State acts to deter illegal resales
Los Angeles Times
October 6, 2007
By Martin Zimmerman
California is taking the first steps toward joining a national motor vehicle database that officials hope will help deter the fraudulent resale of stolen or flood-damaged cars and trucks.
The Department of Motor Vehicles is seeking bidders on a project that eventually should tie the state's vehicle title records into the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, thankfully known as NMVTIS for short.
California, with the most registered vehicles of any state, has steered clear of the database, to the chagrin of officials in other states and federal officials who are trying to collect information from all 50 states.
New York recently decided to join. Adding California to the database will mean that about three-quarters of the nation's passengers vehicles will be covered by the system. (Only vehicle data is being put in the system, not personal registration information.)
After all vehicle titles and vehicle identification numbers (VIN) are included in the system, it will be more difficult for crooks to pass off stolen cars by swiping legitimate ID numbers from other cars -- a practice known as VIN cloning.
It should also help combat title washing, the process of moving a car across state lines and getting a new title that can camouflage the vehicle's unsavory past, such as flood damage.
"I'm thrilled that California is going to be part of this," said Rosemary Shahan, president of the Sacramento advocacy group Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.
One potential roadblock: Officials say money is needed to get the database fully functioning and Congress has yet to act, although Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is pushing for funding.