Culture

"Car Dealers Take Test Drive of Your Credit"

by Barry Artiste | May 13, 2008 at 05:50 am

1187 views | 2 Recommendations | 5 comments

Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor

Love the shiny new car? Salvitating for a joyride around the block? One only has to let the car dealership make a copy of your drivers licence, before handing you the keys.

Meanwhile Consumers are unaware, while they are joyriding down the block, that most likely before they insert that key in the ignition, Car Dealers are also taking a Test Drive of your Credit Worthiness from the local Credit Bureau.

Card Dealers fax your photocopied drivers licence to the National credit bureau, and faster than you can say "Extended Warranty, How can I lose"! The Car dealerships financial Test Drive of your Credit Check gives the Dealership unlimited bargaining power in determining how much they can "Gouge you" when it comes to negotiations based on your credit worthiness, regardless of your self perceived Negotiation Coolness under pressure.

Yep, no more Good Cop-Bad Cop Sales closers like "I have to discuss your "GREAT bargain" first with my Sales manager", because with this age old Scam, like Casinos, "The House always Wins".

Car dealers running unauthorized credit checks: CBC News investigationPut the brakes on the test drive until after negotiating a price, experts suggestLast Updated: Monday, May 12, 2008 | 10:21 PM ETComments20 Recommend50 CBC News
Handing over your driver's licence before taking a car out for a test drive may lower your bargaining power, a CBC News investigation has learned.

While some salespeople copy licences for security purposes, others use them to run credit checks on consumers, said consumer fraud consultant Duane Overholt.

"Absolutely, in the American market, Canadian market, people are having their credit pulled without their knowledge," said Overholt, who is based in Maryland.

Once salespeople confirm consumers' credit records, they can adjust pricing and financing in a bid to boost profits.

Under privacy legislation, dealers are required to ask permission before checking credit. But two credit agencies, Transunion and Equifax, told CBC News that they don't usually ask for verification. The agencies said when dealers call for credit checks, they assume the consumer has granted permission for the check to be completed.