here is a link from OMVIC regarding etching and any other unsolicited goods. Print it out and take it with you when you are purchasing a new car just in case they tell you you need to buy something you don't have to. If you paid for it already go back to the dealer and demand your money back. Should be a sticky?
http://www.omvic.on.ca/pdf/OMVIC%20bulletin%20-%20November%202005-2.pdf
I sent a copy of that OMVIC bulletin to the VW dealership whose salesman, a couple of weeks ago, told me that etching and nitrogen were "mandatory". At that point I walked and had an apologetic e-mail waiting for me when I returned home. He'd spoken to the sales manager and was told that the "mandatory" fees were now
not mandatory and if I returned they would "accommodate" me. My reply was in the form of that OMVIC bulletin which states that it's against the law to mandate such fees.
The sales manager replied with the form you see enclosed here. It lumps a lot of the things they MUST perform (registering a new car etcetera) with their scams - Globali and nitrogen. But to the unprepared (which must be most car buyers) this form looks like it is a mandatory program. In the small print at the bottom they "encourage you to register your contact information into the globali.com vehicle recovery network".
As most people will never have heard of Globali or the benefits of nitrogen in the tires, the time of car purchase is not the time to find out about it. You're at the mercy of the salesman's pitch and you can bet your life it's a well-polished pitch that the dealership has schooled them on. I wonder how many people notice the Globali and the nitrogen and how many question it and how many refuse it? I would imagine the percentage that get out the door in a car (I got out minus a car) is almost zero.
So it's a well-rehearsed sales pitch for almost useless products that are grossly overpriced. But they're not stupid. If they mentioned them at the same time they asked you if you wanted scotchguard and undercoating, the purchase rate would be very low. This is a slick marketing scheme and even though they cannot, by law, mandate it and have to waive it, I have no interest in rewarding a dealership who would try to take me and the rest of the public as sheepish fools.