Ontario's Parts Technician apprenticeship, trade code 240P: Grade 12 entry, two levels, 5,460 hours on the job plus 540 hours of in-school training, voluntary status, and the certifying exam with a Red Seal endorsement.
Applies in: Ontario
In Ontario, a parts technician apprentice registers under the trade name Parts Technician, code 240P. Find a dealership, equipment dealer, or parts distributor willing to sponsor you, register the apprenticeship with Skilled Trades Ontario, and work through two levels that combine 5,460 hours on the job with 540 hours of in-school training, 6,000 hours in total. At the end, the trade has a certifying exam, and passing it earns a Certificate of Qualification with the Red Seal endorsement under the same trade name, recognized across Canada.
The name causes the first confusion, and it is a scope confusion. The Ontario trade is Parts Technician. Job postings say partsperson, parts advisor, or parts counter staff. They are the same apprenticeship when the registration names Parts Technician. Use code 240P whenever a form asks for the trade, and expect the same name on the national exam material.
The second point matters just as much. Parts Technician is a non-compulsory trade in Ontario. Nobody needs a licence or certificate to work in a parts department in this province, and you can work in the trade without ever registering. The apprenticeship is not permission to work. It is structured training, a logbook of signed-off skills, a Certificate of Apprenticeship, and the path to the certifying exam and the Red Seal endorsement. Job Bank records partsperson certification as voluntary in all provinces and territories, so the Ontario rule does travel on this trade, but check the destination province anyway before you move for work, because the employer, not the regulator, may still ask for the certificate.
What the trade covers, in Skilled Trades Ontario's own description, is ordering, warehousing, inventory control, and sales of parts, servicing a range of industries including motive power, appliance, heavy duty equipment, and natural resources. A parts technician provides customer service and advice, maintains, handles, and warehouses stock, identifies and catalogues parts and assemblies, orders, receives, inspects, sorts, maintains inventories, and prices and sells supplies, parts, and assemblies, processes exchanges and returns, prepares statements, and maintains records. This is the parts counter and warehouse trade. It is not the repair trade: a parts technician finds, prices, and supplies the part, while the automotive service technician or heavy duty equipment technician fits it.
The sponsor comes first. Skilled Trades Ontario is clear that an apprenticeship begins when you sign a Training Agreement with a sponsor and register it, and that finding a sponsor is the key first step. A sponsor can be an individual employer, such as a car or truck dealership, a farm or heavy equipment dealer, an appliance parts distributor, or a parts warehouse, or a group of employers, such as a union or consortium.
The application steps, from Skilled Trades Ontario's start-an-apprenticeship page, are:
The program totals 6,000 hours: 5,460 hours of on-the-job training and 540 hours of in-school training across two levels. About 80 per cent of an Ontario apprenticeship is paid work on the job and about 20 per cent is classroom learning, according to Skilled Trades Ontario.
The in-school training covers workplace health and safety to protect self and others, applied work practices, communications and customer support, merchandising and inventory management, component technology, technical skills, and computer skills. Depending on the training delivery agency, in-school training may be block release, day release, part-time, or alternative delivery. Attend when invited through the training system, keep your logbook current, and make sure your recorded hours match what your sponsor reports. Parts work punishes sloppy records in a way that shows up at the counter: a part ordered against the wrong catalogue entry comes back, the customer waits, and the return has to be processed, which is why the logbook skills around identification, cataloguing, and inventory exist.
Parts Technician 240P has a certifying exam. Skilled Trades Ontario issues a Certificate of Apprenticeship when you complete the apprenticeship program, and a Certificate of Qualification when you pass the certifying exam. Because the trade is part of the Interprovincial Red Seal Program under the same title, passing the exam also carries the Red Seal endorsement, which is the credential recognized in every province and territory.
Experienced parts technicians who never registered have a parallel door. The Trade Equivalency Assessment lets experienced tradespeople document equivalent qualifications or experience and seek the Certificate of Qualification without completing the apprenticeship. The application guide requires verifiable evidence of competency against the Training Standard and experience at least equal to the required training time, 6,000 hours for this trade, supported by work experience verifications from references who know the work first-hand.
