Stolen vehicle insured losses accelerated to C$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) for most Canadian provinces in 2023, compared with C$1.3 billion in losses a year earlier, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Claims severity is outpacing frequency. Policyholders filed 49,679 claims for stolen vehicles last year, up 10% from the prior year, while the cost of those claims rose 19%.
IBC Strategy Vice President Liam McGuinty in a statement called the rising thefts a crisis that is pressuring insurance premiums. “Attention needs to be paid to modernizing Canada’s outdated vehicle safety standards, which were last updated in 2007, and stopping the outflow of stolen vehicles from Canada’s ports,” he said.
The IBC said new, high-end luxury vehicles are often lucrative targets, due in part to demand from illegal international markets.
“In many cases, stolen vehicles are exported” by domestic and international criminal organizations that fund further illegal activity such as drug trafficking, arms dealing and international terrorism with stolen car proceeds, the association said in a statement.
Over the five-year period ending in 2023, automobile theft claims counts increased 56% while losses jumped 254%, according to an IBC analysis that excludes Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The IBC said data for the two provinces was unavailable.
The rate of increase was even higher in Ontario, where the IBC said claims costs rose 524% since 2018, to more than C$1 billion.
“IBC recognizes the efforts undertaken by governments to date to fight auto theft, but more needs to be done, including at the national level. Our industry remains committed to working alongside all levels of government and stakeholders,” McGuinty said.
“Insurers have taken proactive steps to help consumers combat auto theft, but they can’t do it alone,” he said.
In the United States, the number of vehicles reported stolen last year increased about 1% to 1.01 million, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Kia and Hyundai vehicles experienced the highest theft rates in 2023 in the United States, likely because social media highlighted vulnerability to theft in various models, the NICB said.
Sixty-five automobile insurers filed a complaint last year seeking reimbursement from the two auto manufacturers and their U.S. businesses for claims filed by policyholders whose cars are “dangerously easy to rapidly steal,” because they lack theft-deterring engine immobilizing software.
Theft rates climbed when viral social media videos — including a Kia Boyz challenge — exposed the security flaw. Kia and Hyundai then rolled out free software updates intended to lessen the ease of theft of millions of key-start vehicles lacking the immobilizers.