SS# with cash purchase

[Goughy]

This is slightly off topic, as it applies to any large purchase.

My dealer is trying to tell me that if I pay for my new Prius with a personal check, they will need to do a credit check. "Because you might put a stop on the check".

Will all the incidence of identity theft I am unwilling to hand over my Social Security number for an unnecessary credit check. I can't see how my creditworthiness directly affects my ability to stop the check.

If I pay with a Cashier's Check he would still like my SS# because the IRS needs it.

I think this is all bogus and I have told him so. I realize that they can refuse to sell me the car if I refuse to give them my SS#. Has anyone else had to do this for a "cash" purchase?

Thanks.

-Richard

[mikepaul]

What did they say to the idea of REAL cash handed over at delivery? STILL need ID?...

[Goughy]

What did they say to the idea of REAL cash handed over at delivery? STILL need ID?...

I haven't tried that tack yet.

The thought of driving around with around $25000 in my pocket is a little scary. :guns:

I am off to pick up the car today and I'll try to negotiate some arrangement with them. With the current surplus of vehicles, I'm tempted to walk if they insist.

BTW, the IRS will find out about the purchase soon enough when I claim the deduction next year. But I can't see the dealer needs the SS#.

I have always purchased cars with a check, including a Lexus RX300, and I don't remember this happening before.

-Richard

[priusham]

BOTH dealers that I purchased cars from required a certified check. Neither asked for my SSN.

The funny thing is the person at my credit union said that people were forging certified checks just as much as regular checks.

[Charles Suitt]

My opinion: DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER !!

The dealer has no legitimate reason for this request. If they fear your personal check, pay with a Cashier's Check. If they think that is bogus, they can send a runner to the bank to have it verified.

My 2¢ worth

[guyweathersby]

Please note that I strongly recommend against taking legal advice from computer programmers, but as I understand it, if you did pay actual cash the dealer might have a good reason to require an SSN. The last I heard car dealer were considered financial institutions for purposes of the law that states that large cash transactions have to be reported to the government. I believe the extension of the list to include auto dealers was part of the Patriot Act.

As far as the current situation is concerned. You don't need to give your SSN. On the other hand, the dealer can set pretty much any rule they want to which is not in direct violation of law or than can decide not to sell you the car.

[prius04]

Drug dealers and other nefarious people try to buy things all the time with giant cash amounts. They do this to hide what they do for a living and they do this to avoid taxation on the proceeds. When laws get passed to catch bad guys, good guys often also pay the price. So I'm not surprised that there may be laws in place to require some form of certifiable ID.

Plus, I do know that whenever you engage in a bank transaction over $10,000, the bank has to send a notice to the IRS. This is to catch people that are trying to move large sums that they have not paid taxes on.

Buying a car or a house with cash could be a way to launder money. Requiring some form of certifiable ID, like a SS# would be a way to prevent that, or at least make it harder to do.

As for whether you can make such a purchase and use an ID other than the SS# is unknown to me. I would suspect that there is but you need to talk to an expert on that.

I've edited my post to apologize to guyweathersby. You said essentially the same thing just above and you beat me to the post. I didn't see your post when I hit submit. sorry about that.

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

WOW!
[sarcasm n] What a bunch of trusting dealers you people are working with![/sarcasm]

My dealer, Maita Toyota, in Sacramento took a $22k personal check, the balance on a credit card, and let us drive the car off the lot.

They took our SSNs. I think they wanted to run a credit check to offer us financing. Who am I to argue? They took a personal check and plastic and gave us a Prius.

[naterprius]

My dealer took my signature on a promisory note (nothing fancy, just a photo copy and a signature saying I would be back within a week with a personal check).

Social Security was required for the Patriot Act.

By the way, if anyone needs a Prius, or any other Toyota for that matter, Philo at Boulder Toyota is nothing short of amazing.

Nate

[jeromep]

Unless you are financing, there is no need for a dealer to have your SSN. Your license number maybe, for registration purposes, but not your SSN.

Here is how cash vs. certified/teller/cashier's/bank check works. First off I highly do not recommend cash. Too dangerous, but if you do any kind of cash transaction over $10,000.01 at a bank, they have to fill out a Cash Transaction Report to forward to FinCEN at the IRS. This isn't a big deal really. Your name would go into a database of individuals that have dealt in a large cash transaction, you are not considered a criminal and it does not have any impact on your tax returns. The purpose of the CTR is to track strange large cash transactions. There are businesses that deal in large quantities of cash, notably fast food restaurants and they are always having those things filled out against them. It is one of those things that if you have a large cash transaction once every 10 years, then you are not a target, if you do one every day or every other day as a business that logically would be doing large cash transactions, you are not a target either. There is a middle ground where the CTR may point out fraudulent or illegal activity.

Any type of check you get at a bank is going to be guaranteed funds. Meaning that the bank takes your money and places it into a check writing escrow account that the bank uses to clear those checks. Forged and counterfeit checks are of course just that. Now, if your dealer wants to verify the validity of the check, all they have to do is call the drawing bank and ask them if the check is valid. Usually it only requires talking to the right person or department, and they can take the check number and verify if it is legitimate, amounts, date drawn, teller that drew it, etc. With the unfortunate occurrence of counterfeit checks out there, banks are including about as much contact info on the face of the check so that it can be verified quickly and easily.

There is no reason on a cash transaction that they should need to pull a credit report. Doesn't make sense. Challenge the dealer on this one, it isn't necessary.