Auto Theft

Trivia Time

In the previous post, we asked the question:

What is the difference between Business Interruption and Extra Expense coverage?

Answer: Business Interruption covers the costs associated with the interruption of your business, whereas extra expense coverage would cover additional expenses you incur to continue running your business while your place of business is repaired.

Did you guess some or all of the answer?

Now for this post?€?s question!

According to Statistics Canada, approximately how many vehicles are stolen every day?

We?€?ll reveal the answer in our next post!

Here in Canada, auto theft is big business?€?and lucrative, too! Every three and a half minutes, a vehicle is stolen?€? and if you don?€?t want to do the math, we?€?ll just say this: That?€?s a lot of stolen vehicles each and every day.

This type of crime costs Canadians around $1.2 billion each year, when taking into account all the surrounding costs, such as legal costs, policing, deductibles, and more. And the problem isn?€?t going away anytime soon. Just like any commodity, the market for stolen vehicles works on the principle of supply and demand?€?and when you combine an increasing global population with a shaky world economy, the demand becomes clear.

But why your car? You don?€?t associate with shady people, and you?€?ve never had any issues in your neighbourhood. That?€?s all well and good, but car thieves don?€?t tend to respect the boundaries of personal space. There are four main reasons why thieves steal cars:

1)     International Sale: Organized crime loves auto theft because it brings in lots of cash quickly. It can take under an hour for a thief to drive your car to a dock, load it into a shipping container, and have fake papers drawn up to get the container on the move. These cars get shipped to places like South America, the Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. They?€?re resold there, and next to impossible to track down.

2)     Domestic Sale: Your vehicle might be getting a makeover! Sorry, that?€?s not as fun or exciting as it sounds. The car will likely be given a fake VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) to hide where it came from, and then will be sold to a blissfully unaware customer. Or, it might be chopped up and sold for parts.

3)     To Drive It Around: Ever heard of “joyriding??€? That?€?s one reason to steal a car?€?to drive somewhere, destination or not.

4)     To Commit Other Crimes: Why use your own car when you can use someone else?€?s? Of all the above reasons to steal a car, this particular use of a stolen vehicle is the most likely one to result in vehicle recovery. That said, it will probably be smashed up and abandoned somewhere, but you?€?ll still get it back, and likely within 48 hours!

It?€?s frustrating to no end to realize that anyone could be a target for auto theft, and even more upsetting to know that of all the growing crime in Canada, this banal form of thievery just keeps becoming more commonplace.

Still, theft claims on your Auto Insurance Policy do exist! And they?€?re paid under the All Perils or Comprehensive section of your policy.

The thing you?€?ll want to think about?€?whether you?€?re in the market for a car (purchased, of course?€? if you?€?re reading this, we?€?re assuming you?€?re not a car thief) or you already own a car and are wondering why your premium is so high?€?is that the premium charged for this portion of Auto Insurance coverage varies according to the theft frequency of your specific make/model of car!

And if your vehicle is one of those that appears on the list below? You might want to consider trading in.

Top 10 Stolen Vehicles in Canada in 2012

According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, these were the ten most frequently stolen vehicles nationwide. Four of the ten are 4-wheel drive / all-wheel drive vehicles, and as usual, the Honda Civic remains high on the list as a target for auto crime.

1.      2000 Honda Civic SiR 2DR

2.      1999 Honda Civic SiR 2DR

3.      2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer SS 4DR 4WD

4.      2007 Ford F350 SD 4WD PU

5.      2005 Cadillac Escalade 4DR AWD

6.      2006 Ford F350 SD 4WD PU

7.      2002 Cadillac Escalade 4DR 4WD

8.      2005 Ford F350 SD 4WD PU

9.      2004 Ford F350 SD 4WD PU

10.  1999 Acura Integra 2DR