Winter Tire Changeover Cost in Ontario (2026): Prices, Storage and the Deadline Nobody Sets
What the job actually costs in the GTA, what storage adds, and why only two insurers publish the date your tires must be on.
In short
A winter tire changeover in the GTA runs $50 to $150 if your tires are already on their own rims, and $120 to $351 if they have to be dismounted and remounted — checked against published shop prices on 16 September 2026. Seasonal storage adds $95 to $158 for drop-off, or $200 to $271 if someone collects the tires from you.
The date part is where almost every article gets it wrong. Ontario law sets no deadline at all for putting winter tires on. It requires insurers to give a discount and says nothing about when. We checked sixteen insurers: two publish an exact installation window on their own website.
Key facts
| On-rim changeover | $50–$150 per set in the GTA |
| Off-rim mount and balance | $120–$351 per set, rising with wheel size |
| Seasonal storage | $95–$158 drop-off · $200–$271 with pickup |
| Legal installation date in Ontario | None. Quebec has one; Ontario does not |
| Insurance discount | Mandatory for insurers to offer since 1 January 2016. Amount is not set by law — in practice 2–5% |
| Insurers publishing an exact date | 2 of 16 checked: CAA and Square One |
| If the tires go on late | The discount can be cancelled and clawed back. Named industry sources say a claim would not be denied for lateness alone |
How much does a winter tire changeover cost in the GTA?
Between $50 and $351, and the single biggest factor is whether your winter tires sit on their own set of rims. If they do, the job is unbolting four wheels and bolting on four others. If they don’t, each tire has to be pried off a rim, a new one seated, and the wheel rebalanced — four times.
Tires already on rims
| Shop | Price |
|---|---|
| Formula Tire, Mississauga | $50 car · $60 small SUV · from $80 full-size SUV, pickup or van |
| Limitless Tire, GTA | From $80 |
| Don Valley North Toyota, Markham | From $100.75 + tax |
| Black Tires, Toronto | $120 |
| Tire Change (mobile, comes to you) | $150 + HST, balancing $40 extra |
Tires off rims — dismount, mount, balance
| Shop | Price |
|---|---|
| Formula Tire, Mississauga | From $120 · from $140 for full-size or oversized rims |
| Limitless Tire, GTA | $35 per tire — $140 a set |
| Tire Change (mobile) | $225 + HST |
| Don Valley North Toyota, Markham | From $287.25 + tax for 15–18″ · from $344.70 for 19–22″ · from $351.00 for run-flat and low-profile |
At that dealership the off-rim job costs nearly three times the on-rim one. A second set of steel wheels usually pays for itself inside two seasons, which is the actual reason shops push them.
Worth knowing before you plan around a big-box price: Canadian Tire, Costco, Kal Tire, Mr. Lube and Active Green+Ross publish no changeover price at all. Every “$75 at Canadian Tire” figure circulating online comes from someone’s blog, not from Canadian Tire. Costco is a firmer no — it installs only tires bought at Costco.
What does seasonal tire storage cost in Toronto?
$95 to $271 a season, and the split is whether you deliver the tires or someone fetches them.
| Business | Per season | Pickup |
|---|---|---|
| Glenforest Garage, Yonge & Lawrence | $135 · $95 first time | On a day’s notice |
| Don Valley North Toyota, Markham | $120 + tax · $190 for two seasons | Drop-off |
| The Tire Terminal, Mississauga | $120 | Drop-off |
| OK Tire, Etobicoke | $125 | Drop-off |
| SelflesStorage, GTA west | $125 · $150 for 18″ · $200 for 19″ | Included — $50 surcharge east of Yonge |
| Limitless Tire, GTA | $149 | Drop-off |
| Black Tires, Toronto | $158.20 drop-off · $271.20 with pickup | Priced separately |
| Tire Reserve, Toronto | $200 | Included in the service area |
What gets added at the counter?
The quoted price is rarely the invoice. These are the lines that appear:
When do winter tires have to be on in Ontario?
There is no legal date. Ontario Regulation 664 under the Insurance Act, amended in 2015, requires insurers to build a winter tire discount into their rating for private passenger vehicles on contracts issued or renewed from 1 January 2016. That is the whole rule. It names no date, no percentage, and no definition of what a winter tire is.
Quebec works the other way around: there, the law requires winter tires from 1 December to 15 March, with fines of $200–$300, and no discount is mandated. Ontario mandates the discount and sets no date. The two provinces are exact opposites, which is where much of the confusion comes from.
So the deadline is not the province’s. It is a term in your own policy, set by your own insurer.
Which insurers publish their dates?
Two of the sixteen we checked. Here is what each company actually puts on its own website.
| Insurer | Window | Discount | Published by them? |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAA Insurance | On by 20 November, off no earlier than 15 April | 5% | Yes — in its terms |
| Square One | 1 December – 31 March | 3% | Yes — exact |
| TD Insurance | “December to March” — months only | Not published | Partly |
| Allstate | No binding date given | 5%, in a blog post | Partly |
| Intact | Not published — its FAQ says to ask your broker | Not published | No |
| Aviva | Not published | 2%, stated by an executive to the press | No |
| Gore Mutual | “November to May”, from its VP of personal lines to trade press | Not published | No |
| Desjardins, Wawanesa, Belairdirect, The Co-operators, Economical, Travelers, Pembridge | Not published | Mostly “up to 5%” or nothing | No |
A Toronto broker, Debbie Arnold, surveyed eleven insurers for the Globe and Mail in November 2025: six wanted tires on by 1 November, two by mid-November, one by late November, two by 1 December. Discounts ran 2% to 5%, and about half asked for proof — a receipt or an installation invoice — at application.
