Why does your car dealer need your thumbprint? Its for your protection, silly! Unless you don’t want to be “protected.” Then you’re not getting a car. From Lornamatic, the blog of a carless but still clean-thumbed customer:
You are handed a slip of paper and told to mark your right thumbprint in a box. The paper says clearly that it’s a request, for your protection, and to prevent your identity theft.
When you politely decline, the dealership refuses to sell you the car.
This is precisely what happened to me today when I tried to purchase a new X3 at the South Bay BMW dealer in Torrance, California.
Let me restate: In order to buy a car, with cash, you must authorize the release of your official DMV-recorded thumbprint to the dealership. This is not a law, this is a “dealership policy.”
No thumbprint. No car. —MEGHANN MARCO
Brave New Car Dealer: fingerprints required to buy a car? [lornamatic via BoingBoing] (Thanks, Jason!)
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@latemodel: Not actually. They’re only required to accept hard currency to settle an outstanding debt. If they haven’t yet delivered the product or service, they can decline the transaction for pretty much any reason they like.
If it were something like a restaurant charging you after you eat or paying somebody after they paint your house, then they’re required to accept cash.