Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says concerns that cars damaged by the Gulf Coast hurricanes might be sold without the damage being revealed has prompted a new tool for consumers. He says it’s a website created by the National Insurance Crime Bureau which is a coalition of insurance companies and law enforcement. He says the website is funded by insurance companies to deal with various insurance fraud issues.
Miller says you can go to the website, N-I-C-B-dot-com, and type in the vehicle identification number and find out if the vehicle may’ve suffered undisclosed hurricane damage. He says the site has over 165-thousand vehicles on the registry, and it’s growing all the time. He says it doesn’t have every vehicle, but he says they’re adding cars all the time.
Miller says it’s one free way to check out a vehicle. He says it’s very helpful and responsible of the industry to provide the service. Miller says you can also go to Carfax, but that service usually costs you about 20 dollars to get a car history reports. Miller says some estimate as many as 500-thousand cars may’ve suffered hurricane damage. Miller says there’ve been no reports in Iowa yet from people who unknowingly bought cars that were damaged by the hurricanes.