Flood-Damaged Vehicles Float to the Hill
Posted by Jason King at 12/8/2006 1:30 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
Yesterday, Senator Lott joined with Representative Stearns to host a press event that called for legislation to protect consumers from purchasing flood-damaged vehicles, most notably from Hurricane Katrina. In a press release issued by AAMVA, we have urged the lawmakers to coordinate efforts with a system and process that already exists -- the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System or NMVTIS.
NMVTIS is currently up and running in 29 states and consumers are seeing the benefits:
-In Virginia, motor vehicle thefts have decreased by 17.47%. The states averages 8,640 hits on stolen vehicles per year.
-In Ohio, by using NMVTIS, the agency has detected 3,817 possible stolen vehicles since August 2004.
- In Florida, NMVTIS helped crack a car theft ring responsible for VIN cloning $8 million worth of cars.
- In Arizona, NMVTIS has detected 15,864 possible stolen vehicles and identified duplicate titles from a crime ring using Canadian documents.
Those are some pretty impressive statistics. So, what will it take to get NMVTIS in all the states? Federal funding! What will it take to get insurance companies and junk/salvage yards to report information on damaged vehicles? Federal rulemaking from the Department of Justice. What will it take for consumers to access this information? DMV participation nationwide. And, what will it take for that to happen? Let's go back to the first answer (and the second) ... federal funding and rulemaking.
Let's hope this latest legislative call to action will give NMVTIS the support it needs to continue protecting consumers and keeping unsafe cars off our highways nationwide.
Until next time stay safe behind the wheel.
Melissa Clague
Director, Marketing & Communications
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