These days when you buy a car, although there's a wealth of information and knowledge via the internet, dealerships still are playing their games. You know the ones.
Part of it is simply the dealership trying to play with newbie consumers, but there's also a tremendously dark side to it. The dealers are trying to avoid being the victims of fraud. And in the "new economy" where everyone's trying to keep up with the Joneses, and a few have a skeleton or two to hide, the sales front is employing new tactics to stay in front of criminals.
I last bought a car three years ago, so, I can't speak to it; however, AutoSpies' big cheese — Agent001 — is more familiar with the latest hoops one has to clear to get access to a set of wheels. In the past 90 days he's snapped up two and was a bit taken aback when the dealership required him to get fingerprinted to prove he was the individual who filed out the credit application. By doing the fingerprinting, it allows the proper authorities to catch fraudsters quicker.
Here's the kicker: even if you aren't taking out a loan and are paying via check or cash you STILL need to go through the fingerprinting.
So, we have to ask the AutoSpies faithful that has recently picked up a new ride: did YOU get fingerprinted the last time you bought a car? If so, please let us know what state you're located in.