Also in the News: Judge puts federal wreck registry in fast lane
A federal judge has given insurance companies, salvage yards and junkyards until next March to provide information on damaged vehicles for a federal registry,
The New York Times reports on Wheels, its blog about issues in the automotive industry. Information on vehicles so badly damaged by floods, fires or crashes that they are written off will be added to a national database to help consumers make informed decisions when buying vehicles.
The ruling imposed a deadline for implementing a law Congress passed in 1992. “It is all these years later, but finally, first and foremost we are breaking the dam of insurance secrecy about wrecked cars,” said Bernard Brown, a lawyer in Fairway, Kan., who specializes in automotive cases.