Guide
Every California dealer license starts with one fork: sell to the public, or sell only to other dealers. The choice changes your bond, your premises, your paperwork load, and your whole business model — and it is the first decision in the licensing path, because everything downstream inherits it.
| Retail | Wholesale-only | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you can sell to | Anyone — the public, and other dealers | Licensed dealers only, never the public |
| Surety bond | $50,000 | $50,000 — or $10,000 if you sell fewer than 25 vehicles a year (the OL 56 tier) |
| Premises | Office plus a display lot that passes inspection | A real office; no public display lot required |
| Education | 6-hour pre-license course + exam; 4-hour CE every renewal | Same course and exam; wholesale-only dealers under 50 vehicles a year are exempt from renewal CE |
| Where you buy | Dealer auctions, trade-ins, private parties | Dealer auctions are the whole business — see the auction directory |
| Paperwork per sale | Full retail stack: contract, disclosures, Buyers Guide, smog, sales tax | Dealer-to-dealer transfers; no retail contract stack, no consumer disclosures |
your profit comes from the public: a lot, listings, financing, repeat local customers. Retail also covers wholesale activity — a retail dealer can always sell dealer-to-dealer — so retail is the flexible license, at the price of the display premises and the full consumer-compliance stack.
your profit comes from moving cars between dealers: buying right at auction and placing units with retail lots. Lower premises burden, no consumer paperwork, and — under 25 vehicles a year — the $10,000 bond tier. Many full-time auction buyers run exactly this model.
Two cautions. First, the wholesale volume tiers are real lines, not vibes: selling your 25th vehicle in a year on the $10,000 bond tier without upgrading the bond puts the license itself at risk — track your count. Second, "wholesale" is not a loophole for selling to the public without retail duties: one public sale on a wholesale-only license is unlicensed retail selling. If your model might touch the public, license retail from the start.
Either way the front of the path is identical: the same 6-hour course (planned launch pricing $125), the same 40-question exam, the same name-exactness discipline across entity, DBA, and bond — our Template Kit and Guided Setup build the packet for both paths.
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.