Deadline set for national damaged car registry
History of a vehicle will be on a national registry
By Diane C. Lade | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 24, 2008
Within six months, used-car shoppers will be able to tap into a national database of cars reported stolen or damaged by crashes, fires and hurricanes — information consumer advocates say will improve safety and curb automobile fraud.
It's especially important in Florida, home to 16.3 million registered vehicles, the third-largest number in the nation.
A federal judge in California has ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to have the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, created by Congress almost 16 years ago, up and running by March 31, 2009. Three consumer groups had sued U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey in February, stating that he had "unreasonably delayed" implementing the system, putting consumers at risk for financial loss and injury.
Insurance companies, junkyards and salvage companies in all states will be required to submit every month the vehicle identification numbers and other information about cars that were damaged, flooded or stolen. State motor vehicle departments can charge consumers to access the data, but advocates say the fees should be as little as 50 cents a car.
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"This is a huge step," said Rosemary Shahan, founder of the California-based Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. Her organization, along with Public Citizen Inc. and Consumer Action, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Francisco.
Florida law requires vehicles that have been salvaged or flood-damaged to have that information on their titles. But title laws aren't uniform nationwide, and prior to this national database all state title databases were not connected. As a result, a car wrecked or damaged in a flood could have a clean title that doesn't reflect its past, if it was titled in another state with lax laws.
There also have been "VIN cloning" rings in Florida, where thieves steal a car and swap its real identification number with a "clone" copied from another vehicle.
The national database would help combat those schemes by making car-vehicle histories more complete and up to date.
Miami-Dade Police Maj. Greg Terp, who led an auto theft task force for 11 years, said the national vehicle title clearinghouse should protect consumers and help thwart these crimes.
His task force once did a comparison between reports filed with insurance adjusters and Florida registrations, and found 96,000 vehicles that possibly were stolen, fraudulently titled or salvaged.
Shahan and others have said the auto insurance industry lobbied to stall the start of the national title database. But Frank Scafidi, spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, said that while insurers may have been nervous initially about giving away data their competitors could use, they now are behind the system.
"We want to put in the hands of consumers and law enforcement the kind of information that enhances vehicle safety and prevents fraud," he said.
