There are situations where you might want to display vehicles somewhere other than your licensed location — at a shopping mall, a community event, a car show, or a partner business’s parking lot. These are called off-site vehicle displays, and they have their own rules.
The key distinction between an off-site display and a branch location is that at an off-site display, you’re showing vehicles but not completing sales transactions on-site. The vehicles are displayed to generate interest and attract potential customers, who then come to your dealership to complete the purchase. If you’re conducting actual sales — signing contracts, collecting payment, delivering vehicles — at an off-site location, that’s not an off-site display; that’s an unauthorized branch, and you need a branch license or a temporary branch permit.
Off-site displays typically require permits from the local jurisdiction — the city or county where the display will take place. Some jurisdictions also require you to notify DMV. The rules vary by location, so check with both local authorities and DMV before setting up an off-site display. The last thing you want is to invest time and money in a display event only to be shut down by code enforcement or cited by a DMV investigator.
At an off-site display, you must have your dealer license number visible, and you should have business cards or literature that directs interested customers to your dealership. You cannot take deposits, sign purchase agreements, or begin financing applications at the off-site location unless you have the appropriate temporary branch permit for that event.
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📌 Scenario A dealer arranges to display five vehicles at a local farmer’s market every Saturday for a month. The dealer parks the vehicles, puts price stickers on them, and stations a salesperson to talk to interested people. So far, so good — this is an off-site display. But then the salesperson starts taking signed purchase orders and collecting deposits at the market. Now the dealer is conducting sales at an unlicensed location. The fix: either get a temporary branch permit for the market location, or simply collect customer contact information at the market and complete all sales transactions at the dealership. |