Wisconsin motor club bonds.
$500 flat.
Wisconsin will not let a company sell or offer motor club service until it has put security in front of the Commissioner of Insurance — either $25,000 in cash or approved securities on deposit, or, in lieu of that, a $50,000 bond payable to the State of Wisconsin under Wis. Stat. 616.72. Ours is $500 flat, and the price you see is the price at checkout.
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How much does a Wisconsin motor club bond cost?
$500 at the $50,000 amount, the same for every applicant.
Three steps. One sitting.
A fixed-amount insurance filing is about the simplest thing in surety. Here is the entire process:
Apply online
Company details, entity type, contact and owner information, an effective date and a term. That is the application. No credit check.
Pay & e-sign
Fixed-amount filings like this are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase.
File with the Commissioner
Your executed $50,000 bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to notarize and send to OCI with the rest of the form 21-190 packet. Wet-ink original mailed on request — the Commissioner wants ink and a notary seal on this one.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond actually guarantees
Wisconsin does not regulate motor clubs through the DMV — it regulates them as miscellaneous insurers, under subchapter IV of Wis. Stat. ch. 616, administered by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. The test at 616.71(12) is a counting exercise: furnish, render or procure three or more of eleven listed services — towing, emergency road, insurance, bail bond, legal, discount, financial, buying and selling, theft, map and touring service — in connection with someone’s ownership, operation, use or maintenance of a motor vehicle, and you are a "company" selling motor club service. Bundle three of those into a membership and the certificate-of-authority requirement attaches, whatever you call the product.
Section 616.72 gives you two ways to satisfy the Commissioner and only one of them is cheap. You can deposit $25,000 in cash or securities the Commissioner approves, or file a bond in the form the Commissioner prescribes, payable to the state of Wisconsin, in the sum of $50,000, with corporate surety the Commissioner approves. The bond is conditioned on the faithful performance in the sale or rendering of motor club service and on payment of any fines or penalties levied for failure to comply with the chapter — so it answers to the members who bought a service contract you did not honor, and to the state. Once the security is on file, the statute makes issuing the certificate of authority a duty, not a discretion.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. The statute is unusually explicit that the deposit or bond "is not required in any instance as a penalty, but for the protection of the public only." Your certificate of authority expires every July 1 under 616.74(3), and OCI’s bond form is written to the license period expiring not later than July 2 and every succeeding renewal period — which is why the term on this bond lands on that date rather than a year from your effective date. We track it and send renewal notices 60 and 30 days out.
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 $50,000 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The bond runs to July 2 whatever day you buy; the premium covers the period to that date.
Renewal falls on the statutory date, July 2, in the year your term ends.
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
File with the Commissioner. Your executed $50,000 bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to notarize and send to OCI with the rest of the form 21-190 packet. Wet-ink original mailed on request — the Commissioner wants ink and a notary seal on this one.
What sets the price
The premium is fixed at $500 at the $50,000 amount for every applicant: the carrier’s rate book prices this bond by the form, not by your credit or your business profile.
No credit check.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields. No credit check.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Wisconsin bonds.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Get the motor club certificate moving.
$500 flat for the $50,000 filing, issued the moment you pay, e-signed and ready for the OCI packet. Free until issued.