Dallas, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Article IX of the Dallas City Code, Secs. 50-113 through 50-130, licenses anyone in the business of motor vehicle repair, defined in Sec. 50-113(d) as mechanical repair, alteration, or addition of equipment or parts, including tuneups, brake work, transmission work, engine repair, body work, painting, and upholstering. Sec. 50-114(a) bars owning, operating, or engaging in that business for compensation, or taking custody of a vehicle for repair, without a license from the director, and requires a duplicate license for each additional location. Sec. 50-115 requires a written application naming a local authorized agent, and subsection (b) requires the place of business to be a location where the comprehensive zoning ordinance does not prohibit motor vehicle repair.

Sec. 50-116 sets the annual fee at $122 for the first location and $75 per duplicate location, with a $25 fee to replace a lost or destroyed license. That zoning tie-in is what shuts the door on a real home shop: the Dallas Development Code's home occupation rule, Sec. 217(8), requires all activity to be conducted entirely inside the main structure, bars more than one non-resident employee working more than four hours a week, and caps the operation at 25 percent of floor area or 400 square feet.

A licensed repair business built around garage bay work, lifts, and walk-in customers cannot fit inside those limits. Sec. 50-128(a) exempts a person who only adds fluids to a vehicle, so topping off oil or coolant at home isn't licensed 'motor vehicle repair' activity.