Vehicle identity theft 'could invalidate car insurance'

Wed, 04 Oct 2006

Many UK motorists are ignorant to the dangers of vehicle identity theft, according to a survey by mycarcheck.com, which could result in the invalidation of their car insurance.

Nearly a third of vehicles on the road in the UK could be breaking the law and 34 per cent of owners did not know what a vehicle identification number (VIN) is.

The VIN is a series of 17 letters and numbers that identifies every car and its provenance.

If the number is tampered with, car insurance companies are not likely to pay out the claim, even if the claim is legitimate.

Fraudsters tamper with the VIN in order to trick the public into buying less-than-perfect or stolen cars.

Mycarcheck.com general manager Richard Powell said: "A car may look all right but if it has been written-off or stolen then insurance companies may not pay out if it is ever involved in another claim."

Mycarcheck.com added that car insurance companies do not always check the authenticity of a VIN, leaving it up to the owner to check the vehicle's history.


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