Indiana vehicle manufacturer bonds.
$250 flat.
A company that manufactures or assembles new motor vehicles or major component parts and sells them to Indiana dealers, distributors, or the public is licensed by the Secretary of State’s Auto Dealer Services Division, and IC 9-32-11-2 conditions that license on a $25,000 bond in favor of the state. Ours is $250 flat.
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How much does an Indiana vehicle manufacturer bond cost?
$250 at the $25,000 amount, the same for every applicant.
Three steps. One sitting.
Manufacturer licensing involves zoning, a background check, and a certificate of insurance naming the Secretary of State. The bond is the piece you can close today:
Apply online
Entity details, years in business, your dealer number if one has been issued, and an effective date. That is the application — no financial statements required for the bond itself.
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 bond and insurance updates go through the online Dealer Portal only. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email ready to upload with the manufacturer application or renewal. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the vehicle manufacturer bond actually guarantees
Indiana regulates the top of the distribution chain as well as the bottom. The Secretary of State’s Auto Dealer Services Division licenses a manufacturer — a person engaged in manufacturing or assembling new motor vehicles or major component parts and selling them to dealers, distributors, or the public — and the license reaches a factory branch office of the manufacturer and entities controlled by the manufacturer. Recreational vehicle and manufactured home manufacturers are expressly outside it and are not required to obtain this license. If you sell at retail to the public as well, the Division applies the new and used dealer location requirements to that premises on top of the manufacturer rules.
The bond is the same statutory instrument every 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 the fines, penalties, costs, and fees the secretary assesses after notice, an opportunity for a hearing, and an opportunity for judicial review — and securing payment of damages to a person aggrieved by a violation of IC 9-32 by the licensee after a judgment has been issued. In the manufacturer context the likely aggrieved parties are the franchised dealers and distributors downstream of you, which is why the same section requires a license issued to a factory branch or distributor branch to specify each place of business and be conspicuously displayed there.
Treat it as a standing condition rather than a filing. Your license expires annually on a date keyed to the first letter of your business name — the Division runs the calendar from February 1 for names beginning A–B through January 1 for W–Z — and renewals may be submitted up to 90 days in advance. The Division’s renewal instructions are explicit that the expiration dates on your bond and insurance must fall after your license expiration date, and that the license is suspended during any lapse in bond coverage. A continuation certificate on the existing bond is acceptable, and the certificate of insurance must name the Secretary of State as certificate holder — not the BMV.
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 bond and insurance updates go through the online Dealer Portal only. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email ready to upload with the manufacturer application or renewal. 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. Have your dealer number handy if one has been issued; the credit consent in this application authorizes a soft pull only.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Indiana bonds.
The same bond in nearby states.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
File the bond and finish the manufacturer application.
$250 flat, soft pull only, executed bond usually in the same sitting and ready for the Dealer Portal. Free until issued.