supplying your social security number when paying

[newbie]

Were any of you told it was state law that you must supply your social security number when you were signing the papers to buy your Prius, even though you were not using their financing and you came with a "cashier's check." Just curious about this practice. I was even told that I must supply my income, either monthly or annually. When I protested, the salesman responded that it was Maryland state law.

I'm calling the State Attorney's Office tomorrow.

[Godiva]

I have no idea as I'm not in Maryland.

But I object to turning over my driver's license. It has a magnetic strip on the back. I have no idea what kind of information is on that, but no one but a police officer, Highway patrol or the DMV has a right to swipe it and read it. If I hand it to someone, I am consenting to them accessing that information. I don't hand over my license to ANYONE. I

In fact, I refused to hand it over to a cashier at Ralph's because they wanted to swipe it because I was writing a check. I said they could write down the information like everyone else. She said it was "store policy". I told them this was *my* policy and I walked out leaving $100 worth of groceries in front of her...including ice cream...for them to reshelve. I think it is illegal in California for a store to demand a driver's license and swipe it to read the information.

When I went to test drive a Prius at San Diego Toyota I took a photocopy of my driver's license and proof of insurance with me. The salesman asked me for my license. I gave him the photocopy. He wouldn't except the photo copy of the license. He said he needed the original. I took it out to show him the original. He wanted it. I asked why. He said he had to take it inside. I told him no. (I've heard some dealers not only run credit checks but run several of them. Every time a credit check is run it LOWERS your credit rating. That puts you in a weak position if they finance you.) I got out of the car. I started walking toward my old car. He shouted after me to wait. Suddenly he didn't need the license. I made a gesture and I got in my car and drove off.

The next day I bought a car from Howard Sheehy at Kearny Mesa Toyota. Howard was not interested in seeing my driver's license at all.

And the internet manager at San Diego Toyota contacted me a few days later saying they had the Prius I wanted. I replied, telling him what his salesman tried to do. I told him I bought my Prius at Kearny Mesa Toyota. Then I wrote: "You work on commission...right? Too bad. Big mistake. Really big mistake."

And I make sure I tell everyone to stay away from San Diego Toyota. I doubt that incident is the only shady thing they are pulling on customers. And I would NEVER have my car serviced there.

[jbarnhart]

I'm pretty sure they just want your SSN so they can check your credit. One of the myriad forms they shove in your face is a "permission to check credit" form. Dealers seem to like to do this even if you're paying cash.

Your cashier's check is not the same as cash, by the way. There are many reports of bad cachier's checks out there, so the dealer may ask you to wait until it clears before giving you the car. He has that option, especially if he can't check your credit to see if you are a good risk.

How you handle the situation is up to you and what you are comfortable with.

[DaveinOlyWA]

i was required to supply my SSN and it was known upfront that i was paying cash.

[Rancid13]

I was required to provide my SSN also, it was included on the 'credit check' form they had me fill out even though I financed through an outside lender. Said they had to run it anyways because I was not paying with straight-up cash. They checked the Toyota financing rate as well for me, it was .9% higher than the rate I was going to use all along.

[koa]

I did not have to supply a SS# and paid for the car with a personal check on a day when the banks were closed.

[tumbleweed]

Originally posted by newbie@Feb 8 2006, 06:41 PM
Were any of you told it was state law that you must supply your social security number when you were signing the papers to buy your Prius, even though you were not using their financing and you came  with a "cashier's check."  Just curious about this practice.  I was even told that I must supply my income, either monthly or annually.  When I protested, the salesman responded that it was Maryland state law.

I'm calling the State Attorney's Office tomorrow.

[snapback]206042[/snapback]

I have never lived in your state but I can't imagine any state would have a law requiring that you provide that kind of personnel information to a car dealer before he could sell you a car. Be sure to let us know what the Maryland A. G. has to say.

There have been a lot of problems with fake cashier's checks the last few years but I don't think that's what this is about. Sounds to me like they want to check your credit for some reason. You did the right thing, be careful, don't trust them, and be ready to walk (or run) out the door and buy your Prius somwhere else.

[cellsorter]

I went through this yesterday i paid cash for my new 06. I paid with 2 cashiers checks cash for the whole car.

I stoped also when they asked me for my SS#.

The explaination i got kinda made sense, since the transaction was over 10K cash transaction there was a federal reporting that had to occour.

I thought this was only for cash as in lots of 100$ bills etc.....

they also had me fill out the credit app, but i left out the sections with income, and i did not sign it. I think they just used it as a generic form to get my info to do the registration paperowork etc.....

[gschoen]

If someone is passing bad cashiers checks, a credit check isn't going to help much, whether it's legitmate or false credit info.

Passing off fake checks for a new car would be a major criminal offense, so the seller should make a good effort to verify the identity of the buyer and the legitimacy of the checks (When I sold my car privately, if I couldn't contact the bank to verify paymenty I'd use an escrow service.)

[Marlin]

Does Maryland by chance have an excise tax on cars? Could have something to do with that.