Consumer Law

National Motor Vehicle Title Information System Begins

By Jeff Sovern

Last Friday, the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System began operations.  The database is to list cars that have been determined to be too badly damaged to be worth repairing or that were stolen, so that consumers can avoid buying such cars.  At present the database includes 27 states, but it is supposed to include all of them by next year.  You can read the Times Wheels Blog report here, and here is an excerpt, which quotes blog co-coordinator Deepak Gupta:

[C]onsumer advocates said the biggest improvement is that for the first time salvage yards, junkyards and insurance companies will be required to report on vehicles that had been totaled. That doesn?t start until March 30.

Getting information from junkyards and insurance companies is important because it will provide consumers with information on ?the worst of the worst? vehicles, said Rosemary Shahan, the president of Citizens for Auto Reliability and Safety.

Ms. Shahan?s group is one of three consumer organizations that sued the Justice Department early last year in an attempt to force the department to carry out the law. The other groups are Public Citizen and Consumer Action.

There are, however, a few glitches already. One is that the California and New York departments of motor vehicles are balking at providing information, said Deepak Gupta, a lawyer for Public Citizen.

?They are making money by selling data to private companies,? Mr. Gupta said. ?They are concerned if the data is available publicly they won?t get that revenue. That is really what is happening here.?

The National Law Journal's coverage is here.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).