From Parking Lot to Policy: How Auto Theft is Impacting Premiums

We have reached a crisis when it comes to automobile theft. In 2022, more than 100,000 vehicles were stolen across Canada and auto theft claims surpassed $1 billion for the first time.

The impact is taking a toll on everyone – from insurance companies experiencing more claims, to law enforcement opening more investigations into to stolen vehicles, to people no longer having the same sense of safety and security in their communities due to increased theft.

From an insurance perspective, the dramatic increase in theft has also led to premium surcharges for high-theft risk vehicles. In this blog, we explain what insurance companies are doing about increased auto theft (hint – it’s definitely going to impact your premiums).

What Are Insurance Companies Doing About Increased Theft?

With reports suggesting that a vehicle is stolen every 5-minutes in Canada, it’s no surprise that insurance companies have noticed the trend and are taking action to inform their customers about how to protect themselves, mandate the installation of pre-approved anti-theft devices, and ultimately minimize their risk of a claim.

Several of the companies Excalibur Insurance writes for have already announced or implemented their plans for combating this dramatic increase in auto theft. Below is what CAA Insurance, Economical Insurance, Gore Mutual Insurance, Heartland Insurance, Intact Insurance and Wawanesa Insurance are doing in response to elevated rates of auto theft in Ontario.

CAA Insurance

CAA Insurance has created a list of the vehicles they believe have the highest theft risk. If you are insured with CAA and driving one of the listed vehicles, a $1,500 surcharge will automatically be applied to your policy at renewal. In order to have the surcharge removed or decreased, you will have to complete one of the following:

1. Option 1 – Installing an eligible after-market engine immobilizer will result in 100% removal of the surcharge ($1,500).
2. Option 2 – Installing an eligible anti-theft device will result in 50% removal of the surcharge ($750).
3. Option 3 – Installing eligible anti-theft accessories; will result in a 33% reduction of the surcharge ($500).
4. Option 4 – No action is taken. This will result in the full $1,500 surcharge being applied.

The vehicles impacted include the Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Land Rover/Defender, Lexus GX460, Lexus RX350, Lexus RX450, Toyota 4Runner, Land Rover/Range Rover, Acura RDX, Dodge RAM 1500, Jeep Wrangler, Toyota Highlander/Grand Highlander, and any vehicle with a MSRP of $125,000 or greater (regardless of the make or model, but excluding electric vehicles).

Economical Insurance

Economical Insurance has a partnership with Tag, a leading provider of anti-theft and recovery systems. Through this partnership, Economical is offering Ontario customers with a Dodge Ram 1500, Jeep Wrangler, or Toyota Highlander (that are two years old or less – model years 2021 and newer) free installation of the Tag stolen vehicle tracking and recovery systems.

Customers with these vehicles who choose not to install the Tag tracking system for free, will have a premium surcharge added to their policy.

Gore Mutual Insurance

Gore Mutual has decided to apply a $500 surcharge to all vehicles deemed to be high-theft (the surcharge will be added to the policy after all applicable discounts). To remove the surcharge, the customer must install a vehicle immobilizer that is Vehicle Information Centre of Canada (VICC) approved or a Tag system or a Boomerang theft recovery system. Once installed, the customer will have the surcharge removed and receive a 20% discount on the comprehensive portion of their policy premium.

Heartland Insurance

Heartland Insurance has taken a similar approach to Gore Mutual, introducing a $500 surcharge for “High-Theft” vehicles. The surcharge will only be applied to vehicles garaged in urban areas and that meet the following criteria:

Vehicle model years 2019 and newer with a list price new greater than $100,000; or Vehicles identified on the high-theft vehicle list below with a model year of 2019 and newer:

• Lexus RX Series
• Jeep Grand Cherokee
• Toyota Highlander
• Honda CRV
• Ford F150
• Dodge Ram 1500 Series
• Acura RDX
• Chevy Silverado
• GMC Sierra
• Land Rover – Range Rover

Heartland customers can have the surcharge removed from their policy if they install a Tag system.

Intact Insurance

Starting in July 2024, Intact Insurance customers who are driving a high-theft risk vehicle will have a $500 surcharge applied to their policy. With the installation of a Tag system or another accepted anti-theft technology, the additional $500 premium will be removed and a 20% Anti-Theft discount will be applied. Intact assesses the theft risk by looking at both the make/model and geographical location where the vehicle is garaged.

Wawanesa Insurance

Instead of adding a surcharge to all high-theft vehicles, Wawanesa Insurance will only be adding a $500 rate increase to new business involving a high-theft risk vehicle or newly added high-theft risk vehicles on an existing policy. Existing policies that already have a high-theft risk vehicle listed will not receive the surcharge. The surcharge will be removed after the installation of an approved anti-theft device for the vehicle.

How Is Auto Theft Impacting Premiums?

Auto theft costs each driver in Ontario an average of $130 a year. That means approximately $130 of your annual auto policy premium goes towards paying claims for stolen vehicles. In 2023, Ontarians collectively payed more than $1.6 billion to cover auto theft costs such as law enforcement and court resources, the mental anguish of being victimized, and broader economic impacts.

As you can see from the company examples above, people driving a high-theft risk vehicle will only continue to see their premiums increase unless they take action to install anti-theft devices.

Eventually, rate increases will not be enough. If losses continue to pile-up, insurance companies will be forced to look at the bottom line. With $1.6 billion in losses last year, companies need to make that money back in premiums in order to be able to payout claims. But rates can only increase by so much before it becomes cost prohibitive for the average Canadian to insure their high-theft vehicle. At that point, certain makes and models of vehicles may become almost “uninsurable” – with limited insurance companies willing to take them and high policy premiums if they do write them.

Which brings us to the real question – how do we end auto theft before we reach this point?

How Do We End Auto Theft?

The impact of auto theft extends beyond immediate financial losses. It is a pervasive issue that undermines public safety and contributes to broader criminal activities. With police only recovering about 60% of all stolen vehicles, that means annually tens of thousands of vehicles are being shipped overseas or scrapped for parts, with the proceeds from these crimes funding gun and drug trafficking.

As Amanda Dean, Interim Vice-President in Ontario for the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) said, “Fighting auto theft requires a whole-of-society approach – and Canada’s insurers are proudly doing their part. While insurers are taking proactive steps to better protect their customers, our industry cannot combat auto theft alone. All stakeholders, including governments, law enforcement and auto manufacturers, have a critical role to play and must take immediate steps to address the auto theft crisis.”

Following the National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft that was held by the Canadian Government in February, they have released an action plan, which you can read here.

Looking for Insurance for Your High-Theft Vehicle?

Look no further! We’re fortunate to say we still have lots of markets that will write your vehicle, even if it is at a higher risk for theft.