‘What do you mean they just have my SSN in a file’: Woman visits a car dealership, doesn’t buy anything, then her phone won’t stop ringing

A woman named Tessa posted a TikTok video that is going viral after she revealed a common but little-known practice at car dealerships. Tessa said she visited several dealerships, never bought a car, but then her phone started ringing non-stop with follow-up calls from those same dealerships.

According to Motor1.com, in her video, Tessa expressed her shock at finding out that dealerships keep files on people who never even bought anything from them. “What do you mean car dealerships keep files on people who literally don’t buy from them?” she said. “What do you mean car dealerships just have my social security number in an [expletive] file when I’ve never bought a car from them?” Her video quickly gained over 47,600 views.

This practice is also not limited to car dealerships alone. “A lot of sales jobs do this. If it’s commission based, they will cold call,” one person commented, while another alleged, “Imagine all the data breaches that have not been reported because lets be so ffr … how secure are their systems?? How secure is our info? Not at all!!!” Many industries appear to operate the same way when it comes to holding onto customer information.

Car dealerships legally storing your personal data is more common than most people realize

It is actually not unusual for dealerships to keep records on people who visit, even if they never buy anything. If you handed over your driver’s license for a test drive, filled out a credit application, or signed any paperwork, that information usually gets entered into their system. This can include your name, a soft credit pull, or even your social security number, and many visitors have no idea this is happening.

Dealers use this information to track potential customers, follow up later, and meet record-keeping requirements. Even when no sale happens, those records can stay in their system for a long time, and some states actually require certain records to be kept for years. People are often caught off guard by how dealerships handle their data, much like this woman whose unexpected car wash experience triggered every alarm at once.

While dealerships are supposed to follow federal privacy and data security rules, a record of your visit may still exist in their system even if you opt out of contact. Customers often assume that simply walking away from a deal means their information is gone, but that is rarely the case. The data can remain in the dealership’s database and continue to be used for marketing and outreach purposes long after your visit.

Tessa said she plans to contact every dealership she remembers visiting and ask them to remove her information. “I’m telling them to blacklist me or something,” she said. Her video has clearly touched a nerve, with many viewers saying they had no idea dealerships could hold onto their personal data. The car industry overall is changing fast, with innovations like in-car bathroom stops during road trips now being developed to reshape people’s driving experience.

If you want to protect yourself, be aware of what information you share when visiting a dealership. Before handing over your license or filling out any forms, ask about their record-keeping policies and what they do with your personal data. You can also request to be removed from their marketing lists.