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Lesson 2 of 20 Outline

Dealer education / Your license. Lesson 2 of 20. 11 minutes.

Your place of business, branch locations and dealer plates

After this lesson you can

  • Say what the DMV inspects at an established place of business: office, sign, display area, posted hours and notices.
  • Tell a branch location from a temporary one and name the application each takes.
  • State who may use a dealer plate, on which vehicles, and the uses that lose it.

The place the license names

Your license names a business at an address, and the DMV will not issue it, or let it stay in force, unless that address is an established place of business (13 CCR 270.00): a place the dealer actually occupies, continuously or at regular periods, where the books and records of the business are kept (Vehicle Code 320).

The DMV's memo OLIN 2023-08 says what occupying means: a dealer open "by appointment only" is not occupying an established place of business. An authorized person has to be available to the public during regular business hours, and the lot open to an unannounced inspection. No statute or regulation requires the hours to be posted; the DMV's lesson plan outline lists posting your days and hours of operation as a licensing requirement (OL 2000, topic 15). Doing business without an established place is unlawful under Vehicle Code 11713(f).

The office

13 CCR 270.00 requires construction that is not temporary, transitory or mobile; the one exception is a trailer coach that is not part of your inventory. If the office shares a building with another business, Vehicle Code 11705(a)(6) requires a clear physical division between the two; a license without one may be suspended or revoked. The DMV's inspection covers the office, the records kept there, the display area and the signs (DMV dealer license page, read 2026-10-22). A wholesaler who sells only to other dealers needs the office and the records but not the display area, the sign or the posted licenses (11709(a), last sentence).

The display area

13 CCR 270.08(a) sets two tests: the display area is big enough for vehicles of the type you are licensed to sell, and clearly for your exclusive use, for display only. The same rule allows additional display areas within 1,000 feet of the principal place of business, or of a licensed branch, as long as each carries the sign Vehicle Code 11709(a) requires. Past 1,000 feet, the lot is a branch, below.

The sign

Vehicle Code 11709(a) requires a sign at the established place of business giving your name and the location and address of the business, at least two square feet per side, with lettering readable from 50 feet. 13 CCR 270.06 adds that it is permanent, on the exterior of the office or on the display area, and built or painted to withstand the weather. A temporary sign may do while the permanent one is on order, if the DMV sees the order first.

What hangs inside

  • Your dealer license, or an exact copy, where the public can see it at every location, and each salesperson's license, posted where that person sells and destroyed when the employment ends (Vehicle Code 11709(a), 11812).
  • If you offer used vehicles at retail, a notice at least 8 inches high and 10 inches wide that the prospective buyer may, at their own expense and with your approval, have the vehicle inspected by an independent third party (Vehicle Code 11709.1).
  • In each sales office, sales cubicle and contract room, a physical notice in at least 36-point type that California has no cooling-off period for new vehicles, but that a buyer or lessee of a used vehicle for $50,000 or less has three days to cancel the contract for any reason, with restrictions including a restocking fee, and should ask the dealer how to exercise the right (Vehicle Code 11709.2, since October 1, 2026). A dealer who also sells motorcycles or off-highway vehicles there adds a sentence that the period does not apply to them.
  • In the showroom, a listing of each vehicle advertised at a specific price that has not sold and does not show the price on or in it: a copy of the ad, or a list by make, model, year, VIN or license number and price (Vehicle Code 11709.3).

That notice replaced, on October 1, 2026, the 8 by 10 inch sign headed "There is no cooling-off period unless you obtain a contract cancellation option", when SB 766 (Chapter 354 of 2025) repealed the two-day option for a three-day right to cancel in Civil Code 1784.43 (OLIN 2026-10). Take the old sign down.

Moving the lot

13 CCR 270.04 says the DMV will not accept a change-of-location application until the new site meets Vehicle Code 320 and 11709. Vehicle Code 11712(a) requires you to notify the DMV immediately on changing the site, and a change made without that notice cancels the license under 11721(a). The application is form OL 21 with the lease or deed, the seller's permit, the fictitious name statement, the business license and photographs, all showing the new address, and the $70 fee (DMV, Dealer and Lessor-Retailer License Modification, rev. 5/2017). Until the DMV accepts the new site, a retail sale there is a sale at a location not posted under 11709 (11714(b)).

When a second lot is a branch

13 CCR 270.02 defines a dealer branch as any location other than the principal place of business that is maintained for the sale or exchange of vehicles, and requires each branch to meet Vehicle Code 320 and 11709 on its own, with its own office, sign, display area and postings. Vehicle Code 11713(r) forbids displaying a vehicle for sale anywhere but an established place of business the DMV has authorized for you, and 11714(b) forbids a retail sale at a location not posted under 11709. If a customer can see or sign for a car there, it is a branch.

The definition turns on sale or exchange: a yard where cars wait and no customer is shown one is not maintained for sale under 270.02's words, and the first time a salesperson walks a buyer through it, it is an unlicensed branch. Keep the yard closed to customers.

The DMV's dealer license page lists the branch at $70, on the original application or added later on form OL 21 (read 2026-10-22); the OL 45 (rev. 3/2026) renews it each year at $125. Closing one is reported to the inspection office within 10 days, no fee (DMV modification sheet). The branch's records may be kept there or at the principal place (13 CCR 272.02(d)).

A display with no sales is not a branch either. Vehicle Code 11709(b) lets you show vehicles at a fair, exposition or similar exhibit for up to 30 days without a branch license if no sales are made there, and 13 CCR 270.08(b) extends that to shopping centers, autoramas and similar public events, on these conditions:

  1. No sale is offered, solicited, negotiated or transacted there, and no deposit, trade-in or other consideration is taken to induce or bind one.
  2. The location is open to every dealer licensed in this state.
  3. Each vehicle carries a sign in letters at least 3 inches high with your name, location and address and the words "No sales permitted, or deposits accepted at this location."

