by Lucy Hook
The number of vehicle thefts in Canada is on the rise, despite a general trend of improvement in technology and anti-theft measures – an unlikely combination.
Auto insurance broker Shop Insurance Canada highlighted the surprising trend, and questioned how thefts could be rising in the face of better measures of security.
The company, which offers an online auto insurance quoting tool, said that little was being done to combat the problem of thefts, and that the subject of prevention needs to be higher on the agenda.
“Fraud and road safety are correctly hot topic discussions, however, theft prevention should be too,” the company said in a statement.
The broker suggested that fraud may play a part in the rising theft rates.
“It is clear Canada has a problem with auto thefts,” it said. “With increased prevention technology, numbers should be declining, not growing. The organized crime element cannot be ignored and it places an intriguing link between thefts and fraud.”
Car theft in Canada increased by 6% from 2014 to 2015, according to Statistics Canada.
The only province which saw a fall in theft rates was Quebec, which saw a significant decrease in numbers – thefts fell by 14% that year.
However, the overall numbers in Quebec remained high, at around 13,123.
Within the area, Montreal is the hub of car theft – more than half of all Quebec thefts happened in the city.
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