PRESS RELEASE

STOLEN VEHICLE DATA MUST BE RELEASED IN PUBLIC INTEREST

Used Car History Check expert Cartell has been calling for the release of stolen vehicle data held by An Garda Síochána since 2002. This is the ten year anniversary of calling for the release of stolen data. The Stolen Motor Vehicle Unit of An Garda Síochána (SMVU) do not forward the stolen data to Cartell (or any other private company) making it impossible for us to make that information widely available to our customers. We say it is in the Public Interest that this information is made available.

Further, the Garda resistance to release is at odds with the situation prevailing in the UK where the police allow access to stolen vehicle data via the Police National Computer (PNC). The PNC pushes data out to car history checking companies such as HPI UK. Cartell has aided in the recovery of UK stolen vehicles which wind up here in Ireland by checking each registration with HPI. Ironically it means that while Irish vehicle history companies are helping to repatriate UK stolen vehicles, they cannot fully assist with Irish Stolen vehicles. It also means that stolen vehicles are exported to the UK and never recovered.

Each year there are upwards of 11,000 stolen vehicles of which 2,000 go unrecovered. It is these unrecovered vehicles that are resold to unsuspecting members of the public. Because the Gardai do not release the data, thieves in Ireland do not have to clone the vehicle by using false registration plates of a similar “clean” vehicle.  In other words the thief can leave the existing registration plates on the vehicle safe in the knowledge that the only people who know the car is stolen is the Gardai and the Insurer.

There is some good news however. In 2010 Cartell.ie set up the Motor Insurers Anti-Fraud and Theft Register (MIAFTR). This contains the registrations of vehicles which the insurers have paid out on due to theft-unrecovered status. We would encourage anyone purchasing a vehicle to check this database. However the data is only loaded once the vehicle has been paid out by the insurer, meaning that some unsuspecting purchaser has probably been conned into buying it already – stolen vehicles tend to arrive and leave the used vehicle market very quickly.

Cartell asks that Gardai data relating solely to registration numbers of stolen vehicles (accompanied with make/model designation and date stolen) once available on PULSE should be forwarded to car history checking companies and the public at large. This will assist in recovery and reduce the amount of time available to thieves to sell on the vehicles; or at least make it more difficult for them.

Cloning of a vehicle – where one (illegitimate) vehicle is fraudulently made to look like another (legitimate) vehicle is a practice used by thieves to “safely” offload a stolen vehicle and allows that vehicle to re-enter the market. The good news is that a cloned vehicle can be spotted by using Cartell.ie. The Vehicle Registration Certificate (VRC) (previously “log book”) has unique numbers which can be verified using the Cartell system. It is also recommended that if the vehicle has had a duplicate VRC or has had a recent sale then caution should be advised. One should always match the VIN number in all locations around the vehicle (such as door well, boot, windscreen) against the data held by Cartell.ie.

Detective Sargeant Finbarr Garland Retirement

The SMVU are losing its most experienced and dedicated leader as Detective Sergeant Finbar Garland is retiring. Detective Sergeant Garland since 1998 has been a vocal advocate for the release of the stolen data. Cartell wishes to pay tribute to him for his efforts to engage with Vehicle History Check companies as a means to trace and speed-up stolen vehicle recovery times. We have always looked to assist him and his team in spite of the obvious difficulties in doing this without the transfer of the data in bulk to us.

ENDS

For further information please contact John Byrne (Cartell.ie) on + 087 4199018 or email john@cartell dot ie or check out www.cartell.ie for further information