Western Australia has joined in the national effort to combat the car theft industry by introducing new laws to control the re-birthing of written-off vehicles.

The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council says criminals launder more than $7 million of rebirthed stolen vehicles through state and territory registration systems each month.

Under the new laws insurers, motor dealers and recyclers must report details of written-off vehicles to the Department for Planning and Infrastructure. Vehicles that are deemed to be too badly damaged for safe repair will be banned from re-registration while repairable write-offs will have to undergo a new stringent identity inspection before being registered.

South Australia is now the only state not to have introduced laws requiring a written-off vehicle register.