SS# with cash purchase

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

 

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.

 

:roll: 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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

And the winner is...

Yes. This would help the dealer maximize the value of the "gift" to you.

Be firm. If insurance cards no longer carry your SSN (more recent legislation than the Patriot Act), your payments don't have to either.

 

Just registered but have been lurking for some time. What I have seen went a long way in my decision to buy a Prius. Went into a dealer and he said it would take 6 mo. Gave him a $500 deposit to get on a waiting list. By the time my wife and I got home, we had a phone msg that he had found our car and color in Seattle. Drove back to the dealer and gave him a check. He only asked for our insurance card and drivers license. No hard sell on accessories but we asked for a BC model fully loaded. Papers in the glove compartment indicated that the Seattle dealer was asking $2,000 more than what we paid this dealer. Very happy with the dealer and the purchase.

By the way, he jumped us ahead of others on the list as we had the cash and were definitely interested and not just shopping.

 

i work in a situation where money is passed back and forth constantly without direct contact of the payer. the SSN is needed to verify the identity. get used to it, even in a cash transaction, we require it. so dont bother digging up the old mayo jar in the back yard, i doubt if it will help you.

its funny in that this is a catch 22 situation. we require the info to prevent identity theft, but if the info isnt protected, then it causes identity theft. im sure most have heard about various mis-steps taken by several companies (3 of recent significant note)

but a good rule of thumb is to NEVER give personal info when someone else initiates the contact. dont care who they say they are or why they are calling, dont do it. you cannot verify anything over the phone.

only give personal info when you are initiating the contact and you know you are calling an established business or number. if you receive info by mail that your CC company or whatever has changed their number, IGNORE it. immediately call the number you were provided when you started the service to verify the change. this occurs very very rarely since it costs companies MILLIONS to make this primarily unnecessary change. also if the company has changed their number, they will provide a recording at their old number for many months to inform customers of the new number.

now because of laws initiated, you must be provided the option of creating a password or PIN to access an account remotely instead of providing your SSN. most companies get around this by only asking for the last 4 or something. THIS SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS.

ALWAYS CREATE A PASSWORD. make it as long and as difficult as you are allowed to do. and

YES this makes it hard on you. but if you have trouble dealing with it, think of someone who is trying to illegally access your account the problems they will have. although your SSN is hard to get, it aint impossible. the odds are, as long as you dont use easy passwords, that passwords will provide you more security.

also, if you provide a password, you can have your SSN obscured so even the customer service rep accessing your account cant see it either. this is the law, dont let any company tell you that the SSN is required. now if you dont provide a password, then SSN will be needed.

 

Howdy,

I found a Pricus in MT. I called and "held" my Prius on my credit card. Flew to the dealer the next day (five states away). They picked me up at the airport and fifteen minutes later I was driving home. I wrote a check for the complete amount on my personal checking account in NV. Local DMV temp tranfer tag was the only paperwork other than Toyota info.

 

The dealer is lying about needing your credit check for check acceptance, the two have nothing to do with each other. As far as stopping payment on checks, that has absolutely nothing to do with your credit worthyness either.

Somehow they get paid to get that info.

I'd bring cash.

Carrying large sums bothers me somewhat but I have a concealed pistol carry permit and collect a lot of cash in business, so I would do it.

 

If you are using Firefox, make the passwords so dang difficult that YOU can’t even remember it.
(for example: Pri*&%&503gBh~`~=-?>:]\\43f") Next time you revisit that site, Firefox will ask for your Master Password and then retrieve the dang difficult one for the site. All you need to do is remember your Master. I have 12 long nonsensical passwords saved, but I only need to remember my master.

Firefox stores these passwords hidden and encrypted.
Firefox will allow you to see your stored passwords, but you must type in your Master Password twice!

As you are inventing your Master Password, Firefox will show you a scale which rates how secure your password is from cracking.

 

:idea: Hi PriusEnvy... I most strongly agree... Firefox's storing of passwords is one of its finest features... allowing secure passwords without the necessity of a desktop list or perfect memory. I change my passwords periodically and Firefox makes it easy to go back in and establish the memorized new ones.

 

I know you already bought a car (You will be SO happy with it ) but for others who might follow: I'm with the "They don't need your SSN for a personal check, nor do they need to run a credit check" group.

If you aren't financing through them, there is NO reason to do a credit check. Too many credit checks in too short a time will damage your credit rating as they don't know you aren't actually getting 100 credit cards.

I brought a bank check since I went out of state and figured they wouldn't take a non-local personal check. When we closed the deal, the salesman said he would have taken a personal check. Needed my driver's license and ins, but nothing else.

 

First of all, I *never* carry my SIN (Social Insurance Number in Canada) or my SSN on my person. That just makes it too easy to commit Identity Theft if you happen to have your wallet lost/stolen.

With every home I have purchased, I have had my attorney handle the sums. I cut a check for the attorney and he looks after the rest. In one case, with lake property I used to own, the purchaser *did* pay cash.

Suspicious but not my problem, I don't work for the Secret Service. The attorney handled everything and kept it confidential, as it should be. If there is an issue with the cash, that is up to the purchaser to explain.

With every vehicle I have purchased, I either cut a check or get a cashiers check. I always offer to wait until the check clears, which is no more than a week at the most. With the cashiers check, I hop in and drive away.

It's suspicious the dealer would still want your SSN if you cut a check for the car. I would wonder what they are doing with that SSN and how they are storing it.

I can see a bit of suspicion if you open a briefcase and start counting out bills. But for a check? Fine, verify funds with the bank, that usually takes 5 minutes or less.

Most businesses here are set up for electronic funds transfer anyway, the money is pulled out of your checking account before you leave the lot.