A temporary branch

To sell at a tent event or a fairground, the DMV licenses the spot as a temporary branch, on form OL 73, Application for Temporary Branch Location (30 days or less). Its instructions (rev. 7/2007) send it to the DMV inspector for the location at least 10 business days before the event, with the $70 temporary branch application fee, a copy of the site lease or the promoter's contract, and for some sites a Property Use Verification (form OL 902). The DMV's modification sheet (rev. 5/2017) confirms the $70, under Vehicle Code 9262.

The form sets the minimum the site must meet before the event opens: a sign of two square feet per side identifying you, an office, for which a recreational vehicle or a properly identified table will do, and a display area separated from other dealers'. You certify under penalty of perjury that the minimums will be met, that your advertising there will follow Vehicle Code 11713 and 11713.1, and that the location stays signed and staffed to take returns through the last date and time a buyer may return one. The form still prints the 2006 notices and the contract cancellation option; since October 1, 2026 the return is the three-day right to cancel under Civil Code 1784.43, delivered in person to the selling dealer during business hours, so a tent that folds Sunday night still owes Saturday's buyers a return point.

Dealer plates

Once licensed, you may apply for special plates carrying your dealer number, each with a number or symbol that tells it from your others (Vehicle Code 11714(d)). Nothing requires you to hold any. The DMV's dealer license page prices each at $92 a year, $94 for a motorcycle plate, plus county fees (read 2026-10-22); lesson 1 says why the OL 45 shows more. The plates expire and renew with the license (Vehicle Code 11717; lesson 1 has the dates). The registration card issued for each plate, or a copy, rides in whatever vehicle carries it (11715(f)).

Vehicle Code 11715(a) lets a dealer who owns or lawfully possesses a vehicle that would otherwise need registration operate it on the highway unregistered, with the special plate displayed in addition to any plates already on it. Who may drive on it:

  • You, in a car from your inventory. The DMV's dealer guide (OL 40, rev. 12/2009) allows any purpose, including pleasure, as long as the vehicle is in your inventory for sale and the driver is one of the firm's owners, or a salesperson to whom you have leased it.
  • A prospective buyer or lessee, test-driving a vehicle you have for sale or lease, for up to seven days (11715(a)).
  • Anyone towing or transporting other vehicles with it (11715(a)), or delivering a sold vehicle when the sale closes at the place of delivery (VIRP 2.090).

Vehicle Code 11715(c) and (d) name the vehicles the plate cannot go on: your work or service vehicles; vehicles you own and lease out, except those rented or leased to your salespersons for demonstration; an unregistered vehicle hauling more than one load of other vehicles for sale; and a vehicle moving from a vessel, rail depot or warehouse to your salesroom, which travels on a written DMV permit under 11716 instead. A car currently registered in California whose former owner has sent the DMV the notice of transfer under Vehicle Code 5900 runs on its own registration, not your plate, with a copy of that notice in the lower right corner of the windshield (11715(e); VIRP 2.090).

Vehicle Code 11713(j) makes it unlawful to use the plates, or let anyone use them, for any purpose 11715 does not allow, and 11705(a)(2) lets the DMV suspend or revoke the license of a dealer who made an illegal use of them or knowingly or negligently permitted one. A spouse's commute or a plate left on a sold vehicle is a license case, and lesson 3 says what follows. When the license cancels under 11721, the plates cancel with it.

Vehicle Code 11715(a) requires the plate attached in the manner Vehicle Code 5200 to 5203 prescribe for license plates. A dealer plate is a single plate, so 5200(b) puts it on the rear, and 5201 requires it fastened so it cannot swing, clearly visible, upright, legible, between 12 and 60 inches from the ground, with no cover over it. On the dash it is not displayed.

Sources

  • Vehicle Code 320, established place of business; 11709, 11709.1, 11709.2 (as added by SB 766, operative October 1, 2026) and 11709.3, signs and postings; 11712, change or loss of the place of business; 11713(f), (j) and (r), 11714(b), 11705(a)(2) and (a)(6); 11812, salesperson licenses, read 2026-10-22.
  • Vehicle Code 11714, 11715, 11716 and 11717, special plates and their renewal; 9262, license and plate fees; 5200 to 5203, attachment of plates; 5900, notice of transfer; 11721, automatic cancellation, read 2026-10-22.
  • 13 CCR 270.00, 270.02, 270.04, 270.06 and 270.08, place of business, branch definition, change of location, signs and display area; 272.02(d), branch records, read 2026-10-22.
  • SB 766 (Chapter 354, Statutes of 2025), sections 8 to 10, chaptered text; Civil Code 1784.43, the three-day right to cancel, read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV, Vehicle Dealer License, inspection list and application, renewal and modification fees, read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV forms OL 73, Application for Temporary Branch Location (rev. 7/2007); OL 45, Renewal Application (rev. 3/2026); Dealer and Lessor-Retailer License Modification (rev. 5/2017), read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV industry memos OLIN 2023-08, OL Industry Compliance (June 30, 2023), and OLIN 2026-10, Implementation of CARS Act (SB 766) (September 22, 2026), read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV, Vehicle Industry Registration Procedures Manual, 2.090 Special Dealer, Manufacturer, Remanufacturer, and Distributor License Plates, read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV, Guide for Licensed Vehicle Dealers and Lessor-Retailers, OL 40 (rev. 12/2009), Use of Special Plates, read 2026-10-22.
  • DMV, Lesson Plan Guidelines for Used Vehicle Dealer Education Programs, OL 2000 (rev. 12/2007), topics 10, 15 and 16.