THINK how convenient it would be to track the history of a motor vehicle in Jamaica and know how many times it has been in a crash, or the number of owners it has been through, before purchasing.

Or, at the click of a mouse, get the current market value of any vehicle offered for sale here.

Well, pretty soon these facilities will be available to Jamaicans, giving background information and suggested value on all vehicles imported into the island.

Loss adjuster David McKay has developed two new Internet products — E-value and Auto Data — that are expected to provide valuable facts on vehicles and assist Jamaicans in purchase decisions.

He disclosed that auto industry stakeholders are currently testing the sites and the “kinks are being ironed out” before officially presenting the products to the public.

“They are not yet out to the general public. We have to get feedback before we launch them,” McKay told Auto this week, adding that the official unveiling of the websites is scheduled for early next year.

McKay, managing director of MSC McKay Loss Adjusters, is upbeat about the new products and feels

they could revolutionise information exchange in the local auto industry.

“They are much like the US-based Car-Fax product, but specific to Jamaica,” he noted.

“Think about it; when you are buying a vehicle, most people want information based on fact. You want to know as much as possible. These will offer that opportunity,” insisted McKay, a 20-year veteran in the motor vehicle valuation business.

According to McKay, his Auto Data site may even tell specifics such as the cost of repairs and spare parts replaced on a vehicle.

“Any damage that goes through an insurance company we will notify what parts on the vehicle were damaged,” he said.

Identifying stolen vehicles could also be facilitated via the Auto Data site.

McKay said that on many occasions tampered chassis or engine numbers are exposed when a vehicle is taken to a loss adjuster for an assessment.

“It will help in that regard,” McKay told Auto.

In obtaining a history and status of vehicles McKay enlisted the participation of strategic players in the auto industry, running the gamut from government agencies and to other loss adjusting firms.

“Everything that goes to an insurance company goes through an adjuster,” explained McKay, whose company is on the approved list of all major insurance companies.

McKay, however, cautioned that some information might not be caught in the net if a vehicle-owner does repairs without the involvement of an insurance company or loss adjuster.

“We will have disclaimers. Sometimes there may be information that we might not have,” he said. “We can’t guarantee that everything on the car will be on the site, but as much as possible will be there.”

He made it clear that while data on the owner of a motor vehicle is private, information on the vehicle was public domain.

“Information on a car is not private. You can own the car, but all the information on the car is public,” he said. “We make sure that private information such as the owner’s name and licence numbers are not revealed on the site.”

Access to McKay’s Internet sites will attract a fee but he insists that it will be affordable.

“We are calculating the cost but we want to keep it as minimal as possible,” he said. “We have to pay participating assessors each time information is accessed from their database.”