Judge Orders Feds to Make National Car Database Public
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of San Francisco ruled this week that the government has had enough time already to make public a database from insurance companies and junkyards that will allow consumers to track whether their vehicles had previously been stolen or salvaged from a wreck.
The database, by order of Congress, was supposed to be made public by 1997. And the Justice Department pleaded with Judge Patel on Monday to give them even more time to ready the database, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
But Patel ordered the government to make the database, known as the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, public by Jan. 30. Insurers and junkyards will have until March 31 to submit their latest updates and thereafter be required to make monthly updates.
The database is meant to help consumers determine whether they are purchasing a potentially dangerous used car.
