What’s New: In Brief (September 16, 2008)

ICBC has launched a free online service that allows customers to look up a vehicle’s status, helping them to make informed buying decisions about used vehicles.
All vehicles in North America are assigned a status to describe the general state of the vehicle and whether it qualifies to be on the road, the ICBC notes.
Customers can enter the vehicle model year and vehicle identification number (VIN), which pulls up the current status of the vehicle.
The four designations are: salvage (provided to a car that has been written off due to a crash, but can be repaired/reconstructed); rebuilt (a salvage vehicle that has been rebuilt and passed inspection, in addition to homemade and specialty vehicles); altered (a vehicle that has been significantly modified after its manufacture); and normal (has not been rebuilt, salvaged or altered, but does not mean it has never been damaged nor is it a guarantee of good mechanical condition).

Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc. has re-branded its auto appraisal division as Crawford Appraisal Management Services.
“This re-branding is the final stage of a strategic plan that was developed to align the division’s services with the rapidly evolving needs of our clients,” John Sharoun, CEO of Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc., noted in a release. “The new name was chosen to better reflect the range of services provided by this division and we have built solutions that will improve the service quality of our appraisal process.”