The bond step, explained
California requires a $50,000 surety bond before a dealer license issues. The bond itself is simple. What rejects packets is the name on it: a surety bond will not be accepted unless it is issued in the true, full name of the licensee exactly as it appears on the application — and the bond company will not coach you on the format. We will.
We are not a surety company and do not sell or bind bonds. At launch, our students and kit buyers are referred to a surety partner through a tracked link; the partner issues the bond. No bond service is being sold on this site.
The exact-name constructions
| Your situation | The name on the bond |
|---|---|
| Sole proprietor with a DBA Your personal name is mandatory — a DBA alone is never enough. | Your True Full Name dba Your DBA |
| Corporation with a DBA The registered corporate name, suffix included, exactly as the state has it. | Registered Corporate Name dba Your DBA |
| LLC with a DBA The registered LLC name including "LLC" — no members' names. | Registered LLC Name, LLC dba Your DBA |
| No DBA Your legal name alone; if the legal name is the trade name, it appears once. | Your Legal Name |
The rendering follows DMV's own usage: a lowercase "dba" and no comma before it. In practice a surety types whatever name string you supply and does not check it — which is why our system constructs the string from your verified profile and supplies it into the partner's application, instead of leaving you to type the most consequential line in the packet from memory.
How the referral works
STEP 1
Your legal name and DBA, verified once, produce the exact bond name — the same string your application carries.
STEP 2
One large, clearly-labelled button takes you to the surety partner, with the name string passed along. The partner is the seller of record.
STEP 3
The surety prices your premium (it varies with credit), issues the bond in the supplied name, and the bond is filed with your packet.
STEP 4
Bonds renew annually. Your portal tracks the date, so the renewal lands before the old bond lapses — and your CE reminder rides the same engine.
Straightforward disclosure: if you buy a bond through our partner link, the partner may pay us a referral share. It costs you nothing extra, it never changes the name-string help you get here, and no certificate or course is ever conditional on buying a bond through us.
Why dealers start here
Plenty of applicants meet the bond before they meet any school — it is a requirement they can check off early. If that is you, start with the name: get it right once, in the format above, and the same string carries into your DBA filing, your application, and every form after it. The Template Kit builds the whole packet around that string; Guided Setup manages the order around it.
The course opens the moment DMV approval is issued. Founding-list members get first access, the launch prices, and a same-day email as each product becomes available.
Waitlist only — nothing is being sold and no payment is taken yet.