The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) is hoping for a comprehensive and Canadian regulatory system to stop the ongoing issue of stolen vehicles exported into the country with a vehicle identification number (VIN) belonging to another vehicle or a fake VIN, collectively known as ReVINing.
Huw Williams, CADA’s Director of Public Affairs, told Canadian auto dealer that his organization had discussions with federal and provincial ministers throughout the fall and winter about the issue of ReVINing stolen vehicles with the serial numbers from a legally-owned registered vehicle or a forged VIN.
“As we tighten up in one area (for vehicle theft) it’s important that we have a comprehensive approach so we don’t see things happen in other areas,” said Williams. “Although we see better awareness and better coordination and more recovery (of stolen vehicles), it appears that ReVINing is a growing problem.”
He said the issue has creeped up more in the last 12 months, where they are seeing ReVINing as being a bigger piece of the puzzle. “The criminal organizations recognize the value in vehicles as prices continue to rise over the last decade,” said Williams.
He said organized crime sees stealing vehicles and ReVINing them as another way to make money illegally. “We need to make sure we stop the profitability of organized crime and don’t allow it to happen.”
Williams added that “We’ve been part of several industry-led meetings with the federal and Ontario governments that more needs to be done to fix the ReVINing challenges and make sure we’re protecting dealers and consumers and society.”
The CBC reported in a recent story that the Canada Border Services Agency has begun sharing vehicle export data with CARFAX and Équité Association, a non-profit insurance fraud watchdog, and is exploring sharing that with other stakeholders.
Mike Foster, CARFAX Canada’s Vice President of Sales, confirmed with Canadian auto dealer that CBSA has shared vehicle export data with his company, but it is currently in the testing process and is not in production.
Foster said CARFAX’s data indicates there are about 140,000 vehicles in Canada with cloned VINs and fake VINs, which he described as “pretty significant.” While Foster said he didn’t know when the practice began of cloning or forging VINs to sell cars, he said it’s up by about 50 per cent since 2019.
“It’s an accelerating trend, for sure,” said Foster, adding that without an “exit strategy” for shipping a stolen vehicle in a container and having it exported, criminals are forced to Re-VIN to monetize it.
“Car thieves realize they can’t just steal a car and ship it and collect,” said Foster. “They are forced to dispose of that car domestically. That impacts everybody from consumers to dealers who have a bonafide car in their lot that somebody has copied off the dashboard, to insurance companies that have to deal with false claims, to (companies) lending money on stolen vehicles unbeknownst to them.”
He said it’s a very pervasive issue. “There’s lots of structural reasons for this problem to have gotten worse. That’s encouraged us to look into the data we’ve got and be more deliberate for our users.”
Foster said the stolen and ReVINed car may end up being sold privately, in some cases by people posing as dealers but without being registered, what are called curbsiders.
The Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council has been vigilant in warning consumers about buying vehicles from people claiming to be dealers. Foster said even registered dealers may become victims of ReVINed cars that someone is trying to sell them as a trade-in, or for outright cash.
“We often warn our dealers if someone is in a hurry to trade a vehicle or maybe they want cash and are willing to take a lower price, those are qualitative danger signs,” said Foster. “We have a whole toolkit that was just launched in our CARFAX dealer portal. For every vehicle report (a dealer runs), we run a background check for ReVINing or fraud and we flag those into the report.”
Foster said they are doing their best with the data they have to identify some of these things. “There’s lots of things you can at least try and understand whether or not it is a potentially ReVINed vehicle. The data has existed, but (was) never consolidated in a way it is today.”
