California New Motor Vehicle Dealer Bond$50,000 §11710 Bond + NMVB

No. California Vehicle Code §11710(b)(1) sets a single $50,000 amount for retail dealers — new (franchised), used, recreational vehicle, commercial, and remanufacturer alike. The bond is filed on DMV Form OL 25. Unlike states such as Texas or Florida that distinguish bond amount by dealer class, California uses one retail tier. What changes between new and used is everything around the bond: franchise agreement, New Motor Vehicle Board fee, pre-licensing education, and continuing-education exposure.

The New Motor Vehicle Board (NMVB) is the California body that administers franchise-relationship disputes between dealers and manufacturers under Vehicle Code §3050 et seq. A $425 fee is assessed per dealership location at original application and again at every biennial renewal for franchised new auto, commercial, motorcycle, ATV, motorhome, and recreational trailer dealers. The fee funds the Board, which adjudicates protests when a manufacturer attempts to terminate a franchise, relocate a same-line dealer into a protected market area, or modify the franchise. The fee is paid alongside DMV fees on Form OL 12 (original) or OL 45 (renewal). A dealer operating two franchised locations pays $850 ($425 × 2) per cycle.

Yes. Under Cal. Veh. Code §11712 every licensed location is tied to its own established place of business and its own license number. Each license number requires its own OL 25 bond — bonds do not stack across locations, and a claim against one location is paid out of the $50,000 face on that location's bond only. A dealer running three franchised rooftops in California carries three $50,000 OL 25 bonds, three §11712-compliant facilities with permanent signage, and pays the $425 NMVB fee three times per cycle. The bond, the facility, and the NMVB fee are per-location obligations.

No. The DMV-approved pre-licensing education course is a statutory requirement for used-vehicle and wholesale-only dealers but not for franchised new-vehicle dealers. The franchise carve-out exists because a manufacturer that has entered a franchise agreement with the dealership is presumed to have vetted the principal's competence, training, and standards. The dealer examination is also generally waived for franchised new-auto principals. The bond, facility inspection, fingerprints/Live Scan, OL 12 application, OL 25 bond, and NMVB fee still apply.

California Business & Professions Code §11713 (read alongside Vehicle Code §3050 et seq. and the Franchise Investment Protection provisions) prohibits unfair practices between manufacturers/distributors and their franchised dealers — coercion to accept unwanted inventory, refusal to allocate vehicles in good faith, arbitrary termination, geographic encroachment without notice, and a long list of franchise-relationship abuses. The statute is the statutory framework the NMVB uses to resolve protests. As a new dealer, you are the protected party in §11713 — the bond does not run to the manufacturer, but the §11713 framework gives you a forum (the NMVB) for disputes that arise during the franchise relationship.

SB 766, the California Consumer Automotive Recall Safety Act, is set to take effect October 1, 2026. It adds new advertising-disclosure requirements, addresses dealer add-on products, and tightens documentation around recall-affected used vehicles in dealer inventory. It does not change the §11710 bond amount, the OL 25 form, or the NMVB fee. The bond remains $50,000. What CARS Act does change is your operational compliance posture — advertising language, point-of-sale disclosures, and add-on product practices — all of which sit downstream of the bond. A bond claim under §11710 can still be triggered by a CARS Act violation, because the bond is conditioned on compliance with Division 5 of the Vehicle Code generally.

Two years. California dealer licenses run a biennial cycle, not annual. The DMV mails an expiration notice approximately 90 days before the cycle ends. Renewal is completed on Form OL 45 with the renewal fee, $1 Family Support Program fee, and the $425/location NMVB fee. The continuing-education requirement for used dealers is 4 hours every two years; franchised new auto dealers are generally exempt and file Form OL 257 to claim the exemption. The bond should be priced and timed against the same two-year window — many sureties quote a discounted multi-year premium that runs in lockstep with the license term.

Franchised new motor vehicle dealers file Form OL 25 (Rev. 3/2016), the $50,000 DMV-prescribed bond form. Form OL 25B is the $10,000 form used for motorcycle-only, ATV-only, and small-volume wholesale-only dealers — it does not apply to franchised new-auto retail dealers. Form OL 25E is the cash-deposit alternative under §11710, permitting a dealer to file a $50,000 cash deposit with the DMV instead of a surety bond. The DMV rejects generic surety bonds, other states' forms, or older OL 25 revisions if the operative language differs. A new-dealer application that arrives at OL Occupational Licensing with anything other than the current OL 25 is sent back.

Vehicle Code §3060 (termination/non-renewal) and §3062 (establishment/relocation of competing same-line dealers within a relevant market area) give the existing franchised dealer the right to protest manufacturer action before the New Motor Vehicle Board. These protests are franchise-relationship disputes — they are separate from the §11710 bond, which protects consumers and the state from dealer misconduct, not the dealer from manufacturer misconduct. The two systems run in parallel: the bond handles consumer harm, the NMVB handles franchise harm. New dealers should know both because the NMVB fee they pay each cycle funds the protest system that protects their franchise.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) Advanced Clean Cars II regulation requires escalating zero-emission-vehicle (ZEV) sales shares for manufacturers selling new vehicles in California, ramping toward 100% ZEV by 2035. The mandate operates on the manufacturer; the dealer experiences it as inventory mix — more battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel-cell vehicles flowing through franchise allocation, with corresponding training, charging-infrastructure, and disclosure obligations. None of this changes the §11710 bond amount or the OL 25. It does affect what you advertise (CARS Act overlap), what you disclose, and how the franchise relationship is structured — all areas where a §11713 dispute can land at the NMVB.