FAQs

Your Auto Dealer Bond should be active by the time you plan to see your DMV inspector to get licensed. For instance, if you place to the see the inspector on the 3rd Thursday of the month, your bond should be active on that [...]

The DMV inspectors workloads can vary quite a bit and on occasion. It's usually as simple as that. The inspector will get through more work than they originally had scheduled and have some extra time. Why? Potential dealers often times submit incomplete packages that [...]

The California DMV has a very specific carve-out in the law for wholesale-only auto dealers. The exception is meant to offer low-volume, wholesale-only dealers the opportunity to get lower limit auto dealer bonds. As a result, wholesale dealers save themselves some money. This is [...]

No. The DMV is tracking the number of sales you are making here to determine the limit of the auto dealer bonds for wholesalers. The number of cars you purchased is not factored in. That said, if you are buying too many cars and [...]

This is very common for businesses that make their money from the vehicles they own will tend to see the benefit of obtaining a wholesale-only license. They get the same auction access and have very little overhead due since they are not dealing with [...]

Although the California DMV may be doing away with the Auto Broker designation altogether, Auto Brokers are still mandated to obtain a $50K auto dealer bond. the next question that most Auto Brokers have for me next is simply, why? While I agree that [...]

Again, keep in mind the point of view of the Board of Equalization and the Department of Motor Vehicles. They both need to wet their beaks or they will eventually be banging on your door wondering how you could really be a business if [...]

The protection that a surety bond provides is for your customers and partners, not for your business. It’s meant to safeguard the interests of the general public, other car dealers, and the lenders that provide financing for inventory.

No. The DMV is tracking the number of sales transactions to determine your car dealer bond limit. The number of cars you purchase is not factored in. That said, if you are buying too many cars and not selling them, eventually the California Department [...]

An auto broker endorsement used to be the way to do that in California. However, the DMV is trying to eliminate this specific license type. That said, the auto broker business model is still alive and well! They still need to obtain a $50K [...]