46.00 all in. That is the whole price, one charge, and nothing is added at checkout.

Common questions

Does a certified record show more than the uncertified one?

No. It is the same 3-year record - driver identification details, demerit point total, active fine suspensions, Highway Traffic Act and Criminal Code convictions from the past 3 years, suspensions and reinstatements from the past 3 years - with the ministry's seal on it.

Can it be sent to a lawyer or a court directly?

The ministry posts it to the name and address given on the order. If you want it to go to a lawyer, give their name and address as the recipient; the record is still yours, ordered with your licence number.

Can I get it faster by ordering in person?

The ministry's page gives the same 15-business-day processing and postal delivery for a certified record however it is ordered. We could not find an instant or same-day certified channel on any ministry page.

What we could not confirm

These are things this page would have liked to tell you and could not find on a Ministry of Transportation or ServiceOntario page. Rather than guess, they are listed.

  • Whether the ministry will post a certified record ordered by a requester to an address other than the driver's, in every case. The get-driving-record page does not say to which address a certified copy is posted; the order form's own fields are what settle it, and this page is updated when they have been read on a live order.

Sources

Everything on this page is checked against a page published by the Government of Ontario or the Ministry of Transportation. Nothing is taken from another commercial site.

Checked .

Next: certified or uncertified? Only one of them is instant , or what the 3-year Ontario driver record shows, and what it leaves out .

This is a guide, not a sales page, which is why there is no price on it. If you do want us to order the record for you, that is what we do.