In 1998, a study was launched to assess the need for a national database of heavy equipment losses in North America. NER management interviewed those most closely involved with the problem of equipment theft, including:

• 25 leading heavy equipment insurers.
• Leading equipment manufacturers.
• Associations representing manufacturers, distributors and owners.
• Local crime prevention programs involved in fighting equipment theft.
• Law enforcement specializing in the recovery of heavy equipment.
• Other data based recovery operations around the world.

This research led to the following conclusions:

• Equipment losses in the USA total approximately $1 billion each year and recovery rates are as low as 10%.
• Equipment is stolen for use or resale and thefts are both planned and opportunistic.
• The destination of stolen equipment reflects the combination of these factors, the location of the theft, demand for equipment, and even the type of equipment.
• Police and insurance databases, procedures and training are not designed to meet these complex and unique challenges.
• Where a database of equipment losses is created and managed by specialist staff the level of recovery is raised significantly.

As a result of these findings, National Equipment Register was incorporated in 2000, and opened for business in August 2001, with the goal of providing unique solutions to the problem of equipment theft.