Insurance, Salvage Firms Get Washington’s Ear on Loss Reporting Rules

The insurance and salvage industries got a chance recently to discuss proposed regulations on data reporting with federal officials.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) joined insurance and salvage industry representatives at a meeting last week with the Department of Justice and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to discuss proposals regarding insurer and salvage yard reporting of total loss data to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS).

“PCI is grateful for the opportunity to sit down with the Justice Department and AAMVA to discuss concerns about the proposed regulations,” said Robert Passmore, PCI’s director of personal lines.

In September, a U.S. District Judge in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, ordered U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to issue regulations on reporting of total loss information from insurers and salvage yards directly to NMVTIS. The judge’s ruling set a deadline of Jan. 30, 2009 for the attorney general to finalize implementation plans, and a deadline of March 31, 2009 for insurers and salvage yards to begin reporting information.

“PCI supports state title agency participation in NMVTIS by the states to improve consumer confidence in the used vehicle marketplace and has long believed the solution to title washing is the exchange of information between state titling agencies,” said Passmore. “We oppose regulations that would create an inefficient, costly and duplicative reporting system for insurers, and we were pleased that the DOJ was receptive to industry recommendations developed last week.”

PCI said it will be involved in developing the industry’s formal written comments.

Source: PCI