Louisiana Dealers Licenses are granted by the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Louisiana Dealer License Application
Louisiana Dealers, Louisiana dealers
are regulated by the Louisiana Used Motor Vehicle Commission
Louisiana Used Motor Vehicle Commission
3132 Valley Creek Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
225-925-3870
www.lumvc.louisiana.gov
I want you go in depth in the 5 Steps to an Louisiana
Dealers License
Step Number 1 Dealer Surety Bond and Insurance
You must obtain a dealer surety bond and insurance in order
to obtain an Louisiana dealers license. I always recommend
this as the first step in obtaining a Louisiana dealers
license. The cost of a dealer surety bond is based on your
credit score and the cost of your insurance is based upon
your driving record. I am often asked what it costs to
obtain a Louisiana dealers license and I can never answer
that question accurately because the total cost will depend
on your credit score and your driving record.
The State of Louisiana requires you to obtain a $50,000
dealer surety bond in order to be granted a Louisiana
dealers license, is the bond going to cost you $50,000, of
course not, with good credit you should be spending about
300 to 400 dollars a year for your bond, your insurance
company will normally send you an invoice every year or
every other year. If you have a couple of blemishes on your
credit score, the price of your bond can increase
dramatically. The bond must be a surety bond eecuted by an
insurance or bonding company authorized to do business in
Louisiana,
The bond must be signed by the individual, all partners (if
a partnership) or one corporate officer (if incorporated).
Bonds may not be handwritten and must contain all required
signatures and an embossed stamp, seal or sticker.
Here you see the required Louisiana bond form for a dealers
license
You must also obtain a special insurance policy before the
State of Louisiana will allow you to have a dealers license.
Your insurance policy pricing will be dependent on your
driving record so if you have a really bad driving record,
you might pay a lot more for your insurance. You must also
obtain an insurance policy that will cover the vehicles that
are in your inventory. The State of Louisiana requires every
vehicle driven on any roadway in the state to have
insurance, including the vehicles in your inventory when
they are being test driven by your customers.
You also need to obtain a dealer garage policy with not less
than $55,000 minium
An ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE on an Acord Form
(provided by insurance agency) indicating: a. Policy number
. “Certificate Holder” must be Louisiana Used Motor Vehicle
Commission, 3132 Valley Creek Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
I am sure your insurance agent will be able to eplain
different types of coverage but I want to eplain some of the
coverage for dealers.
Dealer Garage Liabiilty, dealer liability is just like
liability on your own vehicle, if your customer wrecks on of
your vehicles, the insurance will only cover the other
person’s property, the insurance will not cover any damage
to your demo, because it is dealer liability, I am going to
recommend either when you are starting out, or shortly after
you have started to obtain a larger inventory to bump up
your dealer insurance coverage, you might think of it as
full coverage but in our industry we refer to it as Open
Lot, Open Lot dealers insurance does not cover a specific
number of vehicles, it covers a dollar amount, so lets say
you have $50,000 worth of inventory, YOU NEED $50,000 worth
of Open Lot coverage. Louisiana has tornados, Louisiana has
floods, Louisiana can be hit by hurricanes. Did you see the
pictures recently of the dealership that was hit by a
tornado in Missouri over 700 vehicles were destroyed on one
dealer lot in the course of about 3 minutes, A couple of
years ago when Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf coast of Teas,
it flooded Houston and over 1 million vehicles in Houston
sat underneath water for about 2 days an if You can imaging
throwing a computer in a bathtub for 2 days an epect it to
work after words, well there is no difference with a
vehicle. We need to be concerned about theft as well. I have
read articles covering dealers that have had their entire
inventory stolen overnight. If you ever showed up to your
dealership only to find your entire inventory gone, well you
would not be the first dealer that has happened to, I have
seen dealers go into financial ruin because they did not
have enough coverage on their inventory, be sure you have
enough coverage on your inventory so YOU never go into
financial ruin.
I always recommend getting a dealer surety bond and
insurance quote as your first step so you will have an idea
of what the total cost outlays will be to obtain your
Louisiana dealers license.
The start-up costs to be granted a Louisiana Dealers license
may seem epensive if you have never been in the industry,
but you will soon realize the incredible mark up on
vehicles, You will be amazed at the price you pay for a
vehicle at a Louisiana dealer auction and what you will sell
if for a week later on your Louisiana dealer lot, and you
will probably with you have obtained your Louisiana dealers
license 20 years ago, so GO FOR IT, I think you are going to
be very glad you are getting into this industry.
