It sometimes helps to have friends in higher places. While I don’t have any pictures of presidents shaking my hand, my mayor occasionally hands me tickets to a Cubs and Reds game at Wrigley.

Dealers in the Houston, Texas, area have a friend in higher places. I wrote about him previously as the lead to discuss forged driver licenses and using a Credit Privacy Number in lieu of a Social Security number.  A sergeant in the Houston Police Department is passionate about fighting identity theft and protecting auto dealers. He quickly responds to possible events of identity theft and stopped a transaction by having the perps arrested at a dealership last week. He also maintains a rather large email list and keeps people, from dealers to bankers to consultants to agents, apprised of the particulars of ID theft. In the last two emails, this sergeant offers up a number of tips and suggestions that dealers can use to improve their defense against identity thieves.

Words of Wisdom

Seargent asked an enlightening question in his last email: 

“Dealerships are very careful to fully explain the signing process when F&I is occurring in person. Why wouldn’t this process be followed in a video situation to ensure the customer fully understands the contract before a digital signature is done?”

I plan to include this question in my presentation materials for upcoming training sessions.

Suggestions and Tips

He identifies remote or out-of-area deliveries as a significant risk. These are deals in which the consumer does not visit the dealership, and the transaction is conducted digitally. Here is a compilation of the good sergeant’s suggestions and tips:

Ask the consumer how he heard about the dealership and the vehicle. He suggests that if the consumer references some research, such as being in the market for a while and finally finding the vehicle at the dealership, is more legitimate than a simple, “I saw it on your website.”

Beware of a long-distance consumer looking at a common vehicle. It’s doubtful that a consumer living in Atlanta would pay a similar price, plus shipping costs, for a vehicle in Sacramento that he can find within 10 miles from home.

When starting the transaction, request a good color copy of the consumer’s driver license. Identity thieves will send you a copy; it just may be a forgery.

After you receive the driver license, and only after it is in your inbox, ask the consumer to forward a selfie with the driver license. There are two reasons for that. First it gives you an opportunity to further vet the driver license. Second, and it worked for a Houston-area dealer last week, in that the suspected ID thief stopped communicating.

The sergeant also recommends a video call with the consumer before completing the transaction. Ensure that you match the ID to the consumer on the video call. I recommend two video calls. The first one is to ask and conclude out-of-wallet questions. Be sure the consumer is not searching for the answers or has a third-base coach. The second video call should be the menu presentation.

Two weeks ago, a dealer called the good sergeant. A consumer was in the dealership instead of remote. The dealer employs an ID scanning device, and a consumer-presented driver license failed the vetting process. A patrol car was dispatched to the dealership, where the suspect was arrested.

Sergeant has been a longtime proponent of ID scanning devices and, like me, is agnostic as to which one a dealer uses. I don’t believe there are any devices that can access every state database because of privacy laws. However, each state has unique security features in their driver licenses, and the ID scanning device you select should be able to vet those security features, such as infrared, bar code reading, magnetic stripe detection, holograms, etc.

As the good sergeant says, “These devices are low-cost investments into your business. One single fraud purchase that is prevented can pay for the cost of the machine for years!”

Protect Your Dealer

These suggestions and tips are certainly worth a conversation with your dealers.

Hope this helps. 

Continued Good Luck, Good Health, and Good Selling.

Gil Van Over is executive director of Automotive Compliance Education (ACE). He is also founder and president of gvo3 & Associates and author of “Automotive Compliance in a Digital World.”