Oregon Motor Vehicle Dealer, Dismantler, and Rebuilder Bonds

Get Your Oregon Motor Vehicle Dealer Bond

Who Is Required To Purchase an Auto Dealer Bond In Oregon?

Oregon has many different classifications each with its own licensing application process. These classifications include:

• New and used car dealers
• Recreational vehicles including motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles
• Rebuilder
• Dismantler
• Salvage pool operator
• Vehicle appraiser
• Vehicle transporter
• Mobile home (manufactured) dealer

What Are The Oregon Vehicle Dealer Bond Amounts?

All of these licenses except vehicle appraisers and transporters have an auto dealer surety bond requirement with the following bond amounts.

• Vehicle dealers (new, used) - $50,000
• Rebuilder - $50,000
• Vehicle dealers (motorcycle, recreational) - $10,000
• Dismantler - $100,000
• Salvage pool operator - $100,000
• Mobile home dealer - $40,000

What Does The Auto Dealer Bond Amount Do?

These bond amounts are set by the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicle Services as the maximum financial compensation available in the event a customer or the Department of Revenue falls victim to purposeful fraud by the licensed dealership.

Why is an Oregon Motor Vehicle Dealer Bond Required?

The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles Services has a licensing process to qualify individuals and businesses that are best capable of running a successful dealership in the state.

Running a successful dealership can require substantial investment and it comes with it's own management difficulties.

Every year, these pressures cause a handful of licensed dealers to purposefully and financially harm their customers to make or keep more money.

Examples of these purposeful acts of fraud include:

• Improperly transferring a title
• Selling vehicles with no title or a false title
• Misrepresenting vehicle information like mileage, manufacture year, or condition
• Lying about accident history or structural work history
• Stealing customer deposits
• Choosing not to pay the sales taxes to the Oregon Department of Revenue

The Department of Motor Vehicles uses the auto dealer surety bond as the primary tool to hold all dealers accountable to the promises they made when obtaining their license.

And again, the bond amount is the maximum amount of financial coverage available to customers if they are purposefully and financially harmed by a dealership. It also extends to the Oregon Department of Revenue for failure to pay sales taxes on sold vehicles.

How Much Does an Oregon Auto Dealer Bond Cost?

Here's a recap of the bond amounts for each license classification:

Almost all Oregon vehicle dealer bonds are credit driven with the exception of $10,000 recreational dealer bond which has a low fixed cost.

A credit driven bond means the primary credit of the owner and owners will play the primary role in determining the price of the surety bond.

All factors that determine the price include:

• The personal credit of the owner or owners
• Industry and dealership experience
• Prior bond history if any owner has been licensed and bonded in the past

These factors are used by a surety to determine a rate.

A surety is an insurance company that underwrites vehicle dealer surety bonds. And every surety is different in how they use these factors to determine a price.

We help Oregon dealers almost everyday and even we don't understand why one surety can have a vastly different rate from another. But this is your opportunity to save hundreds of dollars.

How To Save Hundreds of Dollars When You Purchase Your Bond

Again, these rates can vary from 1 to 3 percentage points, which can change the price by hundreds of dollars.

This is why it makes sense to work with a specialized surety agency like Surety Bonds Direct.

As a surety agency, we work with multiple A-rated sureties and price shop for you to find the lowest rate and price.

Let's look at some example pricing for the $50,000 dealer bond. Pay attention to how one to two percentage points affect the price you'll pay.

When you purchase, it's one payment for a 12 month bond term, more on this below.

Example prices help but you can get your exact pricing within 24 hours when you request your price quote or call a bond specialist at 1-800-608-9950.

There's no cost to have a bond specialist find you the lowest pricing. And there's no obligation to purchase either.

Our price quotes are valid for 30 days. And once you have pricing, you'll be able to make the right decision for your dealership and goals.

How Long Does an Oregon Auto Dealer Bond Last After You Purchase?

All Oregon auto dealer bonds have a term of 12 months from the effective date or start date you choose when you purchase your bond.

This means the price you pay is one payment for a 12 month period at which time you will have to renew your bond as long as you plan to continue in business.

Renewing your bond is easy.

When you purchase you'll be assigned a bond specialist who will contact you 30 to 45 days in advance to make sure the renewal premium is paid on time so your bond remains active. Plus if there are any updates to the Oregon dealer bonding requirements, your bond specialist will let you know.

Once you pay the renewal premium, you don't have to do anything else. Your bond is active and you can continue selling vehicles.

Motor Vehicle Dealer Bonds And Getting Your Oregon Business License/Registration

Getting a license in Oregon is very straightforward. The great news, as you already know, your license is good for a three year period before the license must be renewed.

At a high level, here are the steps for completing the vehicle dealer application process:

• Pay all the appropriate fees including the application fee and dealer plate fees
• Register your business name and make sure it matches on all forms using through the process
• Purchase your auto dealer surety bond
• Purchase the required liability insurance
• Select the primary location of the dealership
• Choose any supplemental locations (must be operated under the same name as the primary)
• Meet all the requirements for how a dealership location is setup to operate
• Have your fingerprints and criminal background check completed
• Show proof of dealer education or submit the DVM Certificate of Exemption