What permits do you need to open a auto repair shop in Franklin County?

Junk Yard / Secondhand Dealer License

This license reaches only a business that buys, sells or dismantles scrap or junk motor vehicles and parts as a junk yard — it is NOT a general requirement for ordinary auto-repair shops performing mechanical repairs. Ohio Revised Code 4737.07 sets the $25 annual fee, and Chapter 4737 as a whole governs junk yards and secondhand dealers as a state-created licensing category administered locally by the county auditor. The Franklin County Auditor issues it for incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county EXCLUDING the City of Columbus, which issues its own junkyard licenses through its own process. An auto-repair business does not need this license unless it is also operating as a salvage or junk yard on the same premises. Separately, a business selling salvage vehicles or parts at retail may need a state motor vehicle salvage dealer's license from the Ohio BMV (ORC Chapter 4738) — also a state function, and also inapplicable to a standard repair shop that is not dealing in salvage vehicles.

Auto Repair Shop Licensing — State Registration for Collision and Glass Shops (Franklin County)

The Franklin County Auditor's Licensing Types page lists no general automotive-mechanic or repair-shop license among the county's licenses, and this record carries no fee. The state credential that touches this industry is narrower than 'auto repair': the Ohio Board of Motor Vehicle Repair's own Registration page describes a mandatory statewide registration for independent collision repair facilities (since 1997), auto glass, paintless dent repair and air bag businesses (since 2003) and window tint installation (since 2013), with a $228.50 annual registration fee, and that page does not extend registration to general mechanical repair shops. A standard auto-repair shop in Franklin County has only the cross-cutting county touchpoints listed separately: the Vendor's License if it sells parts or accessories at retail, applicable zoning/building compliance for its location, and the Junk Yard/Salvage Dealer License only if it also operates as a salvage yard rather than performing ordinary mechanical repairs.

Shared with other businesses in Franklin County

• Vendor's License (County Vendor's License) — Franklin County Auditor, Licensing Section, $50 one-time, per fixed place of business ($25 to the state Organized Crime Commission Fund, $25 to the Franklin County general fund), standing registration, no renewal required — the Franklin County Auditor's own page states 'There is no annual renewal fee for either license'. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, food trucks, retail stores, salons and barbers and fitness studios; what it involves is set out on the coffee shops page.
• Vendor's License — Ohio Department of Taxation, $50 one-time, per fixed location, no renewal — stays in effect until cancelled. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores, salons and barbers, fitness studios and veterinary clinics; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.