GOSHEN -- From the end of September to the middle of January, Joseph Lint didn't sell a car to a Hispanic customer.
The general manager of Royal Motors, which has used-car lots in Goshen and Middlebury, said Hispanic customers used to buy less than 10 percent of the cars he sold, but it's gotten even slower.
It's likely because of letters from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles indicating regulations to get a driver's license would tighten.
Jose Cervantes of The Car Company said the letters are hurting his business.
Customers need a license and Social Security number to buy a vehicle. Cervantes asked for documents, but said he couldn't verify if they were legitimate.
"I'm not immigration. I don't know. I can't check all that stuff," Cervantes said.
But without licenses, people can't buy cars, put plates on them or drive them.
"Everybody's trying to trade them in," he said. "It's really hurting us."
About 20 percent of Cervantes' sales were to Hispanic customers, he said. He often sold newer model sport utility vehicles to accommodate larger families.
Most people want a nice car to drive, but a car is easier to invest in than a house and is portable, he said, noting that you can't take a house back to Mexico as you can a car.
Cervantes said if people can't drive vehicles, they may let them go back to the banks where the loans are held. He hasn't heard of that happening yet.
"I'm guessing," he said.
Like Cervantes, Lint checked paperwork before the BMV cracked down.
"If they're not legitimate, we don't want to do business with them," he said. "We're concerned about our portfolio performance with every bank we deal with."
A lot of Hispanics here work hard and want to buy expensive cars, he said.
One of his customers came in saying his license would be suspended.
"It was sad. This isn't like some bandito," Lint said, adding, "I think it's wrong that we make it so difficult to come to a place that's supposed to be opening its doors to the hungry world."