News in 2015

Recyclers familiar with the federal National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) reporting requirements are now seeing the similar or even more stringent requirements being applied at a state level. Many states are implementing salvage reporting procedures that include a mandate to report to NMVTIS and allowing for state fines or penalties for non-reporting. These new processes may seem like a burden, but are a key step in reducing many nefarious activities which are consuming large amounts state employee and law enforcement time and resources. Some state regulations mandate reporting to NMVTIS more frequently, or may require some additional pieces of information, but by making reports, recyclers are building a road map that points directly to the businesses and parties that are skirting their requirements, or may be actively performing illegal activities.

In general, many people have no idea how big an issue car cloning is. Car cloning is the act of taking a stolen vehicle and “disguising” it with a different VIN from a valid vehicle. With over 243,000,000 vehicles registered and titled in North America, and with an estimated 15,000,000 vehicles reaching a physical “end of life” status each year, this provides many opportunities for VIN cloning. With VIN cloning, thieves can take a vehicle they got for nothing (stole it) and applied a “good vin” that they took off a car in a parts yard, ended up with a vehicle that is worth something. At least from a cursory glance, everything looks good with the vehicle and the paperwork makes sense. Because of this, unless a detailed inspection to verify all the VIN plates on the vehicle or look for evidence of tampering, car cloning is hard to find. The simplest way to stop VIN cloning is to “kill” a VIN by reporting it to NMVTIS and your state, which lets everyone know where the vehicle is as well as its status (such as “crushed”). That makes it very difficult for someone to use that VIN elsewhere.

One of the purposes of NMVTIS is to track the “life cycle” of a vehicle from “birth” (the initial title issuance as a new vehicle) to “death” (as an “end of life” or salvage vehicle). Along the “life cycle”, NMVTIS helps track the movement of the vehicle and the incidents the vehicle encounters along the way and provides a tool for states, consumers, and law enforcement to understand what has happened to a vehicle during its “life.” For years, until NMVTIS was implemented in 2009, many states had rules for “end of life” vehicles, which usually involved turning in the titles to the state with marking them “Cancel” or “Junk” or something similar. Unfortunately most states did not enforce or follow-up on this and very few people followed the rules, so many vehicles never reached their “end of life,” at least as far as the paperwork was concerned. Now with NMVTIS, states are re-evaluating the “end of life” practices and tying their rules to the NMVTIS rules.

Back to my initial point about how these new rules help point to the bad operators, with these new state rules, the reports recyclers are sending are “killing” more VINs than ever before (I’m hearing that roughly two and a half more VINs are being cancelled in states like Georgia and North Carolina than before those state began requiring additional reporting).

Another benefit of increase reporting is that law enforcement at the state level has access to lists of the businesses that are regularly reporting through the state processes. We have made an effort to explain to the law enforcement personnel we interact with that they should be looking at businesses that are not on their lists, as they are the ones not following the state law, and may be doing other things they don’t want to “share.” Law enforcement in several counties in Georgia have found that 60% of the “non- reporters” they visit are involved in illegal activities such as growing and selling marijuana, buying stolen cars, or other stolen items. Georgia’s state salvage reporting system also played a key role in identifying a VIN cloning ring where it was discovered that a group of individuals were taking VIN plates from self-service yards and placing them on stolen vehicles, then selling the vehicles to a shredder. Law enforcement figured it out when VINs were reported as crushed by the parts yard, and then the same VIN showed up at the shredder across town. There were over 300 cloned vehicles discovered through this operation.

The point I’m making is, by reporting, you’re putting a marker on a vehicle, thus reducing the likelihood that that vehicle can be used for other unsavory activities. By letting law enforcement know what and how you are reporting, and educating them on what “good recyclers” do, it can help them educate others and identify non-reporters. As the word gets out that it is becoming harder and harder to hide, legitimate recyclers will see much less competition from the guys that aren’t playing by the rules.

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