What the DMV requires
Vehicle Code 11704.5 asks every dealer licensed to sell used vehicles, at retail or wholesale, for an educational program of at least four hours every two years after the license issues, and the renewal form asks for the proof. The owner takes it, or a managerial employee of the dealer. A wholesale-only dealer who handles fewer than 50 vehicles a year is excused. New-vehicle dealers, dismantlers, and dealers licensed for motorcycles, trailers or all-terrain vehicles only are not covered.
The DMV approves the program and its lesson plan, and the plan has to teach twenty topics it lists, from the sales contract to the Report of Sale. The course ends in a final exam, passed at 70 percent or better. Every student shows a current California driver license or identification card, and the certificate carries the name on it, the license number and the date of birth, with the course dates, the hours and the DMV's certification number (13 CCR 268.06 and 268.08, read 2026-10-22).
What you need
- A current California driver license or identification card. The DMV accepts no other identification.
- Your dealer license number, so the completion lands on the license being renewed.
- About 4 hours, in sittings of any length. Each lesson remembers where you stopped.
When you finish, VinCount submits the completion to the DMV's occupational licensing portal, where your renewal picks it from a list, and emails you the certificate for your own file.
The lessons
240 minutes in 6 modules, in the order a dealer meets them: the license, then a car bought, made ready, advertised, sold and papered. The DMV's twenty topics are all here; the lesson plan indexes each to the lesson that teaches it.