Car dealerships explain verification process for buying a car
NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – Identity theft comes in different forms.
Large sums of money taken from your bank account are one of the most common.
Last week, in Tupelo, two men were arrested for using fraudulent information to purchase a car.
There are several steps to buying a vehicle.
One of the first is verifying your identity.
At Columbus Nissan, General Manager Russell Street said the process starts with basic documents.
“Normally, the first thing you start with is IDs. Check your driver’s license and IDs. And then you want to compare the information the customer gives you with addresses and make sure all that’s accurate and that they match,” said Street.
Street said they haven’t seen fraud attempts recently, but some signs point to suspicious activity.
“Red flags are popped up when people want us to deliver cars out of town and we’ve never met the people, and they try to buy them online. But you do see it from acquaintances or family members that have access to somebody’s information. (They) try to use their information to purchase,” said Street.
At a Cannon Motor Company dealership in West Point, sales consultant Kialur Armstrong said double-checking paperwork helps prevent fraud.
“All of our information that we collect from customers, we always, always, have to have them to sign it to verify the information that we did take from them in order to make sure everything is accurate. So that way, there’s no issue, no wrong information admitted to a bank. Or you can instantly get denied that way, if it’s not the accurate information,” said Armstrong.
Dealerships also ask for your social security number, proof of address, and recent pay stubs.
Armstrong said accuracy and integrity matter.
“You want to make sure that all of our customers get treated and get the best deal possible and in order to do that, we must do our part in ensuring that their information is inputted in our system correctly and we collect information that’s needed in order to help them get what they need,” said Armstrong.
If someone uses your information falsely, both dealerships said it can take a while to fix your credit.
Columbus Nissan suggests using the Credit Bureau to monitor your information.