Do not assume a parts counter job and a parts technician apprenticeship are the same thing. The job can exist without registration; the apprenticeship is what carries the logbook, the in-school training, and the certifying exam. Do not confuse this trade with Automotive Service Technician 310S, which repairs vehicles, or with parts installers, who fit parts rather than managing the inventory and counter. Do not let months of counter and warehouse work go unrecorded. Unrecorded hours are hours you may have to work again, so keep the logbook signed and the hours submitted. And do not pay for a course that promises the certificate on its own. The certificate comes through Skilled Trades Ontario on completion of the program and the certifying exam, not through a private training provider alone.
Parts Technician, trade code 240P. That is the Ontario trade name exactly as Skilled Trades Ontario lists it, and the Red Seal title is the same name. The national occupation group is Storekeepers and partspersons, National Occupational Classification 14401. When a form asks for the trade, put down 240P. It separates this trade from Automotive Service Technician 310S, which repairs vehicles, and from parts installers and servicers, who fit parts rather than ordering, warehousing, and selling them. A parts technician may also be called a partsperson in a job posting, but the registration trade is Parts Technician.
The program is 6,000 hours: 5,460 hours of on-the-job work experience and 540 hours of in-school training, delivered across two levels. Skilled Trades Ontario describes that total as approximately three years. Job Bank describes the occupation route as completion of a three-year apprenticeship program, or completion of specialized training in high school and a one-year college program for partspersons. The Ontario hours are the fixed part; the calendar time follows how steadily the work comes.
No. Parts Technician 240P is non-compulsory in Ontario. You do not need to be a registered apprentice or a certificate holder to work in a parts department in this province, though registration is still how you get the structured training, the Certificate of Apprenticeship, and the certifying exam. Job Bank records trade certification for partspersons as available, but voluntary, in all provinces and territories, including Quebec. That Quebec position was checked on the Job Bank page for this occupation group, not assumed from the Ontario rule.
Grade 12 is the academic entry grade listed in the Skilled Trades Ontario apprenticeship programs chart for Parts Technician 240P. Skilled Trades Ontario also requires apprentices to be at least 16 years old, to have legal permission to work in Canada, and to have a sponsor in Ontario. Job Bank describes completion of secondary school as usually required for the occupation nationally, which matches the Grade 12 chart entry, and notes that experience in a related clerical occupation, or as a warehouse worker, may be required for partspersons. A diploma is the floor here: the in-school training runs on merchandising, inventory management, component technology, and computer skills, so comfort with catalogues, numbers, and customer service will matter to a sponsor deciding whether to take you on.
First find a sponsor, an employer or group sponsor responsible for your training. Then apply: if you are 18 or older, apply online through the Skilled Trades Ontario Portal; if you are 16 or 17, or you cannot apply online, complete the paper Application for Apprenticeship Training, signed by you, a parent or guardian if you are under 18, and your sponsor, and submit it to Skilled Trades Ontario. Once approved, you and your sponsor sign a Training Agreement, which registers you as an apprentice, and you receive a Registered Apprentice Wallet Card.
Yes, through the Trade Equivalency Assessment. It exists for tradespeople who never completed an Ontario apprenticeship but hold equivalent qualifications or experience and want an Ontario Certificate of Qualification. The bar is documented proof: competency against the Training Standard and experience at least equal to the required training time, which is 6,000 hours for this trade, supported by work experience verifications from references who saw the work. Check the current Trade Qualifier application guide before relying on that route, because the evidence bar is documentary.
Where a figure could not be verified on a Skilled Trades Ontario or Job Bank page at the time of writing — any examination fee, any wage figure, and the calendar dates of the in-school training blocks — this guide says so and points to the Skilled Trades Ontario trade page instead of carrying a secondary source's figure. Check that page before you pay anything or plan around a date.