WASHINGTON--Insurers would be required to "commerciallydisclose" total-loss vehicle information under legislation Sen.Trent Lott, R-Miss., and two congressmen said they would introducein the next Congress.

Their intent is to keep vehicles declared total losses afternatural disasters from being rebuilt and sold to unsuspectingconsumers.

At a press conference in Washington last week, attended by Sen.Lott and Reps. Cliff Sterns, R-Fla., and Charlie Melancon, D-La.,Sen. Lott said the proposed "Consumer Access to Total Loss VehicleData Act'' would ensure that consumers have access to informationabout automobiles declared a total loss by insurancecompanies--which assume the title when a car is totaled.

The legislation is similar to that introduced by Sen. Lott inJuly, S. 3707. At the time, he was chairman of the SurfaceTransportation Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Responding to the bill, Tom Litjen, vice president for federalgovernment relations for the Property Casualty Insurers Associationof America, said the insurance industry has long favored disclosureto the public and the branding of salvage vehicles that are rebuiltand put back onto the highway.

"PCI and a broad-based coalition are working with Sen. Lott andothers in Congress to devise legislation which will accomplish thesenator's objectives in an effective and less burdensome way forthe industry," Mr. Litjen said. "This legislation is expected to beintroduced early in the 110th Congress."

Sen. Lott said in a statement that the legislation would directthe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require allinsurers to commercially disclose information pertaining to totalloss vehicles, perhaps through such online auto services asCAR-FAX.

"After Hurricane Katrina, I was approached by responsible autodealers in Mississippi who were concerned about flooded vehiclesending up in the marketplace," Sen. Lott said.

"An estimated half-million vehicles were damaged by Katrina, andindeed there is evidence that these cars are being cleaned up andsold to unsuspecting consumers," the senator added.

A number of these vehicles are unsafe and should not be on theroads, he said. "And folks are overpaying for vehicles they believeare mechanically sound. To the untrained eye, they appear to be ingood shape."

Sen. Lott said consumers should not have to rely on the variousstates' titling processes because each state is different. What'smore, he said, branding information often is not passed from onestate to the next.

"The insurance industry should make this information availableto protect the consumers, and we will be working to enact thatprotection in the 110th Congress," he said.