Indiana transfer dealer bonds.
$250 flat.
A transfer dealer is not in the business of selling motor vehicles but ends up transferring at least twelve vehicles in a twelve-month period. Indiana licenses it through the Secretary of State’s Auto Dealer Services Division, and IC 9-32-11-2 requires a $25,000 bond in favor of the state. Ours is $250 flat.
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How much does an Indiana transfer dealer bond cost?
$250 at the $25,000 amount, the same for every applicant.
Three steps. One sitting.
The transfer dealer application asks for photographs, a zoning affidavit, and a background check. The bond is not the part that slows you down:
Apply online
Business details, your dealer number, and an effective date, plus a short set of commercial questions — bankruptcy, outstanding judgments or liens, prior surety declinations, and whether you carry garage and property damage coverage.
Pay & e-sign
Vehicle merchandising bonds are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase. If a check runs at all it is a soft pull that never affects your score.
Upload to the Dealer Portal
Since October 1, 2024 the Auto Dealer Services Division accepts bond and insurance updates only through the online Dealer Portal. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to upload with the rest of the application. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the transfer dealer bond actually guarantees
The transfer dealer license exists to catch a specific, easily-missed situation. IC 9-32-2.1 defines a transfer dealer as a person that is not engaged in the business of selling motor vehicles but that, as a result of the person’s primary business, has cause to sell, offer to sell, or advertise for sale at least twelve (12) motor vehicles during a twelve (12) month period. Banks and credit unions clearing repossessions, insurers disposing of total losses, fleet and leasing companies retiring units, and salvage operations all cross that line without ever thinking of themselves as car dealers. A business whose activity is limited to towing or transporting vehicles does not qualify for this license — that is what transport operator plates are for.
Once you are inside Title 9, the bond is the same one every other Auto Dealer Services licensee files. IC 9-32-11-2 requires a bond satisfactory to the secretary in the amount of $25,000, in favor of the state, securing both the fines, penalties, costs, and fees the secretary assesses after notice, hearing, and judicial review, and the payment of damages to a person aggrieved by a violation of IC 9-32 after a judgment has been issued. You are the principal, the carrier is the surety, the State of Indiana is the obligee, and the people you transfer titles to are the protected parties. It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays, you reimburse the surety.
The premises rules are the part applicants underestimate. 75 IAC 6-2-5 requires the transfer dealer’s place of business to have a genuine Indiana address — never a post office box or a mailbox-service address — with an office of at least 100 square feet, and photographs of at least 3×5 inches showing the exterior, interior, signage, and office space submitted with the initial application. Garage liability insurance under IC 9-32-11-14 applies if you have an established place of business. Get the bond out of the way first: the Division will not process the file without it, and a lapse suspends the license outright.
You need this bond if you are
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the $25,000 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The premium covers a one-year term from the effective date you choose; a longer term is the same price per year, chosen at checkout.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
Upload to the Dealer Portal. Since October 1, 2024 the Auto Dealer Services Division accepts bond and insurance updates only through the online Dealer Portal. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to upload with the rest of the application. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is fixed at $250 at the $25,000 amount for every applicant: the carrier’s rate book prices this bond by the form, not by your credit or your business profile.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields, including the short commercial questionnaire. The credit consent in this application authorizes a soft pull only.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Indiana bonds.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Twelve vehicles a year makes you a dealer. Get bonded.
$250 flat, soft pull only, executed bond usually in the same sitting and ready for the Dealer Portal. Free until issued.