Utah dealer license types are set by Utah Code Section 41-3-202, which defines what each class of license actually permits. The classes are nested rather than parallel, so a new motor vehicle dealer’s license already includes used vehicle sales, body shop operation, and dismantling. Picking the wrong class means either paying for privileges you do not need or operating outside the ones you have.

Last updated: October 2026

Key Takeaways

The Classes Are Nested, Not Parallel

The most useful thing to understand about Section 41-3-202 is that the licenses stack. Applicants routinely assume that selling used cars, painting a fender, and pulling parts each require their own license. For most dealers they do not.

Note the practical consequence. An independent used car lot that also does its own paint and body work, and pulls parts off trade-ins that are not worth retailing, is already covered by the used motor vehicle dealer’s license. The separate body shop license exists for a business that does body work without selling vehicles.

The Two Franchise-Dependent Classes

Two classes tie a privilege to a franchise. A new motor vehicle dealer’s license permits selling new motor vehicles if the licensee possesses a franchise from the manufacturer of the vehicle. The same conditional applies to the new motorcycle, off-highway vehicle, and small trailer dealer class.

The exception is the direct-sale manufacturer, added for electric vehicle manufacturers and low-volume manufacturers. Under Section 41-3-103, a direct-sale manufacturer may sell, display, or offer a motor vehicle without a franchise if it is an electric vehicle manufacturer or a low-volume manufacturer, but may not sell a new motor vehicle that is not of the same line-make it manufactures. A direct-sale manufacturer is otherwise subject to the same provisions as a new motor vehicle dealer, and its salespeople are subject to the same provisions as any salesperson.

The special equipment dealer class solves a narrower problem. It permits buying incomplete new motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 12,000 or more pounds from a new motor vehicle dealer and selling the finished vehicle with special equipment installed, without a franchise from the manufacturer. For upfitters building service bodies, cranes, or utility equipment onto chassis, that is the licensing answer.

Salesperson Licenses and the One-Dealer Rule

Section 41-3-202 provides that a salesperson’s license permits the licensee to act as a motor vehicle salesperson and is valid for employment with only one dealer at a time. There is one carve-out: a salesperson employed by a dealer that operates a wholesale motor vehicle auction may be employed by more than one dealer operating a wholesale motor vehicle auction at a time.

A direct-sale manufacturer salesperson’s license works for one direct-sale manufacturer, and a person holding one may not simultaneously hold an ordinary salesperson’s license.

Two related provisions matter for staffing. Section 41-3-205.5 requires a criminal background check on salesperson’s licenses. And under Section 41-3-206, a salesperson’s license expires on the annual expiration date or when the salesperson terminates employment with the dealer they are licensed under, whichever comes first. Section 41-3-208 covers relinquishment on loss or change of employment. A salesperson moving between your stores is a licensing event, not just an HR one.

Salvage Vehicle Buyer: A License With a Gate In Front Of It

A salvage vehicle buyer license permits the licensee to bid on or purchase a vehicle carrying a salvage certificate at any motor vehicle auction. Unlike the other classes, it is not open to anyone who meets the general requirements. The division may only issue it to a motor vehicle dealer, dismantler, or body shop who qualifies under division rules and is licensed in some state as a motor vehicle dealer, dismantler, or body shop.

Section 41-3-601 sets the application fee for this license directly in statute at $200, rather than leaving it to the commission’s fee schedule as it does for most licenses.

The restriction has teeth on the sale side too. Under Section 41-3-201, a person generally may not bid on or purchase a vehicle with a nonrepairable or salvage certificate at a motor vehicle auction unless licensed as a salvage vehicle buyer, and an auction may not offer such a vehicle for sale except to a licensed salvage vehicle buyer, subject to specific exceptions for out-of-state purchasers, certain in-state purchasers with a Utah business license and sales tax license, and crushers. An auction operator selling to an unlicensed in-state purchaser is limited to five salvage vehicles per Utah sales tax license in any 12-month period, and that limit attaches to the sales tax license rather than to each person authorized to use it.

Transporter Licenses Have an Eligibility List

A transporter’s license permits moving or delivering vehicles from manufacturing, assembling, or distributing points or from a dealer, to dealers, distributors, or sales agents, to or from detail or repair shops, and to financial institutions or storage from points of repossession.

The division may not issue or renew a transporter license unless the applicant is one of the following: licensed under the chapter as a body shop, a detail or repair shop, a tow truck motor carrier subject to Title 72, Chapter 9, a repossession company, licensed under the chapter as a dealer or auction, or a finance company. The applicant must also provide proof of insurance or other security meeting the minimum requirements of Title 41, Chapter 12a.

Choosing the Right Class

Four questions usually settle it.

1. Do you have or want a franchise? If yes, you need the new dealer class for that vehicle category. If no, the used class covers you, and the special equipment class covers upfitting heavy incomplete chassis without one.
2. What are you selling? Motorcycles, off-highway vehicles, and small trailers are their own track, with a $10,000 bond rather than $75,000. That difference is large enough to matter to a startup.
3. Do you need auction access to salvage? If yes, add the salvage vehicle buyer license, which requires you to already hold a dealer, dismantler, or body shop license.
4. Are you moving vehicles for others? Transporter is gated to a specific list of business types, so confirm you are on it before planning around it.

Whichever class you choose, the underlying requirements are common to all of them. Those are covered in our guide to Utah dealer license requirements, and the threshold question of whether you need a license at all is answered in how many cars you can sell in Utah without a dealer license. Current fee amounts are published by the division at dmv.utah.gov/mved, because most are set by the commission under Section 63J-1-504 rather than fixed in the statute. For the wider regulatory picture, see our resources for an attorney for car dealerships in Utah.

Written by Jeremy Eveland, a business attorney practicing in Utah who advises dealership owners on licensing, compliance, contracts, and litigation.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Citations are to Utah Code Title 41, Chapter 3 as published by the Utah Legislature and current as of October 2026. Most license fees are set by the State Tax Commission rather than fixed in statute, so confirm current amounts with the division.