MISSION VIEJO, Calif. -

Finance management system provider DealerCentric Solutions on Tuesday rolled out what it’s calling ID Drive, a patent-pending identification scanner technology aimed at giving dealerships protection against fake IDs and identity theft.

Developed in partnership with AssureTec Technologies, DealerCentric believes ID Drive can provide dealerships the same, state-of-the art protection used by the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. military.

The company explained that with one scan at ID Drive, dozens of complex tests for thousands of ID types are automatically performed, leading to instant validation or red flags going up.

“But the dealer benefits don’t stop there,” officials said. “With that one swipe, a customer’s information is put into serious action It’s extracted, purified and enhanced, and can be pushed into a dealer’s CRM and finance systems.

“The customer, the vehicle, any pre-existing lead or credit app data, the sales and F&I departments, and sales management are all electronically connected and able to communicate. So, when that test driver returns, the right deal structure can already be in place, shrinking time-to-close by hours,” they went on to say.

DealerCentric chief executive officer Pete MacInnis called ID theft an American epidemic. MacInnis cited FBI data that showed more than 267 million consumer records were exposed and a record 60 million pieces of personal identification wound up in the hands of identity thieves.

“The ID thieves hitting dealerships today are super-sophisticated and so is their technology. But dealer ID verification processes aren’t. With all that endless photocopying, barcode-scanning and verification calling, they have remained in the Dark Ages, powerless against this fast-growing and incredibly costly problem,” MacInnis said.

“ID Drive may be small and sit on a desk, but it’s the most potent anti-fraud and test-drive security solution ever invented for dealerships,” he continued.

MacInnis reiterated that federal regulators require dealers to take steps to flag identity fraud. He acknowledged dealerships can use barcode scanners, but MacInnis contends those devices can only verify that data is present on a card, not that it’s valid.

As a result, MacInnis pointed out dealers are forced to make time-consuming calls to organizations like the DMV to verify identities.

“But most cars are bought on weekends when these organizations are closed,” he said. “It’s becoming an increasingly expensive, scary problem. Some lenders are now requiring dealers to buy back ID-theft-related deals.”

ID Drive was created through an exclusive auto retailing partnership with AssureTec Technologies, which is the ID authentication solution chosen by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the NYPD and DMVs nationwide.

Some of the capabilities of ID Drive powered by AssureTec include:

—Performs 50 complex forensic tests for 2,500 global ID types in less than six seconds.

—Extracts all biometric and alphanumeric data in the document, and then authenticates it using its proprietary document forensics library and detection algorithms.

—Examines not only visible ID properties but also those undetectable to the eye such as ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared (NIR) properties, guilloche, optically variable device (OVD) presence, embossing, perforation, retro-reflective laminate background patterns and overlay patterns.

“We’re excited that ID Drive will bring our potent fraud protection technology into the nation’s dealerships that so desperately need it,” AssureTec president Stephen Maloney said.

“In our research we identified DealerCentric as a premier alliance partner for the auto retailing space, and the company that can best execute on integrating our patented forensic technology into the many complex aspects of the dealership sales process,” Maloney went on to say.

Both MacInnis and Maloney emphasized that ID Drive can do more than deliver “ironclad” fraud protection to dealers.

They explained that the core aspect of its patent-pending functionality is that with one swipe of an ID pre-test-drive, rich customer data is put in motion. That customer’s data is purified and enhanced, and can be exported into the dealership’s CRM and finance systems.

“This means that the historically un-integrated test-drive, sales and financing processes are finally electronically synched,” they said, “which also means that sales and F&I are armed and ready when that test-driving customer returns, which can radically reduce the entire sales process from three hours to 45 minutes.

“Test drive leads never get dropped, more test-drives convert to sales, and ID Drive also includes test-drive reporting by volume, time, make/model and salesperson,” they continued.

MacInnis made one closing argument as to why dealerships need ID Drive.

“At DealerCentric we’re on a mission to innovate solutions that will make the test-drive-to-sales-to-financing process radically more efficient for both dealers and their customers,” MacInnis said.

“ID Drive is a key component in what will ultimately be the first end-to-end dealership solution that bridges the gap between the auto sales and financing processes, at the point of sale,” he went on to say.

For more details, visit www.dealercentric.com.

Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.