Step 2-Building & Lot
You must have a building for your Louisiana dealers license.
Your business building must be a permanent enclosed building
owned or leased by you, The established place of business
must be devoted mainly to the operation of your dealership
A dealer may use a trailer as you building but state law
requires you to remove the wheels.
Whether you are a retail dealer , broker, or a wholesale
dealer you must meet local zoning requirements. You can
contact the city hall or county court house’s planning a
zoning division to ensure the location you want to use as
your dealership meets all local zoning requirements for an
Louisiana Dealers license. Applicants should contact their
local city or county office to ensure compliance with local
zoning ordinances.
The dealer shall conduct business in a building on the same
property as the display lot. If the dealer is a used car
broker, and will not display an inventory of vehicles for
sale, the requirements of this rule for an established place
of business shall still be met, with the eception of the
display area for vehicles. That would be for brokers. All
sales activity must take place at the lot, you cannot sell
vehicles away from the lot unless you are selling vehicles
at a dealer auction
You must also have also have installed and maintain a
working land line telephone whose number shall be listed in
the licensee's trade name, the same as that which is listed
in the application and in any advertising. The phone must be
listed with Nationwide Directory Assistance (411) You must
also erect and maintain a permanent sign. The sign shall
list the trade name of the dealer, the same as that which is
listed in the application and in any advertisement by the
dealer. If the telephone number is listed on the sign, it
shall be the phone number listed in the application and in
any advertisement by the dealer.
The sign must be professionally designed on permanent
material, and the lettering applied on the sign shall be a
minimum of 16 square feet. At least one sign must be located
and positioned to be clearly visible to consumers from the
street.
Step 3 Zoning Verification
The State of Louisiana wants to make sure your building is
zoned for an automobile dealership before you are granted a
Louisiana Dealer license so you must submit Zoning
Verification form
Just go to www.
www.lumvclouisiana.gov , click on dealers, then forms
and requirements,
Step 5- 4 Hour License Class
Louisiana State law requires any person obtaining a
Louisiana dealers license for the first time to attend a 4
hour pre-license class.
Here is the online registration form for the 4 hour class
which can be found at
www.lumvc.louisiana.gov
Step 5-Complete Application
The final step you need to do to obtain an Louisiana dealers
license is to complete an Louisiana dealer license
application in it’s entirety.
If you make mistakes on the application it will be returned,
so you want to spend some time and ensure there are not
mistakes on the application.
A separate application must be submitted for each type of
license, entity change, change location or name change,
branch or subsequent dealer license.
If there is a change in business entity, after you become a
licensed dealer, a new application must be submitted with
all applicable paperwork, including a new bond and a new
dealer license number will be assigned.
You can download your application at the www.sos.ga.gov,
lets take a look at an Louisiana dealers license
application: once again I want to magnify the screen shots
and once again you will have a brief respite from looking at
my head.
Once you obtain your Louisiana dealers license you must
display the license prominently, you are going to work hard
to obtain your Louisiana dealers license, you are going to
be proud when you obtain your Louisiana dealers license,
Louisiana law requires that you display your dealers license
prominently when it is granted, don’t shuve it in some desk
drawer, or lock in in a vault, frame your official Louisiana
dealers license and display it on the wall, all Louisiana
dealers licenses must be displayed prominently
Be sure to include the following documents with your
Louisiana dealer license application:
Completed Application
Salesperson Application(s)
Surety Bond
Garage Liability Insurance
Zoning Verification Form
Picture of Sign
Business Phone
Fees
Then you will mail your dealer application to the following
address
Louisiana Used Motor Vehicle Commission
3132 Valley Creek Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
www.lumvc.louisiana.gov
If you have questions you can call the Louisiana Used Motor
Vehicle Commission at
225-925-3870
When you submit your application correctly you should
receive your Louisiana Dealers license in about 15 days.
I also want to show you this Louisiana Compliance
Investigator map with all the contact information for your
local compliance officers, these officers are a wealth of
information for any dealer in Louisiana
Louisiana Law requires that all dealers license are
displayed prominently, you are going to work hard to obtain
your dealers license, you are going to be proud when you
receive your Louisiana dealers license, so don’t throw the
dealers license in the back of some drawer or lock it in a
vault, display your dealers license prominently,
Louisiana Dealer License
To find out how to get an Louisiana Dealer License, you can call the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles at 1-877-368-5463 or you can write:
Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles
P.O. Box 64886
Baton Rouge, LA 70896
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