Thread: License Rule in NC Hurts Car Sales

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/v-prin ... 11943.html

License rule hurts car sales

N.C. regulations make Latinos wary as their licenses expire
Lorenzo Perez, Staff WriterRALEIGH - North Carolina's efforts to prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses are pinching another group: used-car dealers.
It's an unintended effect in a local economy where bodegas and Mexican taquerias are not the only businesses that have carved out a niche catering to Latino immigrants. On Raleigh's Capital Boulevard, a major corridor for used-car lots, dealers say sales have dropped as much as 30 percent in recent months.
Part of the slump can be attributed to an economic downturn and the drying up of construction jobs that keep many Latino immigrants employed, dealers say. In recent weeks, however, M. Scott Moore and other dealers said Latino customers have been fretting about being able to register cars with driver's licenses that are set to expire and that they cannot renew. Applicants now must provide a valid Social Security number or a visa to get a North Carolina license, and with only a few exceptions, a current license is required to register a vehicle.
"I know they're trying to curtail the illegal immigrants being here. I see both sides," said Moore, an owner of Murphy Motor Co. just north of downtown Raleigh. "They need to live by our laws here, but at the same time, as far as customerwise, they're some of the best customers we have. They're easy to deal with."
Moore employs three Spanish-speaking salesmen and estimates that 65 percent of his business comes from Latinos. Murphy Motor sold as many as 60 cars a month last year.
"We're probably selling 20, 25 cars a month less because of the driver's license situation," he said.
Arturo Garcia, 30, has lived in the Raleigh area since moving here from Mexico at 19. Wearing a Carolina Hurricanes knit cap, a gray henley shirt, carpenter jeans and construction boots caked with dried mud, Garcia visited Murphy Motor last week to check out a 1998 Ford Expedition listed at $11,761.
Garcia, who supports himself and his mother by working construction, acknowledged that he is not a legal resident. The driver's license that he got with a tax identification number is set to expire in 2010, he said.
"The problem is not a lack of jobs. It's that they don't let us drive anymore," Garcia said.
On the other side of Capital Boulevard, Bruce Devincenzo estimated that car sales at his Wake Auto Sales are down 25 percent. Up the road near Wake Forest, Alberto A. Arevalo's small lot is crowded with late-model sport utility vehicles, trucks and cars.
None of his Latino customers are shopping for cars, said Arevalo, a native Mexican. Instead, they're looking to sell him their vehicles because they're worried about keeping their registrations current after their licenses lapse.
It's not clear that anyone tracks car loan applications from area Latinos. But David Flores, president of Nuestro Banco, a Hispanic community bank in Raleigh, said dealers have told bank employees similar stories about the law's impact.
"They're clearly feeling the pinch and the problem," Flores said. "Relatively speaking, we're also dealing with an economic downturn ... but this one just happens to have other factors that happen to be a little sensitive."
A product of Sept. 11
Figures on how many illegal immigrants are driving with North Carolina licenses are unavailable; until the law changed in 2006, Internal Revenue Service tax identification numbers were valid identification for applicants.
Marge Howell, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles, said the change -- requiring either a valid Social Security number or a valid visa to qualify for a license -- grew out of security concerns following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Not until September, when another new state law clarifying registration requirements took effect, did used-car dealers notice a drop in business.
The prime sponsor of the law that took effect last year, Democratic Sen. David Hoyle of Gaston County, said the law was meant to allow certain groups of people without North Carolina licenses, such as college students or active military personnel, to register vehicles in the state. The law also spelled out for the first time that people who did not fall under those exceptions must present a valid North Carolina driver's license to register a car.
Hoyle said he had no specific intent to target illegal immigrants.
"But, you know, if you're illegal, I don't think we need to make it easier for them," Hoyle said. "If you're illegal, you're illegal."
Jim Edwards, CEO of the Carolinas Independent Automotive Dealers Association, said the group is not opposed to requiring proper documentation to get a license. He said he suspects that illegal immigrants will find ways to buy wheels -- having a relative with a valid license make the purchase, for instance.
"I'm just figuring that folks have figured out perhaps how to bypass the system, and I'm talking about the consumer," he said.
Garcia, the construction worker, said he's not sure how he will get to work after his license lapses. It's not worth the risk to get pulled over and get caught driving without one, he said.
"I won't lie and say they went back home," he said. "But a lot of people have moved to other states."

lorenzo.perez@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4643

I knew this report was coming!

I've known for a long time that a lot of new and used car dealer's bread and butter were illegal immigrants!

I knoew if we kicked out a lot of the illegals out of the country, that we'd have a significant downturn in many business areas. But I feel that those businesses should NOT have grown so large to begin with!

I'm referring to too many new homes and apartments being built, too many car dealerships, too many new restaurants and hotels, etc, etc. Yes, many of those places might have to shut down once the illegals leave. But we'd stop this unending urban sprawl that has extended Dallas way way beyond what it should have been in the first place. (And extending further now that illegals are continuing to flood here from Arizona and Oklahoma. Why, oh, why can you pass anti-illegal laws, Texas?? We're the greatest state in the union, and we can't keep Texas great anymore. It's sad. My family as been in Dallas since the 1850's, and I'd hate for our family to have to leave Texas!! I've got deep roots here!) I love Texas, but NOT when I keep seeing more and more and more illegals everywhere I go!

TexasGal

Duplicate post. Please refer any further comments to:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-100982-lorenzo.html+perez