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In a recent analysis of all IDs scanned by our automotive customers, an average of 4.15% of IDs presented to automotive businesses in North America showed signs of being fraudulent. This echoes recent data from Experian: identity fraud related in the automotive industry accounted for $619 million in losses in 2022 and 79% of car dealerships have reported experiencing identity fraud-related vehicle loss.
With fake ID technology becoming more sophisticated, these are the top 2 ways to verify identity and prevent ID fraud and theft for auto dealerships and car rental businesses.
Verify identity on-site at the dealership
VeriScan Authentication is a sophisticated, AI powered identity verification software that can catch up to 95% of fake IDs. ID authentication is an ideal solution for dealerships who want to verify the identity of individuals at the lot. On-site identity verification can help deter walk-in fraudsters, and improve data integrity and privacy of all customers, since it eliminates the need for manual data entry or photocopies of IDs.
Your salesperson, loan officer, or front desk agent simply scans the guest’s ID, and quickly receives back information about the ID’s validity.
This is done through a series of security checks under multiple light wavelengths, using specialty hardware. A phone, or low end scanner, will not be equipped with the type of camera or lighting required to truly put an ID through its paces.
Add Additional Third party checks to VeriScan
Auto dealerships or car rental companies can also benefit from layered fraud prevention that includes a third party check such as DMV Checks. These third party checks query an external database that can confirm whether the information on the ID matches the jurisdictional records at the DMV. These checks will confirm whether or not you have a real identity on your hands – the only way they can be passed is if the data on the ID matches the data of a real person exactly.
The combination of VeriScan ID Authentication and third party checks is almost perfect in the success rate of catching fake IDs and helping to reduce fraud at auto dealerships.
Identity verification during vehicle financing
Identity verification is especially important during the vehicle financing process. Fraudsters may use fake, stolen, or manipulated identity documents to apply for auto loans using someone else’s identity. Dealerships that wait until the final stages of a transaction to thoroughly verify identity may not uncover these discrepancies until significant time has already been invested in the deal, or, in some cases, until after the vehicle has left the lot.
Dealerships can incorporate ID verification earlier in the financing workflow by scanning and authenticating a customer’s government-issued ID before initiating or finalizing a loan application. ID authentication can help determine whether the physical identity document is legitimate, while additional third-party checks, like DMV checks, can compare information captured from the ID against external data sources.
Layering these checks is particularly valuable because a legitimate-looking ID does not necessarily mean the person presenting it is the rightful owner. Depending on the dealership’s workflow, additional tools such as face matching, liveness detection, and third-party identity checks can provide greater confidence that the person applying for financing, either in person or online, is actually connected to the identity being presented.
ID verification can also help dealerships identify suspicious discrepancies before financing is completed. Information captured directly from an ID can be compared with information supplied during the financing process, helping teams identify mismatched names, addresses, dates of birth, or other identity information that may warrant additional review.
By incorporating identity verification into the financing process instead of treating it as a final step, dealerships can create another layer of protection against fraudulent loan applications and identity theft while making it more difficult for fraudsters to successfully purchase vehicles using illegitimate identities.
Verify identity remotely for online car sales or car rentals
For those automotive dealerships looking for customers’ identities to be verified in advance of their visit, Digital Identity Verification (DIVE) is our top recommendation to help prevent fraud in the auto industry.
Our DIVE Online platform allows you to initiate identity verification via text message or email. The customers are sent a verification request which takes them to a browser-based workflow which verifies their ID and performs a selfie-based face match. The entire process is performed on their mobile device and takes <30 seconds to complete.
The selfie process ensures that the prospective customer’s face matches the face on their ID. And spoofing is prevented through a series of liveness checks – this prevents the use of stolen or borrowed IDs. Our proprietary algorithm assigns a similarity score, and if this score is above a certain threshold, the identity is considered verified.
Add third party checks to DIVE
IdentiFraud is the one of the most reliable third party checks on the market today for identity verification and age verification in the auto industry. By submitting consumer-provided information, IdentiFraud provides detailed verification of identity data within a matter of seconds. With IdentiFraud, using data captured from an ID and an ID number (SSN is not required), it provides a level of certainty that you are conducting business with the real ID holder.
Preventing identity fraud at your automotive business
Regardless of whether you decide to deploy DIVE, or the use of on-site authentication, or even both our software can help. With a 95% success rate in catching fake IDs, these are 2 ways to prevent fraud for auto dealerships. Be sure to schedule a demo with our team to see these solutions in action.
