The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) has created a new Web-based service with total-loss data for consumers so they can learn if a vehicle has previously been severely wrecked, flooded or stolen: www.NICB.org
It does not provide access to the records of self-insured vehicles, rental fleets and insurers that are not NICB members, a gap the National Automobile Dealers Association would like to see filled.
Each year several million cars and trucks are flooded, severely wrecked in accidents or stolen. Many of these totaled cars are placed back on the road after individuals rebuild them, wash the titles and resell them to unsuspecting car buyers. Millions of used vehicles are bought and sold at wholesale through auctions every year. More timely, commercially available total-loss data would provide a powerful tool for the wholesale market to identify and track totaled vehicles, argues NADA.