NMVTIS

National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/nmvtis.html]

NMVTIS is an information system that federal law requires the United States Department of Justice to establish, to provide an electronic means to verify vehicle title, brand, and theft data among motor vehicle administrators, law enforcement officials, prospective purchasers and insurance carriers. NMVTIS was initially authorized in the Anti Car Theft Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-519) [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/pdf/Anti_Car_Theft_Act.pdf] and reauthorized by the Anti Car Theft Improvements Act of 1996 [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/pdf/Anti_Car_Theft_Improvement_Act.pdf] . After passage of the 1996 reauthorization, responsibility was transferred to the Department of Justice. The system will be operated by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). The system also will provide a means for states to share title information in order to prevent fraud and other crime.

In 2008, three national consumer organizations, Public Citizen, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, and Consumer Action, filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department seeking to require the government to comply with the law requiring the establishment of NMVTIS. The lawsuit seeks to require the government to allow consumers, in addition to state motor vehicle administrators and law enforcement, to to search the system, and to compel the government to issue regulations on reporting by junk yards and insurance companies, as required by the Anti Car Theft Act. Proposed regulations governing the operation of the system were supposed to have been released in the summer of 2007 for public comment. The consumer groups' lawsuit does not address participation by the states. Since 1997, the Department of Justice has invested nearly $15 million to encourage states to participate. As of August 2008, only 25 states are participating at various levels, with 11 additional states working towards some level of participation [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/pdf/NMVTIS_Map.pdf] .

Without NMVTIS, a thief can steal a car, then take it over the state line and get a new state-issued title by presenting fraudulent ownership documentation in the new state. Or, the thief could steal a car, switch the VIN plate for one from a junked car, and get a valid title for the stolen car. Vehicles that incur significant damage are considered “junk” or “salvage.” Fraud occurs when junk or salvage vehicles are presented for sale to consumers without disclosure of their real condition. The unknowing consumers pay more than the vehicle is worth, and they don’t know whether the vehicles have been adequately repaired, and may be unsafe to drive. State titling agencies “brand” titles of vehicles that are junk or salvage. However, some of these brands are lost when the paper titles travel from state to state – this is called title washing. These activities were possible because the states had no instant, reliable way of validating the information on the ownership documentation prior to issuing the new title. NMVTIS allows state titling agencies to verify the validity of ownership documents before they issue new titles. NMVTIS also checks to see if the vehicle is reported “stolen” – if so, the states don’t issue the new titles. Brands are not lost when the vehicle travels from state to state, because NMVTIS keeps a history of all brands ever applied by any state to the vehicle.

Data available to users through NMVTIS include:
* title data,
* odometer data,
* brand history data,
* detailed vehicle data, theft data.

NMVTIS is a powerful tool that will allow for:

* state titling agencies to do their jobs to prevent fraudulent use of the title document by verifying the vehicle and title information, information on all brands ever applied to a vehicle, and information on whether the vehicle has been reported stolen – all prior to the titling jurisdiction issuing a new title. The VIN is checked against a national pointer file, which provides the last jurisdiction that issued a title on the vehicle and requests details of the vehicle from that jurisdiction. The details include the latest odometer reading for the vehicle. Verification of this data will allow for a reduction in the issuance of fraudulent titles and a reduction in odometer fraud. Once the inquiring jurisdiction receives the information, it can decide whether to issue a title; if so, NMVTIS notifies the last titling jurisdiction that another jurisdiction has issued a title. The old jurisdiction can then inactivate its title record. This will allow jurisdictions to identify and purge inactive titles on a regular basis.

* the creation of lists of vehicles, by junk yard, salvage yard, or insurance carrier that are reported as junk or salvage. The Anti Car Theft Act requires junk yards, salvage yards, and insurance carriers to report to NMVTIS on all junk and salvage vehicles obtained.

* consumers to access information on the vehicle’s current title, including brands and odometer, prior to purchasing the vehicle. This allows the consumer to make a better-informed purchase.

A pilot of NMVTIS showed that NMVTIS could reduce the incidence of insurance payoffs on stolen vehicles by more than $200 million per year. The pilot showed that NMVTIS could prevent title washing of about 60,000 brands per year.

NMVTIS has been endorsed by many consumer organizations as well as national law enforcement groups such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, and others.

ee also

* Vehicle title branding

External links

* http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/nmvtis.html
* http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2602
* http://www.aamva.org/TechServices/AppServ/NMVTIS/