IICC improves VIN efficiency

The Insurance Information Centre of Canada (IICC) says its member insurers in Ontario achieved a 98.19% reporting accuracy on vehicle identification numbers (VINs) for December 2000. The IICC established a joint project with the Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation in 1997 to establish a system of identifying non-insured vehicles on the road. This is achieved by insurers reporting VINs of vehicles they have insured through to the MTO. The VINs are then checked by the MTO when motorists renew their license plates – if there is no insurance on record, renewal stickers are not issued.

According to the IICC, the level of VIN reporting has jumped from 52% in 1997 to the present 98%. “Achieving greater accuracy in reporting VINs demonstrates that the insurance industry supports our efforts to use technology to get uninsured vehicles off our roads,” says Carole Machtinger, vice president of government relations and corporate planning at the IICC. She adds that a full automatic checking of insurance status through VINs will be in place by the end of 2002. Once fully established, the reporting system will allow police officers to dial into the MTO database to identify uninsured vehicles at the roadside. cu