How to get your Idaho dealer license.

Before you apply or buy a bond, ITD says to check with its Dealer Team that your proposed name is not deceptively similar to an existing dealership’s name. Call them at 208-584-4343. ITD’s contacts are here. Then set up the business with the Idaho Secretary of State at sos.idaho.gov. An LLC, corporation, or LLP gets its status from the Secretary of State. If you do business under any other name, Idaho law has you file it there as an assumed business name — a $25.00 base filing fee, or $45.00 on the paper form. Get an EIN from the IRS. A retail dealer also needs a seller’s permit, issued in the dealership’s name by the Idaho State Tax Commission (1-800-972-7660). You apply through the Idaho Business Registration (IBR) application, and the permit takes 10–15 business days when you apply online, so start it the same week.

Match it everywhere. The bond has to show the exact ownership, assumed names, and location listed on your application. Get the names and the owners consistent across the packet before you file.

Call your city or county planning office before you sign anything. ITD requires a location zoned for your type of dealership. Ask exactly what your city or county needs on that first call. ITD also has its own standards for the place of business:

A dealer license needs an established place of business. What your lot needs, and when Idaho requires a license.

You’ll keep a dealer bond on file: $20,000 retail, $40,000 wholesale, $10,000 motorcycle/ATV/UTV/snowmobile. You pay the surety a premium, not the full amount. The bond can be a corporate surety bond, a certificate of deposit, or cash deposited with ITD — cash or a CD stays on deposit until five years after the dealership goes out of business. If the bond is cancelled, ITD suspends the license as soon as it gets the surety’s notice, takes back the plates and unused title applications, and no sales are allowed until a valid replacement bond is filed. You also need liability insurance: at least $25,000 bodily injury for one person, $50,000 for two or more, and $15,000 property damage.

The insurance certificate is issued with “any auto,” or it states that it complies with Idaho's dealer insurance law. Ask your agent for that line. How the bond works.

Idaho requires an 8-hour prelicensing class, with a closed-book exam, before you apply — licensing law, titles and records, dealer practices and advertising, and the federal forms and rules. Your certificate is issued the moment you pass the exam.

The dealer license application, form ITD 3170, goes to ITD with the complete packet:

Before it goes in the envelope, put the attachments in the order the form’s own checklist prints them, and run every line through our checklist. Pay with a check made out to the Idaho Transportation Department, or by card on form ITD 4014 — card payments carry a service fee. Dealer Licensing answers Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. MST, at 208-584-4343 (option 2, then 6). Mail the notarized packet (do not email it — the notary signatures must be originals). Allow up to 30 days.

After the inspection ITD mails the license. The investigator also emails you how to sign up for the dealer portal and how to order plates. Current plate prices are printed on the order form the investigator gives you at inspection (ITD 3635 for dealer plates, ITD 3169 for loaner plates) — ITD updates them without notice, so use the form’s price. How dealer plates work. Anyone you hire to sell needs a salesperson license on form ITD 3171 — $36.00 with an Idaho driver’s license or ID. A salesperson without an Idaho driver’s license or ID card pays $26.00 on the ITD 3171, then $10.00 for the photo at the county sheriff’s DMV office: same total, two steps. A copy of the signed and submitted ITD 3171 acts as the temporary salesperson license for 60 days. For title work, order title applications (ITD 0502) on form ITD 3195, or enroll in the ITD Dealer Portal: email dealers@itd.idaho.gov with the dealership name, your dealer number, the owner who will be the administrator, that owner’s email, and a contact phone. In the Portal you complete e502 title applications online and issue 30-day temporary registrations for out-of-state buyers. Loaner plates are ordered on ITD 3169 and prorated to your license year.

What you keep doing once you’re licensed:

How renewal works.