Microdot maker stunned by misinformation campaign

2130 27 February 2007

Media release

Microdot maker stunned by misinformation campaign to halt Government initiative to beat car crime gangs

A stunningly large volume of inaccurate information is being fed to policymakers on their initiative to fight organised car crime by using tiny microdots.

A leading microdot maker backing the Government's Whole of Vehicle Marking (WOVM) policy says officials and Ministers need to take ultimate care to avoid misinformation, believed to have come from some industry opponents of the anti-crime initiative.

Cabinet decided in December 2004 to introduce WOVM, which involves spraying various parts of all newly registered vehicles with over 7,000 microdots, each containing a vehicle's unique identification number VIN, as part of a comprehensive package of vehicle theft reduction initiatives. Vehicle theft is now the second biggest crime in New Zealand and has risen 15.5% in the last year.

The WOVM policy is now subject to a final cost benefit analysis report, due to be considered by Cabinet in March. The number of cars stolen last year but not recovered is estimated to be 7,227. Of these the 6,179 are estimated to have been stolen by professional thieves who chop them into parts or give them new identities for resale in a trade estimated to be worth $80 million a year. Conservative estimates indicate WOVM initiative could half organised car crime in its first 10 years.

However, DataDot Technology New Zealand Ltd Managing Director David Lumsden says his company has been stunned by the misinformation being circulated which can only be aimed at trying to scuttle the policy and points to several major errors being given to media and others.

On TV3's Campbell Live show on 27 February, one opponent of the scheme declares his cynicism for the publicly quoted costs for WOVM, but fails to back this up with any facts.

"We can only hope policymakers check with the WOVM industry before accepting some of the hopelessly misleading and inaccurate claims from opponents, some of whom stand to continue to make many millions in replacement car sales as a result of organised car crime," Mr Lumsden says.

DataDot Technology says the public needs to know these facts:

• Once compulsory WOVM starts the DataDot Technology price for applying DataDots to a vehicle will be $47 plus GST, including fitting costs, not $199 to $399 as claimed by others.

• Dots will take only 5 minutes to apply and the vehicle can still be driven around the import centre or onto road transporters within the drying time, but not driven on the open road until the appropriate drying time has occurred.

• Microdots will stay on vehicles for their fleet life: DataDots have withstood extreme weather testing to meet the requirements of the Australian National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council, which is urging Australian State Governments to adopt WOVM. This standard has become the de-facto world standard for WOVM.

• The insurance industry expects premiums to fall as organised car crime is reduced by WOVM: Insurance companies are already cutting premiums by 10% and offering nil excess on claims for motorcycles and trailored water craft protected by DataDots. The insurer with the largest market share in New Zealand, IAG, has informed the Government that it believes a mandatory WOVM policy will significantly reduce vehicle theft in New Zealand, thereby reducing insurance claims and payments, which in turn will reduce vehicle insurance premiums as is being experienced within Australia. Unrecovered vehicle theft rates on vehicles protected by DataDots have been cut by between 62 and 92%.

Mr Lumsden says: "We're staggered by the misinformation out there in the market. We are trying to counter this with a flow of accurate information, which only the WOVM industry can know, to the policymakers and public. We have a vested interest, as do the WOVM opponents, but all our careful analysis and our experience in several countries says the WOVM policy is sound. It's perhaps past time now for a factually-based and final decision to act against the damage being caused by organised car crime here.

"It's time to decide if we are for, or against, organised crime in New Zealand."

ENDS

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