A national theft reduction body says a NSW ban on re-registering written-off vehicles is “a step forward” in efforts to stop car re-birthing across the state.

However, preventing written-off vehicles from being re-registered in other states is a hurdle still to be faced.

The NSW Government introduced legislation last week prohibiting the re-registration of all written-off vehicles in NSW from next month.

National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council Executive Director Ray Carroll told insuranceNEWS.com.au this is an important move, because 50% of missing cars are “coming out of NSW”.

“Police have been very strong advocates for this law – they have invested a lot of time in this because many times they have recovered cars with stolen parts,” he said.

Roads Minister David Borger says the new law is a vital piece of legislation for consumer protection and vehicle safety reforms in Australia.

“These reforms tackle the risk to the community of organised vehicle theft and re-birthing, where stolen parts are use to illegally rebuild written-off vehicles,” he said.

Records show almost 60% of write-offs presented for re-registration in NSW contain stolen or suspect parts.

Police Minister Michael Daley says vehicle theft in NSW has reduced by 30% over the past five years, but re-birthing has increased.

“Banning the re-registration of all write-offs is the most effective way to combat this criminal activity.”

Mr Carroll says the job now is to ensure the new laws don’t lead to written-off NSW vehicles being moved across state borders.

“Other states are retaining current write-off regimes but are looking at ways of stopping cars coming out of NSW from being re-registered in their region,” he said.