While $50,000 is the standard, there are exactly two categories of dealers that qualify for a reduced bond amount of $10,000. You need to know these exceptions precisely, because claiming the wrong exception can leave you underinsured and in violation of the law.
The first exception is for motorcycle and ATV-only dealers. If your dealership exclusively sells motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles — and nothing else — your bond requirement is $10,000 regardless of how many units you sell per year. It doesn’t matter if you sell five motorcycles a year or five hundred. As long as you are exclusively a motorcycle and ATV dealer, the reduced bond applies.
The second exception is for wholesale-only dealers who sell fewer than 25 vehicles per year. If you are licensed as a wholesale-only dealer — meaning you sell only to other licensed dealers and never to the retail public — and you sell fewer than 25 vehicles in a calendar year, your bond requirement is $10,000. However, and this is critical, if you sell 25 or more vehicles in a calendar year, you must upgrade your bond to $50,000. That upgrade isn’t optional and it’s not something you can do next year. Once you hit that 25-vehicle threshold, you need to increase your bond immediately.
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⚠ Key Compliance Point $10,000 Bond Exceptions (VEH §11710): • Exception 1: Motorcycle/ATV-only dealers — regardless of sales volume. • Exception 2: Wholesale-only dealers selling fewer than 25 vehicles per year. Must upgrade to $50,000 if sales reach 25 or more vehicles per year. No other dealer types qualify for the reduced bond. |
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📌 Scenario A wholesale-only dealer starts the year with a $10,000 bond, having sold only 18 vehicles the previous year. Business picks up, and by August, the dealer has already sold 24 vehicles. The dealer sells one more in September — that’s number 25. At this point, the dealer must immediately arrange to increase the bond to $50,000. If the dealer continues operating with the $10,000 bond after hitting 25 sales, the dealer is operating in violation of VEH §11710, and DMV can take enforcement action including license suspension. |
Think about this carefully if you’re planning your dealership type. If you’re going to sell any passenger vehicles, trucks, or anything other than motorcycles and ATVs, you need the full $50,000 bond regardless of volume. And if you’re wholesale-only but have any intention of growing past 24 units per year, plan for the $50,000 bond from the start — it’s easier to have the larger bond in place than to scramble to upgrade it mid-year.