That spread is a month. If you are working from an article that says “1 November”, you are reading the most common answer, not your answer.
What counts as a winter tire?
The insurers do not agree, and because the regulation defines nothing, they do not have to. Most name the three-peak mountain and snowflake symbol and want all four tires matching — Sonnet says plainly not to mix and match. Beyond that it splits:
Two of those brands — Economical and Sonnet — belong to the same insurance group and publish different answers. On studded tires, not one insurer we checked publishes a position at all.
What happens if your tires go on late?
You lose the discount, and your insurer can reclaim what it already gave you back to your last renewal — that is how Traci Boland, a London broker and past chair of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada, described it to the Globe and Mail.
Claim denial is the scarier claim and the less supported one. Anne Marie Thomas of the Insurance Bureau of Canada said that if your appointment is booked and a crash happens while you wait, she cannot see an insurer refusing coverage. Brokers surveyed said they had never heard of a claim denied over a missed tire deadline. The line every named source draws is between being late and lying: telling your insurer you have winter tires when you have never bought any is a different matter, and Ontario’s Insurance Act does invalidate claims built on a knowing misrepresentation.
Is the discount actually worth it?
On its own, no. Arnold quoted a real example: a $55 saving on a $3,600 annual policy. That is less than one changeover. Thomas of the IBC put it directly — the discount is a nudge, and the real benefit is being able to stop the car.
Which reframes the decision. Buy winter tires because braking distance on cold pavement is shorter. Claim the discount because it is there.
Red flags when booking a changeover or storage
What to do next
Two calls, in this order. Call your insurer and ask one question: by what date do my winter tires have to be installed, and do you want proof? Write down the answer — it is a term of your policy, not a general rule, and it may differ from your neighbour’s by a month.
Then book the changeover, with that date in hand rather than a date from an article. Compare auto services in Ontario on Ontario24 and contact two or three shops directly. Ontario24 is a classified directory — we help you find and compare businesses, and we do not vet them. Ask for the price for your wheel size with sensors included, and check the shop out yourself; our guide to finding a trustworthy mechanic covers what to ask, and our safety tips cover the rest. If you are also lining up winter services for the house, our snow removal cost guide covers seasonal contracts, which fill up on the same calendar.
Before you call anyone, it helps to know what this job should cost and what the next one will. What things cost in Ontario in 2026 puts 75 service prices in one table.
Frequently asked questions
No. Ontario law sets no date for installing winter tires and no penalty for driving without them. The only deadline that applies to you is the one written into your own insurance policy, and it varies by company. Quebec is the province with a legal requirement — there, winter tires are mandatory from 1 December to 15 March.
$50 to $150 a set if the tires are already mounted on their own rims, and $120 to $351 if they have to be dismounted and remounted. Wheel size drives most of the difference: one Markham dealership charges $57.45 more for 19-inch wheels than for 18-inch ones.
Since 1 January 2016, Ontario insurers must build a winter tire discount into their rates for private passenger vehicles. The law does not set the amount. In practice it runs 2% to 5% — a broker recently quoted $55 a year on a $3,600 policy.
The discount can be cancelled, and your insurer can reclaim what it credited you since your last renewal. Named industry sources, including the Insurance Bureau of Canada, say a claim would not be denied simply because tires went on late. Misrepresenting whether you own winter tires at all is a different matter.
It depends entirely on the insurer, and they disagree. Allstate and Economical both say all-weather tires count. Gore Mutual says mud and snow tires do not qualify. Square One accepts either marking. Ask your own company rather than assuming.
No. Costco Canada’s policy is that installation is available only on tires purchased from a Costco tire centre by a Costco member. Canadian Tire, Kal Tire, Mr. Lube and Active Green+Ross do install tires from elsewhere, but none of them publishes a changeover price — you have to call.
It costs $95 to $271 a season in the GTA, so over ten years it is more than the tires. It buys you space and handling. Before signing, check the renewal terms and how much notice the shop needs to release your tires — four business days is not unusual, and it can wreck a booking.
Sources
Prices were taken from each business’s own published price list and checked on 16 September 2026; shop pricing changes without notice, so confirm before booking. The insurance discount requirement is set out in Ontario Regulation 664 under the Insurance Act, as amended in 2015. Installation windows for CAA Insurance and Square One come from those companies’ own published terms; figures attributed to other insurers come from those companies’ websites where noted, and otherwise from Jason Tchir’s November 2025 column in the Globe and Mail, which surveyed eleven insurers through Toronto broker Debbie Arnold. Quebec’s winter tire period is published by the Gouvernement du Québec. The status of tire disposal fees comes from the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority. Ontario24 is not an insurance broker and does not sell tires or insurance; confirm your own policy terms with your insurer before making a decision.