Wednesday, April 11, 2007

NADA to Testify at Senate Insurance Hearing: Vehicle Total-Loss Disclosure to be Highlighted

The National Automobile Dealers Association's (NADA) Vice President of Legislative Affairs, David Regan, will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee in support of vehicle total-loss disclosure legislation, S. 545, during an oversight hearing on the property and casualty insurance industry.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 11, 2007, 9:15 a.m.

WHERE: Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, 253 Russell Office Building

WHY: Roughly five million vehicles were "totaled" in 2005 due to severe damage, flooding, or theft, including 570,000 from the Gulf Hurricanes alone. Thousands of these vehicles are cleaned up and resold to unsuspecting customers who are not aware of the car's troubled past -- a problem called "title washing."

Title washing takes a double-hit on consumers. First, it's a significant and unnecessary public health and safety risk to the entire motoring public because more unsafe cars are on the road (i.e. airbags or anti-lock brakes fail due to previous damage). And second, it's a significant economic risk to buyers of used vehicles who may overpay for a rebuilt wreck.

Unfortunately, because state motor vehicle titling laws are confusing and incomplete, consumers do not have access to timely and complete total-loss data.

The National Automobile Dealers Association and a coalition comprised of automakers, service organizations and others, have been building bipartisan support for S. 545 introduced by Senator Trent Lott, R-Miss, which requires insurers to make total-loss data commercially available to vehicle history providers such as Experian's AutoCheck and Carfax. The Lott bill would effectively and permanently "red-flag" insurance-totaled vehicles.

By disclosing total-loss information, used car buyers can make a better-informed decision about the safety and fair market value of a used vehicle.

For more information, please visit: http://www.nada.org/tld

Source: National Automobile Dealers Association

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