As the New Year was ringing in a new decade, a new federal system to track vehicle titles for stolen and badly damaged vehicles finally emerged – 17 years after the initial lemon laws calling for its implementation were passed. Use of the new National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, http://www.nmvtis.gov, allows all states, junkyards, and insurance companies to identify stolen vehicles and those damaged severely enough to be considered an insurance write off. Many consumers believe that any vehicle considered “totaled” in an accident is simply scraped for parts. The reality is that of the 2.5 million vehicles written off each year, nearly 1.5 million are repaired and put back on the road, according to the data from a 2001 Department of Justice study.

The national system may prevent the transfer of damaged vehicles to new states to wipe out a salvaged title, since registration in a new state wipes the title history clean. An estimated $4 billion to $11 billion is lost from such fraud annually. The required use of the new national system would make it much easier for potential buyers to trace a vehicle’s full history.

Most states, including New Jersey and Philadelphia, are participating in the program. Four states, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, and the District of Columbia are not yet committed to participation, pointing to private services such as CarFax that satisfy this need. The president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety maintain that the new system includes more information than the private services. For example, vehicles written off by insurance companies are not always marked as ‘salvage’. The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System tracks all vehicles that are written off for damage, not just those with ‘salvage’ on the title.

“The new national system of tracking damaged vehicles across state lines is critical for informing consumers and protecting their safety and investment,” says lemon law attorney David Gorberg. “In addition to the recent improvements in New Jersey lemon law, and the existing Pennsylvania lemon law, participation by these states in the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System protects consumers from unknowingly purchasing a badly damaged vehicle.”

The Lemon Law Attorneys at David J. Gorberg & Associates have arbitrated, settled and litigated thousands of lemon law claims throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, recovering millions of dollars for their clients. More information at www.mylemon.com or by calling 1-800-MyLemon.