VINLock is a free vehicle screening service for freight forwarders, shippers and customs brokers. Screening vehicles prior to export ensures that they are being legally and properly exported. VINLock works with the police around the world, Canada Border Services Agency, Customs and Border Protection in the US, and INTERPOL to prevent vehicle theft and fraud.
When a vehicle is presented to you for export, you can quickly search our database and verify that the vehicle is exportable. The search results report will immediately tell you if there is a potential problem with the vehicle.
VINLock immediately decodes the VIN to ensure that the description matches what your client is telling you. Often people will put information on a B13 that is factually incorrect; for example, a vehicle presented as an old clunker may actually be a Porsche.
The VINLock search results will tell you if a vehicle is listed as stolen, if it has a lien in place, or if it is a daily rental. We work with lienholders and daily rental companies to ensure their vehicles are not being illegally exported.
The search results will also indicate if a vehicle has been listed in a salvage auction, or if it is being listed on online auction sites. Some criminals take VINs from vehicles listed online and use those VINs as “clean” VINs for a vehicle that they are trying to export. This is called cloning. If you suspect you have a clone, VINLock can step in and properly identify the vehicle to ensure you aren't inadvertently helping a criminal smuggle a stolen car out of the country.
A vehicle that is VINLocked is prohibited from leaving the country, as dictated by the lender or daily rental company. VINLock will step in and seize VINLocked vehicles on the lenders' behalf.
VINLock tracks every query made on the VINs in its database. The query history of a vehicle can give you a good indication if there may be a problem with the presented vehicle. For example, if the vehicle was previously queried by the police or by another exporter, it might indicate there are problems with the vehicle.
If you come across a problem vehicle, VINLock takes care of its seizure. You simply accept the vehicle for shipping. This way you do not alert the criminal that you have found a problem with the vehicle, and we can recover it on behalf of the rightful owners. If a criminal knew you had a VINLock “hit” they would find another way of exporting the stolen vehicle. Once we know that you have the vehicle, we'll step in. We do all the work with the police, CBSA, CBP, INTERPOL, and whoever else may be involved. We can prevent shipping delays, handling fees, and seizure-related costs that you would otherwise incur. By using VINLock you will help stop vehicle theft, and we'll reduce your workload.
VINLock has developed a system in partnership with the Customs Authorities to provide you a unique serial number for each of your queries. Once you have completed a VINLock query, you will receive a unique number that you will put on the remarks field on either the B-13 or immediately following the VIN on CAED. This number will inform Customs Authorities that you have checked the vehicle prior to export and therefore will help expedite the inspection process
For the past several years most vehicles have been equipped with "chipped" keys to prevent thieves from hotwiring the vehicle, or using other methods of bypassing the ignition key to start it. A chipped key has a microchip in it that is read by the vehicle's computer during engine start, and without it, the vehicle will not start. While chipped keys have done an excellent job of reducing vehicle theft, they have only really reduced thefts by "joy riders" looking to take the vehicle for a spin. Many people will know someone who owned a 1990's Dodge Caravan that was stolen out of the owner's driveway, only to be recovered miles away. These vehicles were easy to steal. Thieves simply inserted a flat-headed screwdriver in the ignition and turned it hard with a pair of pliers.
To steal a vehicle today, you have to be a lot more clever, which is the realm of organized criminals. Professional vehicle thieves will break into your house and steal your keys so they can start your vehicle and drive away (this is a reason you should never leave your vehicle keys in plain sight, and definitely not near your front door for a delivery person or door to door salesperson to see).
Vehicle theft doesn't just happen to people like you and me anymore, either. Criminals will steal vehicles from a car dealer by using a "synthetic identity". This is either a stolen or a fake identity. They take the fake identity to a dealership and purchase a vehicle through finance. They make the first and last payment and then ship the vehicle out of the country. The finance company is then looking for the vehicle, assuming they have a deadbeat customer, when in fact they have a non-existent customer who purchased the vehicle under false pretences.
VINLock works with finance companies to alert them when their financed vehicle is leaving the country. It is a breach of the agreement, and cause for repossession by the Financier. This is true for 99% of all finance agreements. VINLock's goal is to prevent financed vehicles that have not yet been reported stolen from being exported. Not surprisingly, many of these vehicles are reported stolen weeks after their export date. This is a method of "double-dipping", where the criminals collect the insurance money as well.
Criminals are smart. Remember, they steal things to make a living.
July 11, 2009
BRETT POPPLEWELL
STAFF REPORTER, THE TORONTO STAR
Abstract
More vehicles than ever before are being stolen in the GTA to be exported to countries overseas where they either become inexpensive rides for other people, or end up as car bombs. With declining auto theft squads, local police have become increasingly powerless to stop this wave of thefts. To make matters worse, Canada Border Services Agency is not required by law to prevent stolen vehicles from leaving the country. Vehicle theft not only hurts the individuals whose vehicles are stolen, but also Canadian drivers at large, who are forced to pay higher insurance premiums on their vehicles.
http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/article/664523