Reader’s Question:

Does the Vehicle Identification Number on a particular car affect liability coverage rates? I live in Vermont.

Florence

Burlington, VT

The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of a car is a unique code assigned to the vehicle by its manufacturer primarily for identification and registration purposes. This VIN can be decoded to give specifics about the car, such as make, model, engine size, body style, and year. By knowing this information insurance providers can tell what options your car came with as well as know the history of the vehicle.

A Vehicle Identification Number or VIN is typically needed by an insurance carrier to properly transmit your insurance information to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicle database. If the VIN is used to find out the history of the car and it shows that the vehicle has a salvage title or has been stolen or totaled in the past it could possibly change your auto insurance rates if this was not told to the insurance carrier beforehand.

Since insurance carriers vary on their rating systems you would have to contact your state’s insurance regulatory body to verify how a particular insurance carrier determines its insurance rates since this information must be filed with this government agency.

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