The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio, Dyer Streets column Car dealer should skip SS number

Bob Dyer

Jul. 25, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- A local car dealership lost a sale the other day simply because it demanded a nine-digit number that it really didn't need.

The potential buyer was a Portage County woman who was prepared to pay cash.

She said the dealer wanted her Social Security number. She refused to give it.

The woman is worried about identity theft. She guards her Social Security number like a first-time mother guarding a 3-day-old infant.

That's smart. In this era of widespread identify theft, the single most dangerous piece of information is the SS number.

The woman wasn't asking for a loan. She wasn't leasing. She wanted to pay with a cashier's check. So why, she demanded, did they need to know her number?

"The law requires it," she was told.

No, the law does not require it.

How do I know? Because I checked with every agency that could possibly require that kind of information. To wit:

--The Department of Homeland Security? Nope.

Nothing in its sometimes-wacky regulations requires the purchaser of a new or used car to cough up a Social Security number.

(That's not exactly a shocking oversight on its part. Even an inferior terrorist could figure out a way to get ahold of an automobile.)

--The Treasury Department? Nope.

If you walk into a dealership and peel off more than $10,000 in bills, yes, the dealer needs your SS for IRS Form 8300, which is designed to combat money laundering. But if you hand over a check for $10,000 or $25,000 or even $100,000, Treasury couldn't care less.

"It has nothing to do with taxes," Internal Revenue Service spokesman Erick Erickson says. "It's just not something that we would oversee."

The only other way the IRS is connected to car dealers is through payroll taxes and employment taxes for the employees, he said.

--The Ohio attorney general's office? Nope.

"No laws under our office," spokeswoman Michelle Gatchell reported.

--The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles? Nope.

The only area where that could possibly come into play is optional, BMV spokeswoman Lindsay Komlanc says.

When a buyer has the dealer transfer a vehicle registration and pick up the temporary tags, the buyer must give the dealer a limited power of attorney. But the paperwork for that -- BMV Form 5736 -- requires "the person's Social Security number OR the driver's license number OR the State of Ohio Identification number," Komlanc says.

"If they have an Ohio driver's license, they shouldn't have to provide a Social Security number."

Just because SS numbers no longer appear on the face of your driver's license doesn't mean your number is a mystery to the BMV.

"If you have an Ohio driver's license, the state already has your Social Security number," Komlanc points out.

If the dealer is leasing a car or financing its purchase, that's a different story, because your credit comes into play.

Meanwhile, that woman who walked away from her purchase continues to drive her old car.

"Far too many people innocently divulge things they shouldn't, just because they're asked," said the woman, who -- surprise! -- didn't want her name in the newspaper. "This should be a deal-breaker."

It was for her. It should be for you, too.

Bob Dyer's Streets column appears each Friday. He can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0006-26918835