Data Sources

The CARS database is updated regularly (monthly, quarterly or six-monthly) from the following sources:

• Police Services
• Insurance Companies
• Vehicle Registration Authorities
• Other vehicle and statistical related sources

Police Services

All Australian state and territory police services supply CARS with electronic unit record data of recorded vehicle thefts and recoveries. New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria supply data monthly and Western Australia and Tasmania supply data quarterly directly from their respective computer systems. The Australian Capital Territory information is obtained from the National Vehicles of Interest (NVOI) database maintained by Crimtrac (previously the National Exchange of Police Information - NEPI).

The information supplied includes:

• The time, date and location details of the theft.
• Vehicle characteristics such as the make, model, year of manufacturer, body type, engine capacity, VIN/chassis number, engine number, registration number, security devices etc.
• Time, date and location of the recovered vehicle.

In some jurisdictions the following additional information is also available:

• Estimated value of the vehicle.
• Type of transmission.
• Method of entry.
• Reason for theft.
• Condition of recovered vehicle (burnt, stripped etc.).
• Parts missing from recovered vehicle.
• If the vehicle is insured.
• If the vehicle is under finance.
• Age, sex and residential postcode of the owner.
• Status of case/investigation.

Police Service Logo	Police Service Name	Police Service Logo	Police Service Name
	Australian Capital Territory Police		New South Wales Police
	Northern Territory Police		Queensland Police
	South Australia Police		Tasmania Police
	Victoria Police		Western Australia Police

Insurance Companies

CARS currently collects claim and policy data from the majority of insurers who are offering vehicle theft policies in Australia. Please note that due to the amalgamation of insurance company computer systems over time, we do not have access to historical data for some of the listed suppliers. The range of data items collected varies from company to company but generally includes:

• Type of cover (eg. comprehensive, fire and theft only).
• Type of policy (eg. agreed value/ market value/sum insured).
• Commencement and expiry date of policy.
• Amount of excess applied to the claim.
• Settlement value.
• Insurer's total outgoing costs.
• Amount of revenue received via the salvage of any total loss vehicles.
• Condition of recovered vehicle.
• Was the vehicle recovered?
• Was the vehicle repaired or salvaged?
• VIN/chassis number.

The following types of data items are also obtained from a limited number of insurers:

• Age and sex of last person to drive the vehicle.
• Suspicion of fraud flag.
• Purchase date of the vehicle.
• Registration expiry date.
• Types of security devices fitted and/or in operation at time of theft.
• If the vehicle was under finance at the time of theft.
• If the claim relates to a new policy holder.
• If theft occurred during a cover note period.
• If the vehicle sustained accident damage after the theft.
• If the vehicle sustained an arson attack.

Insurance Company Logo	Insurance Company Name	Insurance Company Logo	Insurance Company Name
	AAMI Insurance		Allianz Insurance
	GIO Insurance		Insurance Australia Group
	Lumley Insurance		NRMA Insurance
	RAA Insurance		RACT Insurance
	RACQ Insurance		RACV Insurance
	SGIC Insurance		SGIO Insurance
	Suncorp Metway Insurance		TIO Insurance
	Wesfarmers Insurance		Zurich Insurance

Vehicle Registration Authorities

CARS obtains from each of the state and territory vehicle registration authorities a complete snapshot of all vehicles on their database. This information is used to calculate the composition of the vehicle fleet and thus determine theft and recovery rates based on registrations.

Reg. Authority Logo	Reg. Authority Name	Reg. Authority Logo	Reg. Authority Name
	ACT Dept. of Territory and Municipal Services		NSW Roads and Traffic Authority
	NT Dept. of Planning and Infrastructure		QLD Transport
	SA Dept. for Transport Energy and Infrastructure		TAS Dept. Infrastructure, Energy and Resources
	VICRoads		WA Dept. for Planning and Infrastructure

Other related Sources

These include the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries who supply VFACTS data - individual vehicle details for all new vehicles sold in Australia. This information is linked with additional vehicle identification information to determine the make, model and series of each vehicle as well as specification details such as engine size, immobiliser type, transmission type, body shape, etc. Vehicle pricing data is supplied by Glass’s Information Services.

The database also makes use of a range of Australian Bureau of Statistics demographic and spatial data.

Supplier Logo	Supplier Name	Supplier Logo	Supplier Name
	Glass's Information Services		VFACTS