Apply for a corporate motor dealer licence

Your motor dealing company must have a corporate licence. You will need to submit an application for a corporation's licence.

Authorised activities

This licence allows your company to:

• sell a used vehicle (including its parts)
• obtain a used vehicle (including vehicle parts) to sell, either as a complete unit or in parts
• sell a used vehicle on behalf of another person (on consignment)
• sell a leased vehicle to the lessee under the terms of the lease
• negotiate on a person’s behalf for that person to buy or sell a used motor vehicle.

You may not auction any vehicles or other goods without a chattel auctioneer licence.

Restrictions

Personnel

Your personnel must have individual licences too if they are:

• directors of the company and carry out the work of a motor dealer themselves
• officers in charge of a place of business.

A director does not need a licence if they don’t act as a motor dealer.

Business operations

• You may trade under your corporation name or registered business name.
• If you use your registered business name, you must register the company as the owner of the business name.
• If you are partners with another company, the other company must also have a current licence.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this licence, your company must have individual licensees in charge of all places of business.

Suitability

You are not a suitable company if you:

• are currently disqualified from holding a licence
• have been convicted of a serious offence within the past 5 years
• have an unsuitable director or executive officer.

Serious offences

A serious offence is anything punishable by 3 or more years in prison. These include:

• violent offences (including threats to use violence)
• fraud and dishonesty
• drug trafficking
• extortion
• arson
• unlawful stalking, intimidation, harassment or abuse
• offences of a sexual nature
• new offences under Queensland’s Criminal Code of
  • recruiting a person to become participant in criminal organisation
  • consorting
• an offence committed with a serious organised crime circumstance of aggravation applicable to a prescribed list of offences within the meaning of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992.

Directors and executive officers

You are not suitable for a licence if any director or executive officer:

• is an insolvent under administration
• is currently disqualified from holding a licence or registration certificate
• have been convicted of a serious offence within the past 5 years
• is subject to a court issued control order because of involvement in serious criminal activity.

We also consider if they:

• have a criminal history
• have been an executive officer of a corporation, which was previously licensed, that has gone insolvent
• were the subject of a successful claim fund action
• have had your licence or registration certification cancelled or been suspended from holding one
• have been previously disqualified from holding a licence or registration certificate
• are disqualified from being a company director
• have previously been an insolvent under administration
• are unsuitable because of their character or the character of their business associates.

Receivership or liquidation

• what circumstances caused it to happen
• whether the executive officer took all reasonable steps to avoid these circumstances
• what assets the executive officer had available to distribute
• how much money (if any) the executive officer paid in dividends
• whether the executive officer broke any laws relating to these circumstances
• whether the executive officer is disqualified from being a company director or other officer.

You must also include a report from the receiver or liquidator that gives us:

• a detailed list of the executive officer’s creditors
• the amount of money the executive officer still owes to each creditor.

Lodgement

When you lodge the form, you will need to attach formal identification for anyone named on your form.  These will be:

• your executive officers
• all business partners or associates.

Your identification must be a certified copy of any of the following documents:

• Birth certificate or extract
• Driver licence
• Passport
• Citizenship certificate

You will need to pay the required fees when you lodge your application.

Places of business

You may have multiple places of business, but you must register all of your business addresses when you apply for your licence. The person in charge at each place of business must have a current individual licence.

An individual cannot be in charge of more than 1 place at any given time unless the places of business are on adjacent blocks of land (not separated by a public road).

Find out more about places of business.

Criminal history check

To confirm your suitability, we will submit your application for a criminal history check. This will be thorough and may be time consuming.

The criminal history check will apply to each individual named in your application.

If you were born in New Zealand or have a New Zealand passport, you need to get a copy of your criminal history or a letter indicating you have no criminal history from New Zealand. For more information, visit the New Zealand Ministry of Justice website.

You don’t have to pay any fees to get a New Zealand criminal history check. We can only accept original documents dated within one month of the date you send them to us. Please note it takes 20 working days to process a request for a New Zealand criminal history check.

Processing time

The processing time is 4–6 weeks. This can take longer if your application is not complete. This might be because of:

• missing information
• unpaid fees.

We will contact you if you submitted an incomplete application. You will need to complete it before we can proceed. Otherwise, we may withdraw your application.

Refunds

Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to a partial refund if:

• you withdraw your application
• we refuse your application.

You may also get a refund on the fees for a criminal history check that has yet to take place.