Public Safety committee  Absolutely. I think that information sharing, under the auspices of legitimacy and authority, is key to having an impact on this type of crime.

Public Safety committee  I would agree. Thank you.

Public Safety committee  It happens both ways. Manufacturers, if they apply, go to what's called a “WMI”, a world manufacturer identifier, which are the first three digits of a 17-digit VIN. Those identify who the manufacturer is. In cases where the province has to assign a VIN—I'll use Alberta as an example—they have a WMI that's issued by Transport Canada for any VINs they issue.

Public Safety committee  I'm glad you asked that question. Absolutely. We do cross-Canada checks all the time. However, when someone takes a stolen vehicle from one province to another, they'll walk into a busy registry location. The person behind the counter will have to do an initial query, then a cross-country query and then a vehicle history check.

Public Safety committee  That is the question I was going to answer. These vehicles cannot be validated without a physical inspection. It is not possible.

Public Safety committee  Certainly, there are people better qualified to speak to the CBSA practices and policies than I am. I can simply say that, in all cases, VINs are unique unto themselves. There cannot be more than one that accurately represents a vehicle, so if you have a duplicate, one of them is false.

Public Safety committee  You know from a physical examination. If you have two in two separate locations, you have to literally go and look at both of them to determine which one is the false one. Frankly, the people who are doing cloning and revinning are really good at it. You need an expert.

Public Safety committee  It's a consumer-pay model, yes.

Public Safety committee  For a tandem-axle trailer—which of course is anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 in cost, depending on what you have—or anything with a motor, it's $500. For any single-axle trailer, it's $150.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. What happens is this: There are problematic VINs. Problematic VINs can be anything. They can be duplicates. They can have no history. Of course, if something is more than two, three or four years old, there should be some history as to who owned it previously when it comes up for sale again.

Public Safety committee  Alberta and Saskatchewan do. British Columbia does a pretty good job, because they issue via their ICB locations. P.E.I. is very good. Their commercial vehicle inspectors issue VINs there. Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec don't have one.

Public Safety committee  With the advent of technology, the ability to sell parts from vehicles all over the world has become exceptionally easy. I think regulation around how those can be dispersed and what records you need to keep is critical. If they are not provided the level of regulation that VIN assignment and VIN issuance should have, then the process will certainly continue.

Public Safety committee  That's correct, and that's not including the ones that are issued new VINs by the province. The province issues 20,000 a year.

Public Safety committee  I'm happy to answer that question, sir. If I may, I would like to make one other statement before I answer it. We heard from police that 80% are going through the ports. We heard IBC say 60% and Équité say 50%. The reality is that, whatever the accurate number is, as soon as you choke off access to the ports, then revinning, duplicate VINs and cloning are going to increase in Canada.

Public Safety committee  Good morning to this committee and to you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for having me here today to discuss the ongoing problem of auto theft in Canada. My name is Dan Service. I am the founder and CEO of VIN Verification Services. I founded this company after a 25-year career with the Edmonton Police Service, which included responsibility for the economic crime and commercial auto theft sections.