What an Ignition Interlock Costs Per Month in Ontario
The recurring cost people forget when budgeting: the device lease, the MTO monthly fee, and the avoidable charges that push the total up.
Costs & budgeting · 15 September 2026 · 6 min read
Interlock early, or wait the suspension out
The reduced-suspension stream costs more in fees and less in months. Whether that trade is worth it turns on one thing most people have not priced.
What each side costs
Take a first Criminal Code conviction. The standard route is a one-year suspension followed by a one-year interlock condition. Stream A, for someone who pleads guilty and is sentenced within 90 days, is a minimum three-month suspension and a minimum nine-month interlock.
Nine months back on the road earlier, and the device arrives nine months sooner.
| What | Wait it out | Reduced suspension |
|---|---|---|
| Off the road | 12 months | 3 months minimum |
| Device fitted for | 12 months | 12 months |
| Back on Track | $894 | $894 |
| Reinstatement | $281.00 | $281.00 |
| Device, monthly all-in | about $85 | about $85 |
The thing that surprises people
The device costs roughly the same either way. Twelve months of interlock is twelve months of lease whether you serve it starting in month four or month thirteen. What the reduced stream buys is not a cheaper condition — it is nine months of being able to drive.
So the real question is not what the programme costs. It is what nine months without a licence costs you, and that number is entirely personal.
Pricing the nine months
- Commuting. Transit, taxis and ride shares for nine months, against the fuel and parking you would have paid anyway.
- Work. If driving is part of the job, this line dwarfs everything else on the page.
- Time. An hour a day of extra travel is roughly 270 hours over nine months.
- Everything else. School runs, appointments, the trips other people absorb for you.
For many people the reduced stream pays for itself in the first month. For someone who works from home and lives on a transit line, it genuinely may not.
The 2026 change tilts it further
For offences dated on or after 1 July 2026, installing within 30 days of reinstatement cuts a first-time condition from twelve months to nine, and a second from three years to two. At around $85 a month all-in, three months saved is roughly $255 that never leaves your account — on top of the earlier licence.
Book the installation before your reinstatement date. Providers have waiting lists and the 30 days does not move for them.
The costs on neither side of the table
Insurance, which we do not price and will not guess at. Legal fees. And a road test, but only if your licence was invalid three years or more — which the reduced stream makes considerably less likely, since it keeps the total time short.
Reduced suspension Stream A, Stream B and Stream D in Ontario sets out who qualifies, and the ignition interlock course cost page covers what we charge, which is none of the above.
Questions
Questions about this
Does the reduced stream cost more overall?
In direct fees, roughly the same. The device is fitted for the same number of months either way, and Back on Track and reinstatement do not change. What differs is when you get your licence back.
Can I decide later?
Stream A requires a guilty plea, conviction, sentence and prohibition within 90 days of the offence date, so the fastest route closes early. Waiting is itself a decision.
Availability & pricing
If a road test is part of this
We rent an interlock-equipped car for a G2 or G road test and teach the device in ten hours of in-car training. Send the date and we will quote it in writing.
- Answered the same day, Monday to Saturday
- A written figure with everything included
- If you don’t need a road test, we’ll tell you that instead
Phone is faster. Someone answers Monday to Saturday, evenings included.