Loss adjuster calls for an end to stolen vehicle ‘weeding’

According to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics, as many as 350 vehicles are stolen each day in the UK. Any Lost or Stolen (LoS) marker placed against a Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM) must be manually confirmed by the constabulary within six weeks. If not, the listing will be automatically removed – weeded – with any check returning a ‘Not Stolen’ status.

Philip Swift, technical director at CMA, explained:

This archaic process has always caused problems but, presumably due to the pressure on police resources, we are seeing a dramatic increase in six-week weeding errors. We have raised it with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and multiple constabularies, as the implications are serious.

For starters, vehicles not recorded as stolen on the Police National Computer (PNC) are far less likely to be recovered. They won’t get picked up by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras or spot checks. Even if reported as suspicious, a check will show ‘clear’, which obviously benefits the criminals involved.

Weeding causes issues for used vehicle buyers too, with diligent consumers conducting history checks getting false negative results. The inadvertent removal of stolen markers will also wrongly enhance a constabulary’s recovery rate, casting doubt on this important performance metric. As a final kicker, if weeding does occur, we understand reinstatement can be extremely time consuming – one recent case apparently required a 100-page document to be reviewed!