Vehicle Identity Check


The Vehicle Identity Check was a regulation concerning car ownership in the United Kingdom, in force between April 2003 and October 2015.
The VIC was introduced on 7 April 2003, and was created to prevent the illegal practice of vehicle cloning. The scheme was run jointly by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency.

Details

The VIC applied only to cars, and was intended to ensure that a vehicle registration certificate was not issued for a stolen or cloned vehicle taking the identity of a destroyed vehicle. When a car was written off by an insurance company as "category C" or higher, then checking was required before a V5C could be issued.
Category D vehicles did not require inspection. The test, carried out by VOSA, determined whether or not a car presented was the same one that was listed against DVLA records. To apply for a check, a VIC1 form had to be completed and submitted to VOSA. A car bought with no V5C might also require a VIC, even if there had been no insurance claim, to confirm its identify before a new V5C was issued.
The VIC was not a check on any repairs carried out to the car, and did not certify its roadworthiness or mechanical safety, which was part of the MOT test.

Closure

Up to July 2012, an estimated 900,000 vehicles had been tested under the scheme. However, only 38 "ringers" or cloned vehicles had been successfully identified.
The VIC scheme officially closed on 26 October 2015. Since then, the conditions for issue of a V5C are that the vehicle has obtained an MOT test certificate, be roadworthy, and have insurance.