Dealer wanting to run credit check even though paying cash?

[coloradomarmot]

Knowing your SSN--in and of itself-- doesn't give them any info on your current bank account balance, but I get your point about playing along due to the demand and they have leverage to ask for just about anything and can turn you away if you don't provide it. However, if they used that info and did a credit pull without your authorization (i.e., the dealership shows up as requesting a hard pull on your free credit report (could take a couple weeks to show up)), that's violating the FCRA and you can take legal action if you want. But they could just claim you did authorize it. Did you pay in full by check, or finance part of it?

Check and trade in.

To be fair, pretty much everyone's SSN is already out in the wild thanks for Equifax, Anthem, etc. It never was meant to be a secret (they used to post our grades outside the classroom by SSN). If you've got a security freeze (not a credit lock) they can't do anything with it anyway.

But, again, when it's a highly limited product with ready buyers literally standing by, you have to make a choice. I let them have it (and I work in cybersecurity) because the effective risk to me is really small, and I *really* wanted the mudbath.

I was just happy they ditched all the mandatory dealer add-ons....

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[Desmolicious]

I know the reason. I have a friend who has been working at a dealership for over 20 years. He told me that some dealers report a much lower price than the actual sale price so they can pay less tax. Because of that, managers often require them not to accept cash, since cash makes it easier to commit fraud and not report the correct sale value.

By ‘cash’ I meant I would be showing up w a bank/cashier’s check drawn out to the dealership.